crossfire || cardan greenbriar

twelve

"I see you're already basking in the privileges of being engaged to my brother."

My thoughts were cut short as my head quickly turned to look at the person there next to me. "You must be Balekin,"

He says, "I assume my lovely brother has already informed you about all of my wicked deeds?" but Dain hasn't told me anything about his brother. Actually, now that I think of it...he never speaks of his family.

"I must mark your assumption as incorrect," I admit, turning my head away from him for a moment. "He hasn't spoken to me about anything pertaining to his family."

He responds with a faint chuckle, "Well... that's his highness Dain for you."

"I guess so," I floundered as he crept up behind me, his calloused fingers running through my hair.

His body pressing against me caused me to struggle for breath, and the sensation itself was repulsive. "I was always slightly envious of Dain. He has everything; all the luxuries, all the haute cuisine, all the..." he paused, his chin now reclining on my shoulder as he edges closer to my ears, "women."

I caught his hand mid-stride when it sought to feel my chest by forcefully squeezing it to block the flow of blood. While I turned his arm in the opposite direction from me, causing him to wince in pain, my legs were already set up to tackle him to the ground.

He was on the ground in a split second, and I was on top of him, my blade barely missing his light skin as I pressed it to his throat. My gaze pierced his as he said, with a defeated smile on his unattractive face, "Well, you picked on the wrong woman."

Balekin and I both turned to gaze at the source of the sound, only to see another one of these royal jackasses. "Oh would you look at that, my own dear brother is getting his ass handed to him by the future queen," a voice pitched in with an amused laugh.

Before I push myself off him, I bring the knife to his face... skimming it against his cheek. I would be too nice to just let him leave without some deplorable mark.

"Get off me, you b***h," he demanded, his face decorated in all shades of red.

I made a shallow cut on his left cheek with a quick flick of my wrist, being careful to avoid slashing his eye as he winced.

"Ouff...that one's gonna leave a mark," Cardan mused as I pushed myself off of the absurdly humiliated man beneath me.

"Think twice before calling someone of higher authority than you a bitch..." I sneered, clearing the dust that had gathered off my dress, muttering 'wimp' as I violently walked off, hardly sparing either one of the two a second glance.

CARDAN'S POV ...

Her eyes were off of mine as she walked away. Balekin remained on the ground, outraged as evident by the nearly knitted appearance of his eyebrows.

His nostrils flare, "Why'd you just stand there?!" he shouts.

I answer, "And why would I help you?" with confusion gnawing at me, he's acting like we've got some sort of brotherly connection.

"Because I've given you a home when father did nothing but neglect you," he says as he wipes the blood off his face but it has already stained.

As he wipes blood from his face, which is already stained, he adds, "Because I've provided you a home while father did nothing but neglect you.

"A blood-stained face to match your blood-stained hands,"

"Oh...I see what this is about," he says through a chuckle, "this is about your training isn't it?"

I scoff, "You call killing innocent people training?" He's just as corrupt as the rest of us, but he obviously has a loose screw somewhere within his mind.

"How do you expect to become a warrior if you can't handle killing a mere human?"

"Well you see, brother," I say, as I kneel next to him, my face hovering over his. "I don't give a s**t about being a warrior,"

Balekin was the one of my siblings I loathed the most. His egotism was greater than mine, and he was more savage and brutal than i, slitting the throat of any defenceless mortal without so much as batting an eye.

I got up and walked away from the shameful person he is with a look of disgust on my face.

ANASTASIA'S POV ...

I ought to be wise enough to know better than to let my guard down with someone who isn't a human.

Lying in bed I rethink what Dain had said yesterday, something about our child.

Without even considering talking to me about it, was he already arranging a whole future for the two of us?

What if I didn't want to have kids? Hell what if I'm not medically capable of having one?

My thoughts are racing, and I'm starting to question my so-called husband's intentions.

I mean, we don't even get married until the coronation, I believe. He's not even my husband yet.

There is so much he isn't telling me and I presume I have every right to know such things, like for example, the date of marriage... who am I supposed to prepare with?

I feel all too alone in this process and not being able to tell Jude about any of this is killing me.