"And these are the gardens," Nilsa said, leading Marge and Johnathon through the palace.

Though Nilsa could feel the stares of the guards not too far behind her, Ronan had been right when he'd said that Johnathon and Marge could present better company. Nilsa enjoyed seeing their amazed faces the next morning whenever they entered a new room of the palace and was only grateful that she was able to provide them with it. Neither of them grew up around luxury by any means, nor did they ever favor it over their village lives. This was a vacation, but neither of them wanted more than what they already had. They just needed each other.

"All the colors!" Marge said with a gasp, her eyes running all over the flowers. "These aren't even in season and still look stunning."

"They have some talented gardeners under their belts," I responded. "This is arguably my favorite place in the entire palace." It was her first place she'd been to when she'd arrived, and the awe had barely worn off since.

"I can see why."

Nilsa let them wander the gardens for several minutes before Johnathon caught sight of the statues not too far off, suggesting that they moved there.

Marge cursed. "It's bloody bright and I forgot my hat in our room."

"No worries," Nilsa said. "I'll go inform the guards. We can go grab it."

Marge quipped a quick thanks before she was distracted by the flowers again, and Nilsa re-entered the palace.

It was quieter than usual, the hallways abnormally empty as well. Nilsa was surprised to see that the guards weren't waiting for her as she entered. She knew they'd been instructed to stay concealed the best they could to not make her uncomfortable, but they would have stepped out by now.

Nilsa turned a corner, stopping dead in her tracks when she took in the gruesome sight in front of her. Blood was everywhere, spilling fresh from the open wounds of three guards and across the white marble.

Nilsa took a step back when it started to reach her toes. She backed directly into a waiting figure

who wasted no time in capturing her in a tight hold with a sharp dagger rested at Nilsa's throat.

"Scream and those little friends of yours will get their throats slit," Kielle hissed in her ear.

Nilsa tried to control the pace of her breathing, if only to ensure that she didn't puncture herself on the blade from breathing too hard. "The high beings don't react well to their prophets being harmed," she warned.

Kielle laughed. "I couldn't hurt you if I wanted to. Queen's orders."

Nilsa turned an eye towards the palace entrance. She could hear the faint sound of conversation from her friends, who were still unsuspecting. "You're going to have to if you want me to go to Velpavane." She would only go over her dead body.

"We've been calculative," Kielle told her. "We will have no problems coming from your side."

In Kielle's defense, which didn't count for much, she stood behind Nilsa and couldn't have seen the white glow from Nilsa's eyes. Unlike recent occasions, this was all Citali's doing. "Then your calculations were quite mediocre." Before Kielle could have reacted, Citali had already swept the red head's feet out from under her, pushing the dagger from Nilsa's throat as she did so.

Kielle was back on her feet in record time, sending a kick towards Citali that was expertly dodged. Even in the confined space in the back of her mind, Nilsa could feel the air whipping across her face as Citali spun in an effort to dodge whatever Kielle threw at her. Kielle was fast, faster than the average soldier and stronger too. There was definitely a reason why she was Corvina's right-hand woman.

The dance only stopped when Kielle was ripped from her fighting position by a strong force. Caspian threw her twenty feet away where she slammed against a wall. It was almost inhumane, the way that Kielle got up and dusted herself off, sprinting towards Caspian as if he hadn't thrown her with enough power to shatter her spine.

Nilsa was pushed back into control of her body. She rushed out of the palace, Johnathon and Marge meeting her halfway with worried eyes. "What's happening?" Marge asked. "We heard something."

"There's an attack inside. You two need to find one of them." Nilsa didn't need to specify as they were already rushing away.

Nilsa, against the more intelligent part of her, ran back inside and towards the guards lying on the ground. She found herself kneeling in their blood. There was so much of it that she wasn't able to pinpoint where it was coming from. Nilsa almost cringed when she pressed a hand against their chests, already expecting the lack of breathing.

"Dear Father," Czarin said, running towards Nilsa, who was now stained with blood. "Are you wounded?"

Nilsa shook her head, getting up from her crouched position. The hem of her dress sagged under the weight of the blood as the thick liquid had soaked in the growing puddle. "No. I'm fine." She felt more guilty than she could comprehend. They were dead because they were responsible for her.

"Marge found me. What's going on?"

Nilsa almost gestured to the scene that had been behind her, but the hall was empty instead. That was until Caspian was thrown across a hall and then sprinted back down and out of sight. "Kielle is here. Tried to kidnap me, but Caspian intercepted. You need to help him."

Czarin shook her head. "I can't. This is his fight, and if he manages, his kill as well. I can't interfere with that. I'm not sure he'd ever forgive me."

Nilsa wanted to protest but she bit her lip instead. "We can't leave him either." She didn't ask for permission before rushing down the hall. Czarin followed her, but both of them stopped before they fully turned the corner.

Caspian fought hard and with rage, but Kielle fought back with all her might, which was more than enough to keep her alive. The woman was stronger, faster, and smarter than any mortal Nilsa had ever seen. Kielle was almost as powerful as a god.

Kielle laughed, side-stepping Caspian's kick. "You never deserved her, Caspian."

"You can have her," Caspian bit back, swinging a fist that only met air. "She's dead to me."

Nilsa knew she was hearing something she wasn't supposed to, but she feared leaving him in the case that something went wrong. She couldn't fight Kielle, but Czarin and Citali could.

"She would have given you anything!"
"Funny. She took everything from me." Caspian managed to push her to the ground, a hand around her throat that held her against the floor. "Last words?" He asked, an electric violet dagger appearing in his hand.

Kielle didn't respond. Instead, she gritted her teeth and before Nilsa could warn him, a dagger coated with a liquid substance had been driven from her hand and into his heart at the same time his electric weapon missed its target and landed in Kielle's shoulder. They both scream, ripping apart from each other in pain. Kielle had trouble standing, but Caspian's screams of pain never stopped.

"Get up, Caspian!" Czarin hissed.

Nilsa shook her head. She'd seen Caspian throughout the games, many of which had ended with sharp weapons imbedding themselves into his body, or severe burns coating his skin, but through all of that, he barely did more than yelp. "Something's wrong. That dagger was poisoned."

Czarin's amber eyes widened in realization.

Kielle yelled in pain as she ripped the electric dagger from her shoulder, burns on her hand appearing as she dropped it. Through a series of grunts, she bent down and ripped the dagger from his body, causing another scream to come out of Caspian. Czarin was already moving as Kielle tried to send the dagger home. Czarin pushed Kielle's hands in the opposite direction, the dagger digging into Kielle's stomach instead.

Kielle was retreating to a wall as Czarin bent down in panic over her brother, the goddess' hand shaking in a way that Nilsa hadn't seen before.

Through two different injuries, Kielle was limping at full speed into another hall. Czarin noticed as well, looking between Caspian and the retreating Kielle.

Nilsa ran forward. "Go," she order Czarin. "I'll handle him."

Czarin looked torn between her two options, but shot up from her kneeling position to sprint down the hall.

Though he was bleeding profusely, Nilsa was able to spot the source much easier than the guards. The wound was deep, and considering her only experience with wounds lay with injured kids in small villages, this was out of her league. She unbuttoned his thin, white shirt, pushing it aside to reveal the bleeding wound underneath.

Nilsa tried not to focus on the blood as she ripped a piece of her dress, a piece that hadn't already been soaked with blood, and pressed it against the wound in a small effort to stop the bleeding. Caspian screamed at the contact, which made her apologize profusely but she could only press harder.

"What in the hell?" Rieka asked loudly with wide eyes. Nilsa barely looked at the goddess, panic still fresh in her mind. She did notice all five of the other siblings behind Rieka, all of which were too shocked at the scene to move.

"Please." Nilsa's words came out in a heavy, exhausted breath. "I will answer questions later but you need to help him."

Rieka followed directions, kneeling on the other side of Caspian to aid Nilsa. Nilsa knew that Rieka had far more knowledge in this than she did. All of them probably did, which is why she moved to the side for Gideon and Thorin to step in.

"This isn't right," Rieka said, her hands flying in different directions all over her brother. Alaeca had moved to support Caspian's head in her lap, Gideon was moving clothing, and Thorin was taking over the piece of fabric Nilsa was using to stop the bleeding. "He should be healing. No, he's getting worse."

"He was stabbed with a dagger, one that was poisoned," Nilsa explained. "I don't know what it was."

They were doing everything through Caspian's loud cries of pain. "I need to get him to the medic, immediately," Rieka told them. Chryseis left with the order.

"What do you mean he's getting worse?" Alaeca asked.

"I mean it as it is." Nilsa didn't miss the look of terror that ran through her eyes, no matter how hard the goddess tried to conceal it. "If we don't get whatever poison that is inside of him out of his body, he will die."