Moon Born

Chapter 34

The week surprisingly went by without much incident. Samantha did as she was instructed and never interacted with me. Even though I did catch her attempting to flirt with Edmond.

Perhaps it was because we were mated, but I wasn't even mad about it. It was more amusing than anything. Poor Edmond though. He looked so uncomfortable and confused.

Diana never left me. She stayed through all of the training and throughout the evening. She had such a sad, sorrowful aura about her. I couldn't figure out why. I wanted to ask, but how do you ask someone who's supposed to be dead what's wrong with them?

Everyone must have noticed that the week was quiet. We sat at dinner done night not really talking. Most people just ate or pushed their food around while glancing around nervously. There was no reason for us to be nervous. 

I sipped at the beef stew, watching Edmond, Ashley, and Alastair. None of them even looked up from their supper.

I knew it was too quiet.

The doors to the massive cafeteria where the warriors all ate together blew open and a ragged, blood-covered man stumbled in.

"Pr-prince Edmond?" he called out.

Edmond stood up so quickly his chair fell backward, landing with a loud thud behind him.

"Y-your mother. She's...she's...." He couldn't finish his sentence before he started crying.

"My mother? She what? What's wrong with my mother?" he yelled, running to the man.

"There was an attack, your majesty. The castle was swarmed. Your father fought them valiantly, but your mother was injured."

He sighed heavily before stumbling back. "But she's alive?"

"Yes, majesty. She is alive but badly injured."

"Where is she?"

"They retreated to the tunnels."

"The tunnels? What tunnels?'

"In the ancient part of the castle, there were tunnels built in case a quick escape was needed."

"Where do they lead?" Edmond questioned.

"Here," Andrew said, standing up. "Follow me."

We followed him to a shed behind the stables. It was unassuming and I thought it was just for tools or something.

He opened the door and pulled a shelf that was on hinges away from the wall revealing a hidden door. He pulled a key ring from his belt and stuck an old bronze skeleton key into the keyhole.

 The ancient lock screeched as he unlocked the door. We entered the musty, dusty old tunnel and started walking along the passage.

After an hour of walking, we ran into the group of survivors. King Orsand had Queen Amelia in his arms. Her breathing was shallow and staggered. The shirt she wore was soaked in blood and a tear in the fabric on her stomach revealed a deep wound.

"Queen Amelia!" I cried.

"Mother?"

"She's fine. She's just passed out."

"Alpha!" Phil moved forward, no longer in his butler suit.

"Phil?" I asked.

"Philip, what happened?"

"Sir, we were ambushed. We had our guard up but there were just too many of them. I attempted to fight off as many as I could. I believe I managed to kill at least ten of them before we had to flee."