Lechuza | L. Vikander ✔

[1.5]

She could not recall what happened next. The last thing she very clearly remembered was seeing a dagger sticking out of her husband's throat and blood staining his dark grey suit.

She did not remember screaming either. All she knew was that the most horrible nightmare she could ever have had materialized in front of her and there was nothing anyone could do to make it stop.

Who pulled her away from Alastair, who took him to the hospital and who brought her back to Vikander Mansion, she simply had no recollection of that. All she could see playing on repeat in front of her eyes was Alastair and that horrible wound.

She could not hear Cassius blaming her for the attack on his son, she could not hear anything around her because she feared that if she tried to hear, she might hear those dreaded words saying Alastair was no more.

And she could not handle it if that came true.

Sadly, it was true.

Henry and Alan had gotten to Alastair immediately and Josette had to restrain Romilda who had been shocked and couldn't stop screaming. The two of them had rushed Alastair to the hospital for medical treatment and Christopher had stayed behind to investigate the other corpse supposedly of the murderer.

But at the hospital, it was revealed that Alastair had died already, the poison from that dagger seeping into him and draining him of life almost instantly.

The Vikanders had lost yet another member.

And the only members left of that once greatly thriving family were Cassius, Romilda and that child who had not yet been born.

A child whose existence had not even been revealed to anyone other than her parents because the second appointment with Romilda's doctor was a day after the reunion event.

The same day that turned out to be Alastair's funeral.

Cassius did not take his son's death well; he was furious beyond measure, ordering the Court to hunt down the killers. And with his worsening mood, he was even rough towards Romilda who had gone into a state of petrified trauma.

She was no different than a lifeless statue who could not come to terms with the loss she had been struck with.

She attended his funeral, she saw him for the last time before his coffin was lowered into the grave, she placed a wreath on the tombstone and yet it all felt like a lie.

A lie that she would never accept, a nightmare that she was hoping with all her might to end.

Because how could Alastair leave her?

What was she without him?

"Nothing!" 

Cassius' voice roared down on the poor butler, shaking Romilda out of her trance. 

"Your life meant nothing compared to his! Where were you when he was attacked? Why did you not do anything to save him?"

Christopher was ashamed because he knew he should have thrown himself in between Alastair and the attacker and he would have done so if he had any idea what was about to happen. "Sir, I..."

"I do not care for worthless explanations! Don't you see what you've done? Alastair is dead! Dead! The one person you had to protect is dead, do you not see!" He was heaving as all that screaming down on the poor man was draining him.

Henry and Alan were there too, trying to calm Cassius down but were met with just as much rage from his side. For him, no other life mattered more than his own and his son's. And right then, his son had died due to the negligence of the people responsible for protecting him.

"Why does his life mean nothing?" 

They all turned around upon hearing that unexpected voice, seeing Romilda standing behind them. Her features were pale and stricken with grief but her eyes were no longer glassy and distant.

She was looking at Cassius right in the eye, something she would never even have thought of doing before. And her voice was shaky not because she was afraid of him but because she had had enough of him.

Cassius had not been expecting that either and his eyes narrowed, "what did you just say?"

"I said why does his life mean nothing compared to Alastair's? Why should Christopher let himself be killed just so it could keep him safe... I do not want Alastair dead, I would die without him but to have another man, a father, sacrifice himself for my husband..."

"Stay out of this," Cassius warned, his jaw twitching from the rage that was coursing through him, "and you are defending Christopher just because he has a family? Then why didn't you give your life up to save Alastair? You have no reason that could have held you back then why didn't you!"

Romilda's face was stone cold and both Henry and Alan were worried because in all the years they had known her, they had never seen her like that. It was as if Alastair's death had ripped off something inside her and that loss had changed her drastically.

"I would have died for Alastair, I would do so over and over again if I could... But then your family's heir would have died along with me as well."

She did not stay to hear his reply, she did not wait for even a second longer.

She just left and Cassius had to hold onto the person closest to him to stop himself from stumbling in shock.

He was unable to handle everything. First, his only son's death then confronting the people who he thought responsible for it and then Romilda's outburst that he had definitely not expected.

He had always trodden upon her as if she was nothing but a wretched object that his son foolishly adored. And he had felt that after Alastair, it would be even easier to demean her and rip her self-worth to shreds.

But what had just happened shocked him immensely. Those blazing green eyes, that stoic voice that hit him like a slap across the face and that revelation that she was carrying the next Vikander heir within her so he could never dare to hurt her either because in doing so, he would be risking the life inside her.

He could not handle it.

But Romilda did not pause to see what had happened. She came to her room and locked herself in, breaking down to tears at last. 

Throughout the funeral and the service, she had held herself together but she couldn't bear it any longer. She had sunk down to the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks without ceasing and her heart was breaking with all she had had to endure.

Losing Alastair should not have been a reality that she had to face in her life. It had seemed impossible and should have remained so too.

But most unfortunately, dreams come true and so do nightmares.

***