When Kingdoms Crumble

4

I hoisted Cyrus onto the bed face down. Charlotte watched me, but never helped. She was completely useless to me.

I blew out a breath I had been holding in and turned back to Charlotte.

"You know how to work that shower thing?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Good. Turn it on."

She looked confused by my command, but nodded slowly and went into the bathroom. When she came back out she went right to Cyrus and sat by him. She gripped his hand and rubbed little circles on the top of it. I didn't know why she did that. He needed to rest. He didn't need to be bothered by her at the moment, but I was tired and couldn't be bothered by her odd behavior.

I stripped the dirty clothing off and tossed it on the ground before getting into the shower. I could admit that I liked it a little, but I still thought it was unnecessary.

I rinsed the blood from my body and hair. I wanted to use the things inside the shower, but he hadn't coded them for me yet so I didn't know which was which. Perhaps Charlotte knew. I wondered if Cyrus taught her how to read and write. It was entirely possible. He did care about the girl even if it was stupid of him to. There was nothing she could offer him. Ever. Unless he turned her, of course.

"Charlotte," I called.

When I didn't get a response, I felt something wasn't right. She was eager to please everyone. She should have ran right in.

I left the water running and snuck out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around my body and crept towards the door. Listening carefully for any sounds inside the other room, I decided I needed a weapon just in case. I looked around for anything I could use, but there wasn't much.

I grabbed another towel and wound it around my hands. Worst case, I choke the intruder into submission. Maybe confuse them enough to get the upper hand.

I peeked out into the room to see Charlotte holding Cyrus' hand on the bed with another man standing in front of her. I could only see his back, but his size was intimidating even to me. His shoulders were broad and his waist tapered enough to hint at a lot of physical work.

Charlotte was back to crying, as per usual, but the man didn't comment. Instead, he ran a hand through his dark shoulder length hair. His muscles tensed and rippled with the movement. Half way through he stopped and quickly turned to me.

His ruby eyes locked with mine. He took in my appearance and fully turned to me with his arms crossed over his barrel chest.

"Quinn," he greeted.

The raise of my eyebrows would have been his only indication I heard him. I didn't know who he was or what he was doing here.

"Who are you?"

"Cain," he said. He approached me quickly and held his large hand out to me.

I hesitated, unsure of what he wanted. I looked at his extended hand then back to him. He pulled it back to his side when I didn't give him whatever he wanted.

"You're different than I imagined," he commented.

"How do you know my name?"

"I led the army long before my little brother. I knew your parents."

I wasn't aware of another prince. I always thought it was just Cyrus.

"I wasn't aware there was another royal."

"Most humans aren't. We never met, but your father spoke of you and your sister often."

Three years later and my sister was still a sore subject for me. I didn't talk about her to anyone. I hadn't talked about the massacre of my family ever. I couldn't remember crying after it happened. I remembered the look Maddox gave me when he saw me cry just before the massacre happened. It was like a sort of satisfaction washed over him. After that, I didn't cry again. I wanted revenge.