Queen Dawna

015

Dawna: 24
Pixie: 20

Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound
Taylor Swift; Safe and Sound

Pixie had been welcomed by her crying family when they had reached the small house. Everyone, even the smallest children were crying and heartbroken.

The two young women had not spoken a word since the carriage had left the castle; simply because Dawna did not know what to say and Pixie could not stop crying.

'There you are!' a familiar voice shouted. Soon, the Queen noticed how her mother came running towards them and hugged her daughter tightly. 'Come here my darling girl.'

The pale Queen could not stop the awkward feeling from entering her body as the dotted woman was welcomed in her family's arms. Her blue eyes drifted off to the house were all the windows seemed to be broken. A trail of blood welcomed her as she slowly made her way in the house. The red stripes on the floor led her to the couples bedroom where her eyes found Mathias' body.

The room itself was painted with fresh and red blood; his body lie lifeless on the bed. His dark eyes stared to the ceiling with an empty expression. Dawna soon found out that someone had slit his throat and stabbed him multiple times in his heart with a knife. He had scrams on his wrists and a handprint faintly noticeable in his neck. Not only had someone killed the man; Mathias had tried to escape but had failed doing so in the end.

'H-How bad is it?' a small voice echoed through the room, causing the pale woman to look up.

Pixie stood in the doorstep with her eyes fixated on the ground. For the first time ever, Dawna could not enjoy the sadness and heartbreak to which another human being went through; for the first time she felt a vaguely feeling of sympathy.

'I am not going to lie,' the Queen spoke. 'It is bad. Real bad. It looks as if someone came in, surprised your husband and tried to kill him. Looking at his wounds he has tried to escape, causing the killer to grab him by his wrists, throw him on the bed and strange him. I think that this strangling killed him.'

'Then why do I see blood everywhere?' the dotted woman asked with her eyes still focused on the ground.

'That is the worst part about this,' Dawna replied. 'Someone cut his throat and stabbed him multiple times, probably after he died.'

Her words caused the broken woman to slowly bring her eyes up until they met the dead body of her husband. Within seconds, the dotted woman stumbled to her side and almost fell on the ground as loud sobs left her lips. The Queen did not move at all, her bright blue eyes watched how the other woman fell apart from afar. She should have probably said something, yet her mind could not think of one single thing to say.

'H-How c-can you b-be s-so certain?'

'I cannot,' the pale woman replied as her eyes scanned the body again. 'I do have a lot of experience with these kinds of crimes, however. So, I know that this person was either a ghost from his past or an enemy he recently made. The stabbing in his heart and the fact that his throat was slit after his dead suggests that he or she hated your husband and wanted revenge.'

Once again, the dotted woman cried loudly. The tears that left her eyes were combined with the red blood of her husband as sobs left her lips.

'Do you want to come closer? '

The dotted woman shook her head but took a step forward anyhow. 'I-I can't.'

'Alright then, you do not have to. Can you tell me anything about his behaviour from this evening? Did he act strange or scared?'

Pixie nodded before taking yet another step closer.

'Did he have a lot of enemies?'

'No, none. Everyone l-loved him. I-I loved h-him.'

'Exactly and that is why I will do everything I can to find whoever is responsible for this. Now tell me, did he have debts? Did he ever steal anything from anyone?'

Once more she shook her head whilst her legs took a step closer. Her dark eyes were fixated on his body as tears made her vision blurry. All of a sudden, the wind caused the door to close, revealing a massage written with blood on the other side of the door.

Dawna's blue eyes became bigger as her heart stopped for a quick second. Nothing could have caught her off her guard, nothing expect this message.

'Keep looking at him or at me,' her trembling voice sounded with a stern tone in it. 'Whatever you do, do not turn around. Did you hear me? Do not turn around?'

'Why not? What is going on?' the scared woman asked before she disobeyed her Queen and turned around. A loud gasp left her lips as her eyes red the awful message over and over again.

Dawna could almost hear Pixies heart shrink inside of her chest as she read the threat over and over again.

You will be next. Then your son.

It was clear with whose blood it was written, and it was clear what it meant. Someone was after them and Dawna would not stand it.

'It seems we are either taking about a serial killer or someone who despises your entire family,' the pale woman concluded before her eyes found a darker pair. 'You are not safe.'

'Who would do this? Why?'

'Do not worry, you will have a change to think about that later. Right now, we need to get you and Loöys out of here. Every minute you stay here you are risking your lives.'

'What are you suggesting? We have nowhere to go. This is our home, that's my husband, and this is my family. I can't just leave them.'

In that moment, Dawna made a decision that would cost her greatly. Yet, she could not allow the two to get hurt in any way. It was quite clear to her that the murdered was an amateur which meant that he would be found within days.

'You do,' she spoke. 'Loöys and you can stay in the castle for as long as necessary.'

'I can't abandon my family like that,' the dotted woman spoke before another sob left her lips. 'I can't leave Mathias.'

'Your family is not under threat,' the pale Queen spoke. 'It is a miracle that your son is alive so you must protect him and yourself at all costs. The both of you will be safe in the castle and I will personally make sure that no one, and then I mean absolutely no one, can do as much as put a scratch you.'

'Why are y-you doing t-this?' the dotted woman asked while she took her husbands hand in hers.

The Queen shrugged before speaking up again. 'It is what you do for friends, I suppose.'