The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 96

#96 The Slaps
The two girls were absolutely mortified. That crazy red dragon was looking for them.3
Suddenly, they heard the stones above their heads making an awful noise, and, for a second, they froze, fearing that the roof was going to collapse on their heads. This would be a horrible way to die, buried alive under meters of rocks! Missandra shivered, but she pulled Cassandra’s hand again, to take her out of there. If this dragon was able to smell them or hear them, they had to get out of this secret passage as soon as possible! Both sisters kept walking, slowly and silently, until it became completely dark. Missandra, in front, had a better vision, but she had to walk very slowly, both arms extended in front of her, to make sure they weren’t hitting something. She was scared Cassandra would bump into something with her big belly but, thankfully, she soon found the end of that passage. It seemed closed, in front of them, but she recognized a fabric under her fingers, instead of rocks. They were behind some sort of curtain. Missandra waited for a second, hesitating. What if soldiers were already in the room, searching? She took a deep breath and waited a second. With her eyes blinded by the darkness, she could easily focus on her hearing.
After a full minute, she was sure there was no one on the other side. She very carefully pushed the curtain and glanced. Then, when she was sure this place was safe, she pulled Cassandra in.
This place wasn’t exactly a room, more like a large wardrobe, or a tiny storage room. There were dozen of clothes and large fabrics hung here and there like the one they had come from behind. Missandra’s first reflex was to run to the door, making sure it was closed and locked. It was, but she could hear people running on the other side. Was the door hidden on the other side? It seemed like no one was stopping to check it.
“Missandra!” Whispered Cassandra.
The older sister had just found a big bag, with some clothes, dried food and a lot of money. This was definitely for their escape. Missandra nodded, and walked up to her, away from the door, but they had another issue.
“Where are we supposed to leave?” She whispered as well. “They’ll catch us the minute we get past that door! Shall we stay here?”
“There has to be another entrance.”
Both sisters started checking the whole room out until they did found another entrance. This one was actually on the floor, hidden under several piles of heavy rugs. Missandra and Cassandra quickly worked together to clear their way to this escape route, both keeping an ear out about what was going on the other side: 1 the Dragon’s growls every now and then, but it seemed further from their position. Cassandra think, at the moment. She just focused on getting to that exit, and silently prayed for Lady Kareen to be alright.
Finally, they cleared the path, but just as they were about to get in, someone slammed on the door.
“Here! There is some secret entrance!”
Cassandra froze. They were just about to get there! Within a split second, she took her decision. She threw the bag at Missandra and pushed her sister towards the opening.
“What! Cassandra!”
“We don’t have time to both leave! Take the bag and meet me outside the Palace!”
“But…”
“Missandra, I don’t have time to get in, and if I do and they forcefully pull me out of there, I’m afraid they’ll hurt – me and the baby. Don’t worry, go. You’re tiny enough, you can escape and I’ll close it behind you.”
“Hinue!”
“I promise I’ll find a way to leave, but if they catch you, Vrehan can kill you on the spot. He can’t kill me inside the Diamond Palace, there are too many witnesses. Linue, I promise I’ll find a way to get out of here. Now, go!” 1
Missandra hesitated, but another violent slam resonated on the door, and, no matter what, it was now obviously too late for Cassandra. She bit her lower lip and squeezed in the little opening. As soon as she was in, Cassandra pulled the rugs next to her, making a pile collapse to hide it. If they found her there, with the other entrance exposed, they wouldn’t think of looking for someone else through a second exit. She took a deep breath, and retreated at the back of the room, waiting for the door to be broke open.
It only took a few more seconds, and soldiers barged in, yelling and grabbing her forcefully.
“Who were you talking to!”
“Let me go! I was praying, now let me go!”
“Your Highness! We found the criminal!”
Cassandra kept thinking of a way to free herself without struggling too much and risking getting hurt herself. However, both men were obviously stronger than her, and she couldn’t find a solution until Vrehan arrived with his sister a minute later. Lady Kareen was there, too, and she became livid when their eyes met.
“Let go! How dare you brutalize a pregnant woman!” She roared.
“Who cares,” hissed Phetra, “She’s a criminal!”
“She is a suspect, you damn bitch, and she carries a Dragon Prince, too!” Yelled Kareen. 3
If her yell only angered Phetra more, the Imperial Concubine’s stance was enough to terrorize the two guards holding Cassandra, who realized she was right. Despite their master being right there, they both eased their grip on her arms, a bit whiter than before.
Meanwhile, Cassandra was trying to assess the situation as quickly as possible, despite being scared. Because the corridor they were in was rather narrow, there were only a dozen guards, plus Vrehan, Phetra, and Kareen. No large Dragon could squeeze in there, and Srai was probably hiding somewhere. Cassandra was not a fighter, but she was sure of one thing: if she left the Diamond Palace with the second Prince, she wouldn’t be able to survive. No matter what, she had to find a way to escape before they brought her out of the Palace and Kareen’s protection.
“I wonder why a suspect was hiding,” hissed Vrehan.
“Who said I was hiding, your Highness? This is a storage room, I had come to look for some fabric,” replied Cassandra.
She wasn’t used to lying through her teeth, but those few weeks with Kareen had taught her a couple of things. The Prince was obviously glaring at her round belly, and Cassandra really didn’t like that glare’s meaning.
“You damn little witch,” said Phetra.
“You look like you’re doing well, your Highness,” retorted Cassandra.
That was an obvious lie this time. Phetra still had bandages all over, and some large scars on her body. She had obviously been in a lot of pain, but if she angered her, Cassandra was hoping to win some more time, or create an issue that would allow her to escape…
However, she hadn’t thought about what happened next. Phetra stepped forward, with a little smile.
“Oh, you think so?”
Then, she slapped Cassandra.
That slap wasn’t very strong, but if she hadn’t been held by the two men, she might have fallen down. Phetra was smiling wide, but behind her, Kareen went mad.
“You crazy little bitch! How dare you injure Cassandra, the War God’s Favorite! In my Palace!”
“Injure her? This was merely a little slap!”
With that, Phetra slapped Cassandra a second time, before Kareen could react, on the other cheek this time. Cassandra felt the pain resonate from her cheek through her whole body. Even her baby reacted, kicking. A strange worry crossed her mind. Was her baby feeling her pain? Was he okay? She could handle a few slaps from Phetra, but if anything happened to her baby…! 2
“Phetra, enough! Stop it!” Yelled Kareen.
“What? Does it hurt? I think she needs another one!”
However, to her surprise, someone pushed her away from Cassandra, taking the slap à second later. The Princess was so surprised that she stepped back, looking at who she had slapped this time.
“Dahlia!” Exclaimed Cassandra. (1)
Her handmaiden was standing in front of her, in a protective stance. Cassandra had no idea where she had come from, but the young maid was obviously resolved into protecting her at any cost.
“Please don’t touch her!” She claimed despite shivering in fear.
However, Phetra was too furious to listen to the young servant at the moment. She glared at her.
“You want to protect her, you little rat? You think you can oppose me?”
A red flash appeared in front of Cassandra’s eyes. She didn’t understand what had happened. Dahlia collapsed at her feet, her eyes opened wide in surprise, her throat sliced wide open. Cassandra’s ears went deaf, and she started feeling numb. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. She couldn’t speak, only watch the girl dying at her feet. Somehow, a rational part of her brain knew that this was not an injury anyone could heal. It was open wide, and bleeding way too much, too fast. The shock got her completely numb, her blood leaving her face, and she didn’t even react to what happened next. (8
It wasn’t until Phetra screamed that she looked up. Vrehan had brutally grasped his sister’s throat, throwing her to the ground, and it was her scream of pain that made Cassandra come back to her senses.
“I said to not kill anyone yet! Are you so stupid that you can’t understand such orders!” He yelled.
His brutal yelling surprised Cassandra, and she looked their way, still stunned, barely understanding what was going on around her now. Then, Vrehan brutally kicked his sister, who was already on the floor. The incredible violence of this situation gave Cassandra another shock, waking her from her slumber. She had never seen Vrehan being violent, but he kicked his sister’s injured leg twice, making her scream in pain.
“Brother stop it!” She screamed, tears running down her face, terrorized. “Stop it, please! You can’t kill me, Brother. I know your secret! You can’t kill me!” 2
“I will kill you if you disobey me again, you useless bitch!”
Cassandra felt like she was dreaming. The two siblings she had always seen as perfect accomplices were fighting, and Phetra was crying on the floor, opposite to Dahlia’s dead body. This was so unreal. This had to be a nightmare, one she was going to wake up from.
This only lasted a minute, however. Vrehan stopped kicking his sister, out of breath and glared at her one last time before taking a deep breath, returning to his normal stance. Cassandra had never seen a scarier attitude than that. He was abusing his own sister just a few seconds ago, but now, he was turning to her, looking perfectly calm and composed. This man was worse than a monster.
“Now, enough of you women fighting. You’re coming with me,” he hissed at her.
After that scene, there was no way Cassandra was going with him. She was terrorized, in shock, but her survival instinct was screaming in her head to not go with that man, no matter what happened. She couldn’t get the vision of Dahlia’s death out of her mind, but now, her eyes were focused on Vrehan’s hand that was coming close to grab
her. Cassandra retreated, even pulling the two soldiers who hadn’t expected her to resist.
“Don’t touch me,” she said, with a cold voice.
Her emerald eyes had never been so determined, so defiant. Even the Prince was shocked for a second, but soon enough, Vrehan frowned.
“Don’t you dare oppose me, you damn witch…”
He tried to extend his arm to grab her again, but just as he approached his hand, a white shadow brutally jumped from behind Cassandra. It took a quick leap onto her shoulder and pounced on the Prince’s arm. Vrehan screamed and stumbled back as horrifying sounds came from his arm. Blood flew, the flesh brutally ripped open, and he pulled back his hand covered in blood, some fingers missing or chunked off. Cassandra looked down, but whatever it was had just jumped in a flash on one of the soldiers holding her, attacking him violently. The small creature was biting the man, and growling furiously. The other soldier let go of her arm, terrified, while Cassandra looked down at it, speechless.
When the man stopped moving, the little dragon turned its head towards Cassandra. His two big emerald eyes stared at her for a second, and, without warning, he jumped to her with a cute little squeak. Cassandra barely had time to open her arms and receive it. It was so heavy! However, she was more stunned by the gorgeous, adorable silver-scaled creature in her arms, rubbing its little head against her chest. He was growling softly, just like Krai would whenever she was scratching his snout.
“Oh, by the Lord… Don’t tell me you’re…”
“The baby dragon,” whispered Lady Kareen, on the verge of tears. “He hatched already! To protect his mother!”