THE Knight's Hidden Princess
Chapter 158: Never Underestimate An Evil Bastard

Chapter 158: Never Underestimate An Evil Bastard

REAGAN POV

My chest continued to beat faster as I kicked the door of the armory open, startling everyone that was inside.

"Get prepared for battle now, go wake up the rest of the guards and tell them to start preparing!" I yelled at them.

My soldiers were smart enough not to question me, instead they stood up and scrambled away to go and do as I asked. I quickly found the weapon racks where I grabbed my sword and set it sharply on the table. I reached for my vest and wore it, I strapped some daggers inside of it. Then I reached for my twin swords and strapped the belt to my back.

I was about to reach for some bows and arrows when Killian and Nikolai burst inside the armory looking at me with a look of confusion on their faces. Killian seemed to get himself back together again because he was now putting on a shirt and the buttons seemed to be buttoned up wrongly from rushing. But there was a look of fear on his face.

"I shouldn’t have left!" Nikolai breathed out and I knew he was blaming himself, "I shouldn’t have left!"

"Don’t blame yourself Nikolai, there’s nothing you could have done!" I said as I went to the weapons rack searching for anything else that might have been of help.

Killian stared at me, "Reagan..."

What else am I missing? I’ve got my sword, I’ve readied men but how many men did Skornir say Sigurd was sending again?

"Reagan."

Sigurd, that evil bastard! How could he think to send men where his own daughter was?

"Reagan.."

Oh gods! He was going to kill them all! He was going to burn the whole place to the ground. I’ve seen what Sigurd did to people when he was angry with them and now that Dahlia was on the receiving end of his wrath, she was....gods, I can’t even complete that thought. I can’t lose Dahlia, I can’t...

"REAGAN!"

"WHAT?" I roared back turning to look at Nikolai and Killian who stared at me then back down to the sword in my hands that I was holding that was trembling with so much force that I had to use my other hand to hold it steady.

Nikolai took a cautious step forward, "Look Reagan, you need to stay calm..."

My head snapped up at that and he could tell that it was the wrong thing to say because his eyes darted nervously to Killian who swallowed his eyes darting between back and forth between me and Nikolai.

"Calm down?" I asked as I stared at him in disbelief, "Some warriors who have been getting themselves high on ember dusts are going after my wife and they are not just any warriors, they are the Draumheimiers, tough sons of bastard and they are going after my wife and you expect me to be calm?"

The draumheimiers were warriors from the kingdom of Draumheim! They were ruthless warriors with barbaric attitudes, the kind to kill first before asking questions! The draumheimiers didn’t believe in monarchy, they believed in conquest. In strength and in blood.

They didn’t kneel before crowns, in fact they hated anything that has to do with them which was why I was surprised that Sigurd got them to do their bidding.

Never underestimate an evil bastard!

"Well we need you calm so you will be able to think!" Nikolai said not willing to back down.

I shook my head, I can’t calm down. "I can’t calm down, not until I see her. So I need to leave to go and protect her!"

"They already left." Killian stated, "They’ve been on the road ever since we’ve been interrogating Skornir."

"WELL I DON’T CARE!" I yelled at him, "We are going to get Dahlia back and I do not care if they are on their way but one thing I do know is that I am getting my wife out of that place before those sons of hells can reach her." I said with a note of finality in my voice as I headed for the door, "The only question I should be asking is are you coming or not?" I them before I turned my back to them finally walking out.

It didn’t take long before I heard footsteps coming after me, heavy and determined. If the situation wasn’t so serious, I would have turned around just so I could smile. I knew I could always count on the two of them.

"Guess we need to come up with a plan!"

"The way I see it there’s only one plan!" I said as I continued to walk, my steps fueled with determination, "And that’s getting Dahlia back home!"

***

DAHLIA POV

I reread the letter that Reagan had given me more times than I actually read the book he had smuggled inside mount callum through Ivana. The letter has become my first habit in the morning and it becomes my last before I go to bed.

I miss him so much!

I just want to see him, hold him and see that stupid smirk of his, or that familiar smug grin which emerges naturally anytime he wins an argument or from making extreme statements to mock me. It is funny how I used to hate that grin but right now, I would trade anything just to witness it once more.

I stared back down at the papers in my hands with the torn edges because I have read it too many times, enough to start remembering some of the words. There were some signs of smudged ink at its edges from spilled drops of tears that were mine.

Oh gods I miss him! I said sighing heavily.

"You really miss him that bad?"

I turned around only to find a woman I didn’t know standing behind me. I was sitting in the same pool I had run away from three days ago but now I was back. Still not swimming but I figured if I took it slow I might find it easier get inside of it which is why I’m putting my feet inside of it.

The woman smiled at me as she approached me, she was pregnant too and her belly looked so big for her small short frame, I wondered if she was carrying more than one baby inside of her. She took a seat right next to me as though I had gave her any intention that I wanted to speak with her.

She peered down at the letter in my hands but I folded it quickly, quelling down the childish urge I have to tuck it under my arm and yell ’it’s mine!’

"So I guess the hellhound isn’t the terrible monster that we all made him out to be!" The woman said more to herself than me and I stared at her not saying anything, "Oh sorry, I’m princess Maryanne of Vertimis." She said with a smile.

Vertimis, the winter home! I smiled at her, "Lady Dahlia Hawthorne." I said with a smile which she returned.

"Yeah, daughter of the evil twisted king." She said, although there was no bite in her tone, she just stated a fact but she seemed appalled at the fact that she said them because she slapped a hand to her mouth, "Oh gods, I can’t believe that I just said that out loud! Oh gods above, my mouth will be the death of me, I am so sorry, please don’t kill me!" She rushed out while holding her mouth.

I snorted a laugh at the way she was acting and being unable to help myself, I laughed out loud. The sound unrestrained and it was the first genuine laughter that had escaped me in multiple days and man does it feel good.

Maryanne peeked through the fingers she slammed on my face, visibly relaxing when she saw that I was in good spirits rather than being offended. She laughed along with me, the sound forced and void of humor.

"So you are not angry?"

"There is no use getting angry over common knowledge." I said as I eased backwards on my hands, "I just laughed because you were the first among the nobles that will ever admit it to my face."

Maryanne stared at me with a smile on her face and she heaved out a sigh before she shook her head. "My father always said my mouth was going to be death of me."

"Well since you are still alive, I’m going to assume that is nothing but a lie." I told her and she smiled at me, "So what’s your story?"

"Oh, nothing really interesting." She said with a small laugh, "Just a woman fulfilling her duties because that is all we have to do in this world right?" She asked with a laugh and all I could do was just stare at her.

Marryanne was about to say something when all of a sudden, the door to the pool room slammed open and two women entered their faces tense but there was also something else.

I was already rising up from the pool and I had to reach down to pull Maryanne up. "What? What is it?" I asked them.

"We need to leave now!" The women said grabbing Maryanne while the other one grabbed me.

"What is it?" I demanded worried about their sudden behavior.

"There is no type to explain_" The woman said but we suddenly got interrupted with a loud bang that rocked the earth from under us.

Marryanne grew pale as she looked around, her eyes wide with fear. "What..." She breathe out, "What is that?"

The woman heaved out a sigh as the grip on her spear tightened. "We are under attack!"