Chapter 211 - He Who Must Die Twice

"Narses ...?!" she met her sweetest brother's hard stare, and didn't believe what she saw there. "He's… Your brother too!"

"You think I'm being harsh, don't you? Do you think I have changed, or that I cannot understand how good it was to meet you after so long, and after going through so many things ... But, Alexa, I haven't changed that much. Everything I was taught remains inside of me. And I know I don't want my brother to live on this land as half, and as a prisoner in a sorry state. I prefer to meet him in another life, and I hope we are relatives, or friends," Narses stood up after his harsh words, cleaning the grass from his robe.

Lex sniffed and swept away the tears from the Second Prince's eyes. It wouldn't be good if the Prince was caught crying.

She wasn't as strong as Narses, she knew. She didn't have the stuff of a Tanaion, who was prepared for it. She didn't doubt it was the right thing to do, but she never thought someone would require her to do it!

"I'll do it ... if he wants to! I can't force him!" she exclaimed.

"Even if he doesn't want to, Alexa, it's necessary!" Narses insisted, but lowered his voice when he realized that he had caught the priests' eyes.

She felt the absence of Alexander, suddenly, and worried,

"Where is he?"

"I don't know," replied her brother, crouching again. "It's weird to look at you now, inside this body. If you were a boy, I guess this is how you would have looked."

"There's no explanation for that, is there?" Alexa questioned her older brother.

"He has been dreaming of you since he was a child, according to what he told me."

Lex nodded, slowly. Narses made a face, and asked,

"You know what he is, don't you?"

°°°

Alexander didn't return for the rest of the day, and Lex didn't have time to look for him at the castle.

Activities with ministers occupied the entire afternoon, and news of problems on the eastern border with Baron Florian's kingdom worried even General Egon. Holstein had recently sent men to the western border, to help defend the kingdom of Würtz as the alliances demanded. The army was short on this threat.

Lex tried her best not to make the Prince Regent seem intimidated by the amount of information and decision-making. Nor arrogant to the point of committing nonsense and making Alexander a fool for wasting wise advice.

Duke Kurt was there by the Prince's side, as promised, as was Father Agnello.But they both conducted themselves as discreet advisers. They mostly helped questioned the ministers so the prince Regent could see more sides of the subjects, and also questioned what Prince Gutard had done on similar occasions in the past. It helped the Prince Regent make some informed decisions. Yet, there were so many things to deal with!

Still, Lex felt so pressured, more than when she did the Order's initiation rituals! Right now, many lives and destinies depended on the Prince's decisions!

Not to hesitate at all, when having this kind of power in one's hands should demand more than cold blood and courage, she thought. It should demand madness and irresponsibility. Lex knew how precious lives and resources were, in times of plague and war.

That day, the Prince Regent didn't even have time to visit Prince Gutard. Lex imagined Alexander would be brooding, holed up by his father's bed. She knew he needed some time after everything he heard from Narses.

Then, not knowing exactly what she would find when she returned to Magnus, Alexa went to bed, protected by Balbo. The Prince Regent's whereabouts tonight supposedly were in his room, fasting and praying for his father's recovery.

Alexa decided that she would think carefully about what to do before telling Magnus what's on her mind. After all, she wasn't sure of anything, and it would only hurt them...

But one day she had to find out the truth, didn't she?

°°°

The Princess woke up a little tight inside a large chest, and hearing all kinds of battle noises outside. The clash of swords, grunts and dragging steps, crashing things, and the restlessness of the steeds.

She pushed the lid of the chest, which was unlocked. And just as she was going to peek out, she caught a glimpse of Magnus's boot pressing to close the lid,

"NOT YET, DARLING! I NEED TO SOLVE SOMETHING HERE! GRUFNH! "

She was quick enough to bend her head and take her fingers off the edge, when the lid slammed shut on her!

'But what's going on? What's it, are we really being assaulted this time?!'

The noises moved away, and Alexa sensed that Magnus lured the opponent away. The Princess could still hear them, actually, but at least they weren't exactly on top of her!

So she risked opening the chest again, and looked around.

The princess was surrounded by chaos, but at least Alexa knew where she was! In front of the gate of the Chevalier Allamand Sagnac's cottage, where a violent skirmish between the upirs, and the Prince and his allies, unfolded before her.

Alexa jumped out of the cart, which she supposed was ready to leave, when they were probably attacked while trying to leave the house.

She saw her brother and Allamand Sagnac in front of the gates, trying to prevent the upirs from passing through them while the house servants were trying to close the access.

Magnus still dueled with an especially skilled upir, and their movements were too fast and confused for her to follow in the twilight.

Maybe if they just left, the upirs wouldn't try to attack the knight's house, right? She wasn't sure about that, but ...! Ugh! What was that?!

One of them jumped with fantastic precision to land in front of Iacintho, who had just pushed an opponent into Knight Allamand's sword!

Her brother already looked exhausted, after all, he was not a warrior, but a physician and a scholar.

It was as if time had stopped, and even the soot in the air was traveling more slowly. Alexa looked fascinated at how the upir warrior raised his sword to hit her brother.

Her brother who needed to die twice.