The Kings Mistress Chapter 126

[ … words ]

With her heightened hearing, she could hear the hooves of galloping horses approaching their direction. She could hear the bells being rung in the castle. Sierra gritted her teeth.

She looked up at her father. Leon’s eyes were filled with concern and confusion.

“False information… there’s been an assassination attempt on Alistair.”

“Alistair? King Alistair?”

Sierra nodded as she took in a deep breath of air before continuing to speak, “The assassin claims… claimed that we sent them.”

The color drained from Leon’s face.

“I… we’ve done no such thing. I’ll go back with you to explain-”

“No, you can’t. You have to get back to Cair.”

“No, Sierra-”

“Listen to me,” Sierra begged him to listen. Leon fell silent. He looked at his daughter intently.

“Go back to Cair. I’ll handle things here. No matter what. Do not send anyone to come for me, alright?”

Leon knew the gravity of the situation. He nodded, agreeing to do as she asked. Before Sierra could say anything else, Leon embraced his daughter. He held her tightly but was careful not to cause her any more pain.

His subordinates brought them two rolls of bandages. Quickly, Leon wrapped one around Sierra’s wound and tucked the other in her pocket. Before she left, Leon held his daughter’s face in his hands, their foreheads touching.

Sierra closed her eyes. For just a flicker of a second, she felt calm.

“Listen carefully, Sierra. You must survive, you hear me? You will live and you will come back to me. Do you understand?”

Tears were welling up in her eyes. She did everything she could to push them back as she nodded her head.

“Yes, father.”

Without any time to waste, General Leon got on his horse and charged off into the distance with his subordinates. They did not have much time before the royal guards caught up to them so they had to make haste.

Sierra watched groggily as they disappeared into the distance. In her mind, she was repeating the words her father had left her with.

“You must survive, you hear me? You will live and you will come back to me.”

Sierra echoed those words, “I must survive. I will live.”

Invigorated by a burst of adrenaline, Sierra made her way back to the castle. By the time she got back to the castle walls, Vargos castle had erupted into chaos. Bells were rung and the guards were running all over the place. They were all looking for her or any sign of other assassins.

Sierra found a small warehouse to hide in for a few minutes. She scoured for supplies to clean the wound she had suffered and wrapped up her wound as best she could. She was no stranger to a battle scar, although it had been a while since she last suffered one.

While she finally took a minute to breathe, she replayed the events of what happened in her mind.

“A setup.” She muttered to herself.

Her father could not have ordered the assassination attempt and neither did she. The way the assassin spoke to her was suspicious. Not to mention, she had never met him in her life.

But when the question boiled down to who could have done something like this, Sierra didn’t have an answer.

Could this perhaps be a plot by Cedric in an attempt to get her executed? Perhaps he finally decided she was no longer useful to his plan, so he wanted to make quick work of her. But even so, he would have known the consequences of dragging General Leon into the mess.

Perhaps it was Princess Cassandra or Agnes. But Sierra could not justify it either. They might have disliked her but to pin an assassination attempt on her would lead to her death.

Did they really have the heart to do so?

Sierra clenched her jaw as she slumped against the boxes and let out a sigh, “I guess it’s not impossible.”

Thinking back to the attempt on her life that occurred on the first few nights of her stay in Celestial Lodge, a chill ran down her spine.

“Perhaps they might just be capable of doing so after all.”

Just then, the door to the warehouse creaked open and footsteps could be heard. Sierra cursed beneath her breath as she gripped her sword tightly. Sweat trickled down her forehead as the footsteps grew louder.

Whoever it was, had not made a sound since they entered the warehouse. They were moving around cautiously. She could hear the quiver of fear and anxiety in each breath they took.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this. Is she even in here?”

Sierra recognized that voice immediately. It was Ida. But what was the maid doing here? Sierra turned herself around and looked in the direction of the whisper, quickly confirming that her suspicions were right.

“Ida? What… what are you doing here?” Sierra croaked out.

She was willing to take a leap of faith with the maid who had supported her from the beginning. Ida almost leaped out of her skin when she heard Sierra’s voice. She quickly covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming in shock.

Ida ran up to Sierra and hugged her tightly without thinking.

“Oh Princess! I was so worried. They said you were trying to kill the King! How could that be possible! I can’t even-” Ida realized she wasn’t making sense so she stopped speaking altogether and took a deep breath.

She held onto Sierra’s hands tightly, her eyes watering, “I’m so glad you’re alright, Princess.”

Sierra gave her a smile as she peered down at the wound on her abdomen. She winced in pain as Ida let out an audible gasp.

“I’ve seen better days, that’s for sure,” Sierra mused, trying to keep it light.

“Don’t joke at a time like this, princess! You’re hurt,” Ida did her best not to end up in tears.

But the quiver in her voice already gave her away. From her pocket, she produced a small number of medical supplies and got to work on fixing Sierra’s wound. She paused for a moment as she unwrapped the bloodied bandages.

Sierra grabbed onto Ida’s hand, “Ida… you don’t have to do anything. You’ve already done more than I could ever ask for. If you help me… you’ll…”

Ida shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears, “You should conserve your energy, princess. You will survive this, you must. And I’m not going anywhere.”

“But they’ll arrest you,” Sierra winced in pain as she shifted in her seat as she continued to speak, “They’ll execute you for helping me.”

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Princess! I don’t believe what they’re saying. Let me help you,” Ida pleaded.