Keeping pace with Darius as we continued to circle slowly, we both waited for the moment when we would be needed. Before that time could come however, Milo and his guards came out of nowhere and broke through the lines of enemies that our guards had been fighting. I had to blink a couple of times to make sure that I was actually seeing this and it wasn’t just my brain recreating the moment when Darius and his guards joined us and my brain had just switched their faces. When our guards’ circle got bigger as Milo’s guards joined it and Darius and my circle got bigger as Milo joined us, I had to admit to myself that this was actually happening. “Hello Milo. How have you been doing? Did your plan work out?” I kept my tone casual and light. Grinning eagerly at me, I could tell that Milo had a lot of adrenaline running through his blood right now.

“It has been going really well. Our plan worked really well. As the fight wore on though we had to adjust our plan. Afterall, everywhere needed help. So the next time we joined the battle we stayed in that area and began working our way inwards. It was really a coincidence that we saw you.”

Ethan now spoke up. “Is it the best idea for all of us to be gathered together like this? We could help the strangers more if we split up into our separate groups and went to different parts of the battlefield.”

There was a brief moment while we considered this and then Tyler broke it. “Our chances of winning this fight are a lot better if we split up, but we then put our charges in the most amount of danger. So I think that we need to take a vote.”

I started speaking so fast that my words jumbled together a little. “I vote that we split up. If we lose this fight then your charges would be in more danger then if we had split up and you had allowed us to fight alongside you.”

Alex sighed. “I think that we should make this decision without the votes of our charges. We all already know what they are going to vote for anyways.” Grumbles came from all of us in the middle of the circle but agreement came from everyone else and we knew that we were outnumbered and that we weren’t going to win this argument. We would have to hope that they saw the sense in splitting up and would let us fight. I was grateful that our guards weren’t able to talk quietly to each other since they couldn’t huddle together seeing as they were still fighting. Listening closely to what they were saying, they did try to keep their voices down, a flicker of hope welled up in me when I heard that at least some of them were considering the splitting up idea. It seemed to be around half and half right now on opinions. Right now it appeared that my guards were mostly arguing against splitting up, Milo’s guards were arguing for splitting up, and Darius’s guards were split down the middle. A little exasperated with my guards, even though I knew they were trying to look out for me since I was still tired from my part in this battle, I barely resisted yelling at them. I only succeeded in holding my voice back because I knew that my yelling wouldn’t help anything. Or if it did do something, then it would most likely do the opposite of what I intended.

It would probably make my guards fight harder against splitting up. Clenching my teeth to smother the shrinking part of me who still wanted to yell out loud, I let out a slow exhale to release all of my exasperation into the air. Keeping with our slow pace and continuing to circle, it seemed to take forever before some of our guard’s opinions began to change as they were convinced by others with a different opinion. The only problem was, it still seemed to be pretty even. Each time that one side would win someone over, the other side would as well. I was beginning to think that this argument would never end when one side finally began to get more people then the other. All of us in the middle were now holding our breaths as it became clear who was going to win. Hoping that a unanimous vote was not needed, I cheered along with Darius and Milo when a decision was finally made. “We will be splitting up. I am sorry, but there is no way that we are going to get a unanimous vote, so we will have to go with a majority vote.” Jet sounded apologetic, but I was definitely not.

“Oh thank goodness. I thought that was never going to end. I am also grateful that you were all on the losing side and not the side that was victorious. I understand the reasoning behind your votes, but that doesn’t make me any happier that you all voted to not split up even when it was clear that was the better decision.” All of my emotions showed clearly in my words and tone and my guards all rolled their eyes at me. Or at least I imagined them all rolling their eyes at me. I would have to get on the outside of the circle to see their faces and that was not going to happen. Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t even sure that they would let me out of the circle once we had split up. That thought made me panic a little until I realized that I was going to have to think up a plan just in case that happened. As I began thinking, I stopped circling with Darius and MIlo. At least until Milo ran into me which didn’t take long. Muttering apologies while still in the midst of deep thinking, I began moving again. It was a touch slower then the pace we had been going at originally, however they didn’t seem to care. It was clear that we were all thinking along the same lines and were all caught up in them. All three of us now feared being stuck in the middle of a circle even after splitting up.

So while we still wouldn’t be doing anything to help our guards, we also wouldn’t have anyone else near us who would be sharing our same boring fate. The instant that our three groups of guards began to break apart all three of us stepped up to our respective groups and joined them in their line. This was our collective way of saying that we were not going to be stuck in the middle of a circle again. That if they tried that again, we were going to fight them every step of the way. Sighs came from all of our guards and we shared a smile before the battle swept us apart. Staying in the middle of the line, I knew that they wouldn’t even consider letting me go anywhere else in the line, I scooped up a sword from the ground after Liam felled one of our enemies. Adrenaline raced through my veins once again and I couldn’t even feel the pains from my various wounds. Making sure that I didn’t swing my sword too hard and accidentally hit one of my guards, I engaged one of the enemies and grinned. It felt good to be fighting instead of just watching. In a way that showed everyone around them, even me, that they had practiced doing this multiple times, my guards curved around until they were in a circle. It was pretty impressive to watch and I felt cool being a part of it. Granted Tyler guided me to where I was supposed to be standing, but I still felt cool.

It was much easier to fight in this positioning because I didn’t have to worry as much about hitting anyone other than the enemy. There was still a chance that I could hit either Tyler or Liam, the two of my guards who were closest to me, but the risk wasn’t as great. About half the time I was in the middle of fighting someone I would watch with resignation as either Tyler or Liam would step in and defeat my opponent. It was quite annoying, however I had expected something like this. I may be part of the circle, but that doesn’t mean that they are going to take any risks with my safety. Shaking away those thoughts and focusing fully on the battle that was raging in front of me, I fought like I wasn’t waiting for one of my guards to steal my opponents to be on the safe side. It would not be good if I expected them to defeat my opponent and let my guard down and then neither of them take my opponent down. I would be in some serious trouble if that happened. In fact, I would most likely be dead if that ever happened. I don’t think that my guards would ever forgive me or themselves if I died. Fighting with all of my might to try and beat my guards to the final blow, I beamed when I finally landed one of them. Yes, Liam might have struck a blow that would have been fatal onto them right after I did, but the only important thing was that I did it first.

Letting out a small, brief yell of triumph I surprised a few of the enemies surrounding us and gave my guards an opening to take them down. Which they did without a second's hesitation. They weren’t surprised by anything that I did anymore. Especially not any sounds that I might make. Afterall, they were always the ones that said that I made too many noises. “Thank you Ari. That was quite helpful.” I barely heard Casey say this since he was one of the two people behind me. Not about to say that I hadn’t meant to scare anyone and had only done it because I was proud of myself, I stayed silent. From the quiet chuckles that I heard emanating from a few of my guards however, they knew exactly why I stayed silent. While Liam and Tyler didn’t exactly go easier on the enemies that they fought, they didn’t interfere with my enemies as much anymore. Flashing them both grateful smiles that neither of them saw, I fought with a vengeance to prove myself. I hoped that if I proved that I could defend myself well enough that I would be allowed to participate in battles more often and be able to do more in them. I wanted to help keep my guards safe just like they keep each other safe. Maybe that was an unusual attitude for someone who has four guards whose whole job was to protect them, but I wasn’t exactly a normal royal and never had been.

It seemed like hours had passed since I had first started fighting in this battle and my adrenaline was beginning to wear off for the second time. My breath came faster and faster as I strove to keep going. My guards were in better shape than I was and they hadn’t been fighting as long as I had, but they were starting to feel it as well. Their breath wasn’t as even as it had been a few minutes ago and their movements were a little slower then before. Knowing that it would only place a bigger burden on them if I stepped back into the circle and forced them to protect me, I tried to shove my exhaustion to the back of my mind and keep going. Minutes now crawled by as the enemies kept coming and we tried to keep up with them. While they were fresh and energized though, we were tired and getting low on energy. My borrowed sword was heavier then my old sword had been and my wrists now burned with the extra weight. It hadn’t bothered me when I had first picked it up, but now the extra weight seemed to be growing with each passing second. Sweat was trickling down from my hair and was heading for my eyes. I knew that I had to wipe it away otherwise it could blind me for a second that I couldn’t afford. There was no chance to however. Swords were always circling me and waiting for a moment when they could get through my guard.

Fighting furiously to try and force my opponent back, I felt a surge of hope when they stumbled on the uneven ground. My left hand almost made it to my face when a sword whipped in towards me. I barely got my sword up in time to deflect the blow up and get myself out of danger. Or at least out of danger of that weapon. I had to contemplate the thought of dying for the first time since this battle started now. My mind flashed back to my family and my friends. I remembered all of the good times that I had with them in the past. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about never seeing my family again. When I had left them they had thought that I was in danger and that they would have a very slim chance of ever seeing me again. I guess that assumption was correct because there was a good chance that I was going to die now and they would never even know all the things that I had done since leaving them. They would never know that the people who lived in Raetis weren’t the ones who posed a danger to us. Willing my tears to not leave my eyes, I didn’t want to seem weak in front of my enemies and I didn’t want to get blinded by my tears and not be able to see. As it was, my sight was already blurred because the sweat had finally reached my eyes. My mind now went to my maids and guards. My guards were most likely going to die alongside me.

While my maids had a chance of surviving if they managed to not engage in the battle and run into the forest, I knew that they were never going to leave without my guards and me. The sadness in me turned to anger as I thought about all of my friends dying and my family mourning me without even a body to confirm that I was truly dead. A scream built up in my throat and grew stronger and stronger until it finally ripped free and echoed in the air. In that moment it was like all my exhaustion just melted away and was replaced with raw energy. Whipping my sword through the air faster to counter all the blows coming at me and countering with strikes that were fatal to all enemies around me, I made sure to keep my sword away from Liam and Tyler since my vision was still blurry. My scream had disrupted some of our enemies' concentrations and several had been taken down with quick and decisive blows. Unknown to me, all of my guards had actually jumped a little when I had screamed because of the pure emotion that had been in my voice. As a result of that, Alex had suffered a shallow cut on his arm that, while it didn’t damage anything important, it stung like crazy and distracted him. Liam had gotten a cut on his leg that was making it harder for him to keep standing. It was deeper than Alex’s wound was and the blood loss it was resulting in was concerning to say the least.

When I saw the blood dripping down his leg finally, after several minutes and my anger had worn off a little, I knew that he couldn’t hold out for much longer. “Liam got injured and I am not sure how much longer he will last. He is losing quite a bit of blood.” Right as I screamed this warning to my small circle of friends, Liam’s eyes went slightly out of focus and a sword came through his defenses and slipped into his side. Screaming this time in anguish, I dealt a deadly blow to the person who had stabbed Liam, who took his sword with him when he fell to the ground, and forced Liam inside our little circle. We now had spaces in between each of us because Liam had sunk to the ground and was spread completely out. In order to not be standing on him we had to spread our group out a little which was proving to be dangerous. We were not able to help each other as much as we had before. Spotting a gap in our enemies to the left of me I saw people running into the battle to grab a wounded person and drag them away. Guessing them to be some of the runners getting the injured to the healers, I pointed them out to the others. Without speaking we knew that Liam was going to die if we didn’t get him to the healers immediately. In fact, he was probably going to die even if we got him to the healers.

Moving in synchronization we forced all of our enemies in front of us and formed a line in front of Liam. Screaming at the same time for a runner, we all let out a tiny breath of relief when we saw a runner coming towards us at full speed. Holding our line with all of our remaining strength, we hoped with all of our might that Liam might live. If he didn’t live I at least hoped that Sophia wasn’t the one who tried and failed to save him. If that was the case then I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep Sophia from dropping into a hole she might never come out of. Seeing that Liam was now being carried to safety, another runner had come over to help the first runner with Liam, we all spared a quick glance at each other. We knew that we were going to continue fighting until the battle was over, one way or the other, and we wanted to look at each other one last time just in case all of us ended up dying in this battle. We all took deep breaths as we faced our enemies again and kept our swords moving. As our energy leached away and our swords moved slower and slower we suffered more injuries as time went on. Cuts were appearing on everyone and we had to go back to our circle in order to better protect each other and to keep people from getting behind us.

Grimances seemed to be stuck on all of our faces as our bodies began to hurt more and more. The enemies in front of us kept coming and by now we were resigned to the fact that we were outnumbered and were going to die. However, we were going to take out as many of them as we could before we died. Right when it seemed that we were finally going to be overrun and be utterly destroyed, something unexpected happened. Arrows started to rain down all around us and our enemies began falling in waves. We gathered together as close as possible and sheathed our weapons quickly. Putting our hands in the air in a clear sign of surrender, we hoped that it was our allies that were shooting. While we waited barely breathing, each second that passed and we weren’t shot made us a little more hopeful. All of a sudden people were throwing ropes down from the wall and repelling down as others ran down the stairs. These new people quickly surrounded us and held their weapons at the ready. My guards’ and my shoulders slumped in defeat. These people didn’t appear to be our allies and we were too tired to fight them. Our weapons were taken away from us once again and we were propelled towards where it seemed they were gathering everyone up. Spotting my maids, Liam, Darius, Darius’s guards, Milo, Milo’s guards, and Brendon among those in the group, I walked a little faster.

Reaching them I threw my arms around my maids. “I am so glad that you are both alive. I was worried that something had happened to you two.” I glanced down at Liam and dropped to my knees beside him. His eyes were closed and he was so pale that for a moment I feared him dead. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest told me otherwise. “How is he? Is he going to make it?” I had completely forgotten about our new captors at this point. I was too busy making sure that my friends were fine. Sophia dropped down by us and shrugged a little helplessly.

“I have no idea. His wounds have been cleaned and bandaged, but he lost so much blood. There is nothing else we can do but wait.” As tears gathered in her eyes I knew that she was on the verge of losing her control over her emotions. Pulling her into a tight hug I felt her barrier break and her tears began to flow freely. “I should have been able to do more. I should have treated him faster or better. If he dies then it is my fault.” Her words were starting to mush together and I knew that she was becoming hysterical.

Gripping her shoulders I put a little space between us. “You’re wrong Sophie. Even if he dies, there was nothing you could have done better and he would not want you to blame yourself for his death. He would want you to move on and be happy.” Seeing her nod her head I knew that even though she knew the truth in her heart, her head wouldn’t let her accept it. Wishing with all my might that Liam would live, I knew that we had to get him back to Raetis as soon as possible. There was a chance, a very small chance, that Aeson would know some way to help him that no one else knew. If not, I doubted that Liam would survive. His breathing was already getting shallower and his pulse was slowing drastically. I was thrust out of my thoughts when Darius placed his hand on my shoulder. Grabbing his hand I knew that I had to leave Liam and see what our new captors wanted from us. Getting up with help from Darius I saw Hazel drop down to take my place by Sophia with Joshua keeping a tight hold on her shoulder. Taking a deep breath I turned to face where Brendon was talking with one of our captors. Guessing that he was talking to the leader of our captors I walked a little unsteadily to them.

I caught the tail end of their conversation before they stopped to look at us. “... So let me get this straight. This was your village, but then those people came in and took it over? Then another group of people came in and started attacking because they are trying to take all the villages over?”

“That is right.” Brendon said this after a short pause of them seeing us and Brendon nodding hello to both of us.

The leader of our captors now eyed Darius and me curiously. “Then who are these people? From the way they came over here they seem to represent their own group.”

Darius, after a glance at me to see that I wasn’t completely emotionally stable right now, spoke up. “We were here visiting when this village was attacked. We are staying in Raetis as guests of Milo and his parents.” When he said Milo’s name he pointed him out to the leader. The leader’s eyes snapped over to where Darius was pointing and his eyes narrowed in consideration.

“You are saying that Crown Prince Milo Bullara is right over there? Would it be possible for him to come and join us?” There was a trace of eagerness in his voice that made me wary, but we didn’t see the point in not bringing Milo over. If we didn’t then some of our captors probably would. Heading over to him we told him that the leader of our captors wanted to talk to him and Jet immediately said that he was going with him. Bringing them both over the leader seemed a little confused. “Who is this other person that you have brought over as well?” His gaze was mostly focused on Milo, but he spared a second to look at Jet.

Putting his hand up to signal that he would answer this question himself, Jet replied. “I am Crown Prince Milo Bullara’s head guard. Wherever he goes, I go.” Nodding in understanding, the leader dismissed Jet from his mind.

Bowing a little in Milo’s direction, he now addressed him directly. “My Prince. It is so good to finally meet you in person. I have heard many things about you, all good, and have wanted to meet you for many years now.” Milo looked a little suspicious still, but seemed to have relaxed the tiniest amount. It seemed like he had heard others say this to him before.

“I am always happy to meet with my people. However, I wish that we were meeting under better circumstances. I am glad that you joined this battle, afterall you most likely saved all of our lives, but we are your captives right now which isn’t the best situation to meet in.” It was like the leader just realized that we were still being held as his prisoners.

“Guards, you may release them. If Crown Prince Milo is with them, then we are allies.” His tone was firm and his guards backed away from us as soon as they heard his words. You could almost hear all of our collective sighs of relief. Knowing that we were as safe as we could be right now, I sank down to the ground and laid on my back. All I wanted to do right now was sleep and there was nothing that was going to delay that any longer. I heard laughter come from my friends and then I was fast asleep. I was woken up 3 hours later by someone shaking me. Blearily opening my eyes I was ready to throttle whoever had woken me up. Once I saw their face however, my heart sank. Tears were silently streaming down Casey’s face and I knew that the worst had happened. Liam was dead. Reaching my hand up to get help, I stood up and went to where Liam’s body lay. Everyone was already gathered around and tears were on every face that I saw. I wasn’t paying much attention to them though. I was looking at Sophia. Her sobs were noiseless and heartbreaking. She was draped across Liam’s chest and wouldn’t move even when others tried to pry her off of him. Stopping their efforts with a sharp gesture, I moved everyone away from them other than the rest of my guards and Hazel. Sinking down beside Sophia in unison with Hazel, we each laid one of our hands on her back in silent support.

She did nothing to acknowledge our presence and I wasn’t even fully sure that she knew that we were there. It was another thirty minutes before Sophia finally stopped crying. The only way that we knew that she wasn’t sobbing anymore was because her shoulders stopped shaking. Her head slowly came up from where it was resting on Liam’s chest and we could barely hold back our own tears when we saw her face. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheek had weird creases from where it had laid, her nose was running, and she looked lost. Wrapping her up in big hugs we shielded her away from the world. The world that had so cruelly taken her love away from her. Trying so hard to keep our eyes dry so as to stay brave like we knew she needed us to be, we eventually pulled away. We couldn’t keep her hidden from the world forever and it was time for us to go back to Raetis. Barely even looking at the people around us we walked to where our carriage was. Climbing inside I felt numb as I watched my three guards come in with Liam’s body. No sounds were uttered the whole ride back to Raetis. If anyone had looked in our carriage window I wonder if they would have even known that we were alive.

No one moved and we hardly ever blinked. Essentially we looked like the practice dummies that we attacked for practice. Arriving at the gates of Raetis seemed to wake us all up a little. We blinked more often and a couple of us even shifted in our seats. Peering out the window at the crowds of people that we drove past, my heart ached to see all of their happy and smiling faces. They didn’t know that our world had just been turned upside down. They didn’t know that one of us might never smile again. They didn’t know the price we had paid to visit the locals not far from their homes. When our carriage rumbled to a stop and the horses were unhitched, I looked slowly around the interior of the carriage. There was no change in anyone’s expressions and I knew that I had to move first. I had to be strong for everyone else. Afterall, my guards had just lost one of their closest friends, Sophia had lost a part of herself, and Hazel had just seen someone die for the first time. Taking a deep breath I pulled the door of the carriage open with slightly shaking hands and slid my food down to the step. Leading the way up to the door leading into the castle, I couldn’t bring myself to look behind me at my guards carrying Liam’s body.

If I did that then I would lose my composure and make everyone lose it as well. Keeping my shoulders back and my head held high, I ignored all the stares, gasps, and whispers that we were generating with our procession. Clasping my hands tightly together in front of me I clenched them tighter whenever I felt myself beginning to lose it. Which happened several times just walking in the castle to where Jonas and Valeria were. Reaching the final staircase before we arrived at where we had been told they were, I almost ran up them. Forcing myself to restrain my initial instincts, I walked up them as slowly as I could manage. Making it to their door, I knocked a couple of times and then stepped back a step to wait. There was a rustle of movement behind the door before it was finally opened. Valeria met my gaze with her own and grinned at me. “You are back! How was the trip? Did you meet some of the loca…” Her excited voice trailed off as she finally looked behind me. Her hand flew to her mouth and tears formed in her eyes. Moving out of the way to let us in, it seemed like she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find the words. Jonas stood up from where he was sitting when we walked in, but, just like his wife, he was unable to say anything once my guards walked in.

Eventually Jonas got past his speechlessness and managed to say something. “I will call for Aeson. Even if there is nothing he can do for him, he will be able to help prepare him for burial.” Sophia broke a little at those words and had to leave the room. Her fast receding footsteps tore at my heart a little, but I stopped Hazel from going after her. She needed some time alone to process everything. We would go after her soon. Once we had finished the details for Liam’s burial. I nodded in agreement to Jonas’s words and gestured for my guards to lay Liam on the couch in the room. They did so gently and arrayed his limbs in such a way that he would have been comfortable if he had still been alive. I touched his shoulder briefly in a silent goodbye before stepping away from him. Thankfully, Aeson didn’t take very long to arrive. When he sprinted into the room his eyes immediately fell upon Liam and he fell to his knees beside him. Feeling his neck for a pulse, already knowing that he wasn’t going to find any, he closed his eyes for a moment sadly when his fears were confirmed.

“I can prepare his body for burial. When would you like his burial to happen?” I stayed completely still as I waited for someone to answer him. Again, when no one said anything or moved, I was reminded that he was talking to me and that I needed to take charge.

“Oh, umm…” My mind went blank for a moment as I tried to think of what he had asked me. “I guess as soon as we can. He deserves rest and we need to move on. Sophia needs to move on as quickly as possible in order for this to be as painless as possible.”

Aeson nodded swiftly and thought for a second. “I believe that I can prepare him for burial as early as tomorrow.” I nodded and cleared my throat a couple of times to try and make it manageable for me to speak again.

“That works for me. I will just leave him with you then. When it is time for the ceremony, please send for us.” As soon as I saw him nod I left the room with the remainder of my guards and Hazel. Heading down to our rooms I walked quickly and slammed the door behind me once everyone was inside. Collapsing on my bed I lost my composure for the first time since Liam had died. My guards and Hazel left me alone as I sobbed into my pillow. Liam had been one of my guards basically since I first gotten guards. He had been one of my friends and had been with me when things had gotten tough. My tears ran out eventually as things tend to do though. When that finally occurred, I pushed myself off the bed and wiped my face with one of my blankets. Taking deep cleansing breaths I forced myself to leave my room and face the world. The burial was tomorrow, but in the meantime I needed to talk to my guards.

It was as if they had read my mind because they were all outside of my room and the instant they saw me they blurted out, “We need to talk.”

I laughed a little, which surprised me since I had thought that I wouldn’t be able to laugh for a long time after what had taken place. “That is kind of funny seeing as I was coming out here because I had something that I needed to talk with all of you about as well. You said it first so you go first.” They nodded and then seemed at a loss for who was actually going to say what they all wanted to say. Alex took charge, like we all knew that he would, after silence had reigned for almost a full minute.

“We wanted to talk to you about whether or not you are thinking of getting another guard. No matter which choice you choose, we will fully support you. It would be easier if you got another guard but we are completely capable of guarding you with only three.” All three sets of their eyes stared at me anxiously and I knew that this wasn’t a conversation that they wanted to have with me.

“Please don’t think that you caught me off guard with this. I knew it was coming and it was actually the exact reason that I wanted to talk to you.” They all let out a sigh of relief at my words. I closed my eyes for a brief second in order to steady myself for my next words. “I have decided that I don’t want to make your already difficult job any harder. Which means that I am thinking of getting another guard. However, that is dependent on whether or not we can find someone who would work well with you three and has the right attitude for the job.” The looks of relief on all of my remaining guard’s faces helped me to know that I had made the correct choice. Yes it would be hard to look at my four guards’ faces and see a stranger instead of Liam, but it was necessary. Now that I had spoken the words I knew that my guards would want to start looking for Liam’s replacement as soon as possible. It was something that Liam would have wanted them to do, so they didn’t feel bad about contemplating doing it before Liam was even in the ground. It wasn’t something that I was ready for yet though. “Can we please start that process a day after Liam is buried? I know that he wouldn’t mind if we started now, but it isn’t something that I can handle emotionally right now. Once I have had some time to fully realize what has happened then we can look for a new guard. Does that sound alright to all of you?”

All of their expressions softened. “Of course you can take time to recover Ari. We are so proud of you for even saying that you will get a new guard right now.” Tyler gestured for Alex and Casey to join him and he folded me into a hug. Soon I was completely cocooned in the middle of all of their arms. It felt so nice to be held that I stayed in their arms for quite a while. Eventually though I pulled away from them.

“Now I know that you three probably want to stay up all night tonight guarding me, but you have to stay up all night tomorrow night so I am commanding you to all get some rest tonight. I will be perfectly safe tonight if you all sleep in my room. Then even if someone comes in through the secret passage you will all be here to protect me.” While they didn’t look particularly happy about this plan, they saw the logic in it.

“We will listen to you this time and all sleep in here.” Casey glanced out one of the close windows to see that it was dark outside. “It seems that it is time for us to all turn in then.”

“Where…” I started to ask where Hazel and Sophia were, but it turned out that I hadn’t needed to worry. They came around the corner into our view immediately after I started to ask the question. “There you two are. How are you both feeling?” Hazel smiled and replied that she was fine. Sophia just shrugged. It didn’t seem that she knew how she felt right now. Wrapping my arms around both of them I pulled them gently into my room. “Everyone is staying in here tonight. It was the only way that I could convince these three to sleep tonight.” Hazel and Sophia nodded in understanding. Nothing more was said that night as we got all ready for bed and then laid down where we would be sleeping that night. Sophia, Hazel, and I were in one of the beds and, though there was another bed open, the boys all laid down on the floor so that they were surrounding our bed. It seemed that they were going to be even more protective now. Not that I didn’t understand. Slowly everyone drifted off to sleep. I was one of the last ones awake and was unsure if I was ever going to get to sleep that night.

From the quiet sniffles coming from the left of me, Sophia wasn’t going to sleep tonight either. Intertwining my fingers with hers I comforted her without saying anything. Her fingers gripped mine so hard that for a moment there I was afraid that she was about to break them. Eventually her grip slackened and I knew that she had found enough peace to sleep. I wondered how she had done it. She had loved Liam and probably felt like she was missing half of herself, so how was she keeping it together so well? I had to ask myself if I could do that. If Darius died would I be able to continue on with my life and do what was needed of me? My brain couldn’t even wrap itself around that question enough to even attempt an answer. Praying that I never had to try to answer that question I pushed it from my mind. I couldn’t think about it anymore without crying for what Sophia must be going through. She wouldn’t want that from me. When dim light started to enter the room from the windows on the wall I gave up on even trying to sleep. Sitting up slowly I gently freed my hand from Sophia’s grasp. I was very glad that she was a pretty deep sleeper, and then slipped down from the bed.