Kade

"What happened?" Andrei demands.

I give him a quick recap of the breach and coming inside the house only to find that Cherish's family had been killed. I knew it would hurt her to know they had died, but I knew it was going to hurt her even more if she saw any of them like that.

God. Why didn't she just stay put like I asked?

Xander's eyes drop to the quiet and still Cherish in my arms, his expression filled with concern. "We should get her out of here."

I look at Andrei. "Do we go back to our house or take her to her father? I don't know how well she's going to cope with this."

He studies her for a minute. "We need to bring her back to the king. If nothing else, he may be able to help her get through this. Plus I think the sooner we get her away from here, the better."

"Cherish, you okay with that, princess?" Xander asks softly.

No response.

Xander sighs. "Bring her to the king and have him send someone to collect her family so that they can have a proper burial as well as somewhere for Cherish to visit. I'll wait here for them."

Andrei meets my eye and nods. "Alright. Let's get going then."

"I'll, uh, pack up some of Cherish's things from here. If there's anything that she wants to bring that is her parents’ or her sister’s I'll come back for them," Xander says, eyes brimming with worry as he watches our princess.

She doesn't say anything to Xander as we leave the house, she just lets me carry her with her head resting on my shoulder as she stares off into space.

I follow Andrei into the woods by her house and wait while he summons the portal to take us home. Once the portal is opened, a large golden arch that shows our kingdom on the other side, we step through, closing it immediately after we go through.

We walk the short walk to the castle gates since Andrei opened the portal right outside the castle walls and stop when the guards recognize us and open the gates. The king's head guard, Elazer, is on the other side of the gate and frowns when he sees Cherish in my arms, covered in blood.

"What happened?" He demands.

"We need to see the king. We'll explain once we get inside," Andrei promises.

Elazer nods and leads us into the castle and through it's many halls until we reach the king's study. "He's in here." He knocks on the door and announces us.

"Enter," the king's voice booms from the other side of the door.

We enter the room and immediately the king is on guard and is standing up from behind his desk. "What happened?" He growls, repeating Elazer's greeting.

I move to place Cherish on the couch at the edge of his office, and she immediately curls in on herself, facing the back of the couch, not noticing or not really giving a shit that she's getting blood all over.

I turn to face the king and bow low before straightening again. "My Lord, the princess' family has been slaughtered. I realized a breach when I was walking her home. There wasn't anyone there, but when we entered the house her family was already gone." I give him the same recap that I gave to Andrei when he and Xander arrived at Cherish's house.

"She's not injured?" King Leander asks.

"No, ma maja, the blood is her sister’s."

The king closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "She saw their bodies?"

"Only her sister’s. After I explained what had happened to her family she cried, when she was done, she has been the way she is now. She hasn't responded to us, or anything that's been said."

"I see." He moves around his desk and walks to Cherish. Placing his hand on her forehead he puts her to sleep. "I'll have one of the maids clean her up. Take her to her room. I'll check in on her shortly. I need to speak to Elazer and a few others."

"My Lord," I start, "we ask that, for the princess' sake if nothing else, that you send some guards to collect her family and bring them here for a proper burial."

He nods and dismisses us. Andrei takes Cherish this time, and we make our way to the room the king had been preparing for her to stay with us. Her room is between mine and Xander's room and across from Andrei's room, so she has at least one of us near at all times.

The maid is already in the room, waiting for us to arrive. Andrei lays her on the bed and we leave the room to stand outside the door.

"I'm worried about her," I admit to Andrei.

Andrei runs a hand through his hair. "I know. I am, too." He lets out a sigh. "God, it wasn't supposed to be like that. We shouldn't have had to bring her here because she lost her family because of those assholes gunning for her."

I nod my head in agreement and lean against the wall. "When she snaps out of this, it's most likely going to be ugly."

"She's strong, she'll get through it."

"I never said she wasn't strong, and I'm not doubting that she'll get through this. I'm just worried that this is going to be too much for her. Her family, leaving her friends, suddenly moving in with her biological father, and not having a say in it. She's going to snap, and it won't be pretty."

Andrei's quiet for a minute. "Maybe when things calm down we can get the king to bring her friends here to visit. Or at the very least, let Cherish go see them to assure them that she's fine. The whole family disappearing will be very noticable."

"You know as well as I do that the king won't sanction her leaving again until this war is over," I point out.

"It's still worth a shot," he says with a shrug.