I was sitting in the throne room with one of my advisors when one of my guards came barreling into the room at a run, his face red and his eyes wide with fear.

“What is it?” I stood up and demanded of him.

H rushed to my side. “I’m so sorry, sir,” the guard panted with remorse spread across his long face. “Dakir has kidnapped Marissa.”

It felt as if my lungs collapsed, because I couldn’t breathe. I became dizzy as I felt like my heart came out of my chest.

“Where did this happen? Did you see it?” I finally managed to hiss at him, anger fueling my emotions on how they could have allowed this to take place.

“I saw them disappear into the woods. I’m sorry, sir; there was nothing I could do to stop it.” His face looked remorseful enough, but I was running out of time just standing there.

In a panic, I paced around, trying to determine what action to take next. I couldn’t let Dakir kill Marissa, which was what his number one priority would be, no debate about it.

Marissa’s smiling voice and her small, tender hands cradling mine suddenly flashed before my eyes. We had been having such an amazing time together and everything was going so well.

I couldn’t let the manic psychosis of my brother come between us, and I certainly couldn’t allow him to murder another one of my girlfriends. He had to be stopped, and it had to be now.

I should have told her I loved her when I had the chance.

I had two choices. The first one was to charge into the woods, without my guards for backup or defense. The second was to wait and gather up as many of them as I could, potentially all of them, so I had the driving force of an army to drum through the trees with me.

I shook my head and tried to ignore the pain of uncertainty of what Marissa was suffering at the moment. I didn’t have a second to spare; it wasn’t worth the risk to wait for the guards.

At that very moment the leader of the guards approached me with wild eyes. “What can we do, sir?”

I placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing he was fully capable and ready to follow my instructions. “Get every man you can find and start searching the forest. Do whatever you can. We must find her.”

He gave me a swift nod and turned on his heel to get started on his quest. I ran out behind him and grabbed my Darailtar from the stables. He was happily chomping at some grass.

“Come,” I instructed as I led him out into the field. I jumped on the animal and soared into the sky as the mighty Darailtar’s wings made a swooshing sound in the air.

I knew I would have an advantage with an aerial view of the woods. It would be easier for me to scope the land out and find her more quickly.

In only a few minutes, I mentally sang praise to my plan, because I spotted Dakir’s carriage on the ground. I only hoped that fate would allow me a few more minutes to land safely to find Marissa.

I only hope it isn’t too late.

The rage I had bottled up inside me exploded as I swooped down on the mighty beast. I squeezed the sides of the Darailtar so it would go faster. It dove straight down toward Dakir.

When we got closer, Dakir looked up with a startled expression on his face. He wasn’t expecting to get caught so soon, I could tell.

He made a distressed cry and jumped from the carriage, trying to protect himself from me and the Darailtar landing on top of him.

But, as he jumped, he sealed his own unfortunate fate. My Darailtar’s horn pierced Dakir directly through the heart as he leaped.

I jumped off my Darailtar and ran toward Dakir. I looked down at him and he was dead, killed instantly. There was blood on his chest as I approached him to make sure he wasn’t breathing.

Even though he was my brother, an immediate rush of relief went through me at the realization he could no longer hurt anyone, including myself or anyone I loved, ever again.

My Darailtar went back to happily chomping grass in the woods, none the wiser about what had just happened or the damage he had just inflicted on my brother.

I ran over to the side of the carriage and slashed open the doors with a swift swipe of my sword through the flimsy lock.

Marissa was huddled in the corner, crouched into a tiny ball of fright. As I slowly and gently approached her, she shivered.

But then, as she noticed it was me coming toward her and not Dakir, she leapt into my arms, instantly sobbing.

“I knew you’d come for me,” she wailed between sobs.

I knew she’d been through hell and all I wanted to do in that moment was comfort her.

“It’s okay,” I whispered as I stroked her beautiful hair. “You’re safe now. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“Where is Dakir?” She looked at me with worry etched in her eyes.

“He’s dead,” I said flatly. “You don’t have to worry about him trying to hurt you ever again.”

At the news, Marissa released more tears of joy as she hugged me as tight as she could. I never wanted to let go, and would do anything to make sure she was well protected forever. I had gotten a free pass from the universe that she remained unharmed and I had to be thankful.