Anton rushed into the chamber, his heart pounding, desperately hoping that the Grand Duchess is unharmed. His boots splashed through pools of blood as he ran, his two teenage children close on his heels.
And from the balcony, a few of the Borgia's knights burst into the room to make sure there were no more assassins hiding. When they burst into the room, the scene before them was both shocking and strangely surreal.
At the center of the chamber, surrounded by chaos and destruction, lay the Grand Duchess, peacefully asleep on the bed inside a shimmering watery cocoon created by Undine. The translucent barrier pulsed faintly with life, its surface rippling like the calm of a moonlit lake, keeping Vivianne completely untouched by the battle raging around her.
