Derek's POV
Everyone who was still alive was gathered in the room. Once, there had been hundreds of us. Now, I could count the faces on my hands. Men I'd fought beside for years, gone in a single cursed night. May they find rest where steel cannot reach them.
To be stationed here—at this near-mythical place—even as a mere Banneret had once felt like an honour. We'd lived a slow life here, my men and I. Guard duty, drills, drinking at dusk. Nothing glorious, but steady. Now it was gone. Torn apart.
And the newcomers… I turned my gaze on them, the ones who hadn't been here until yesterday. How is it that they arrived at the very moment disaster struck? My jaw tightened. My brow furrowed despite myself. Suspicion was a weight I couldn't ignore.
When my eyes met the commander's across the room, I turned away quickly. Too quickly. Damn it. That'll look like guilt. If he had his list of suspects, I'd wager I'd just climbed it.
"Can you perhaps help with the injured?" he asked the elf, who was lounging in a chair, eating an apple like a man at market instead of a battlefield.
"If I could give myself a hand," the elf said with a bitter chuckle, raising the stump of his severed arm.
"Tsk. What an irritating bastard," one of the younger knights muttered.
"Let's at least have breakfast," the commander cut in. "Then we'll make our advances. And remember—you are still captives of mine. Don't get ideas." His gaze lingered on the cat woman.
Her ears flicked. She didn't answer. Instead, she glanced at Regina.
Regina's head was slumped on the table, eyes ringed with dark circles, her skin pale as milk. Exhaustion clung to her like frost.
Beside her, Omega was also asleep, breathing shallow and even. Mésos, by contrast, was already sipping wine with the composure of someone untouched by the slaughter. Alpha sat blank-faced, fingers drumming the table, one hand under her chin like she was bored with all this.
I tore a piece of rye bread, hard as stone. Too dry. I dipped it into beef pottage, letting it soften before chewing. Not much, but it kept me steady. I set aside a small plate for Regina.
We were watched closely, but not locked away. A mercy, or a test.
"It seems the phenomenon is finally gone. The castle can't even repair itself anymore," one knight whispered to another when they thought I wasn't listening.
Repair itself? I frowned. So the fortress had been healing… and stopped? Was it the castle's doing, or something else entirely?
I left those thoughts to simmer as I carried the food into the next chamber, where Regina now lay.