"My king, have you met this man before?"
Calhoun nodded. "It's this same person who had taken it upon himself to keep me on my toes. You know, after the first letter from Fraco, the arrows and knives that would occasionally whoosh pass me."
"It's him? How did you know?" Felix asked.
"When did you know?" Evander asked.
"A little while after the first two times." Calhoun answered. "He is George's older brother."
"My king, I have told you before, don't take out that man's name before me." The man said gruffly.
Felix and Evander shared a glance. What?
"What is he talking about, my king?" Evander asked.
Calhoun chuckled. "He hates his brother."
"He's not my brother." The man grunted. "George is a betrayal."
"You are the black sheep of the family, it's hard to say that George is the betrayal." Calhoun stated. "You're the one who's hated by the entire family."
"Only because I speak the truth. I refused them to harm you."
"And I'm supposed to be indebted to you for that?" Calhoun asked pridefully. "Don't get ahead of yourself."
"I'm not, my king. I'm not also asking you to be indebted to me, or for you to appreciate me for that." He said.
"Then what are you asking for?"
"For you to spare me during your judgement." He said, bowing slightly.
"Why? What makes you think you would have been a part of the judgement before?"
"The fact that I'm a part of the family says a lot."
Felix stared at them. Why was Calhoun having a normal conversation with a criminal?
"My king, this man is a criminal! He has stolen from so many people and had killed four wolves." Felix stated.
"I'm well aware." Calhoun said. "He's not just any criminal, he's my criminal. I trained him."
The man smiled. He had thought that Calhoun would not remember anything about him and would naturally want to punish him with the rest of his family.
"What? This is a trying time for us." Felix said. "I don't understand all these history lessons. So George's family is innocent?"
"Not at all. They shall be hung before the entire Wisteria and when they die, we shall behead them." Calhoun said. "I don't really want to see much blood today. So no instant killing. I rather want to hear cries of pain and regrets."
Evander shuddered. "That's alright too. Shall I ask the guards to come and take them to the town central?"
"Of course, Evander." Calhoun agreed.
Right after Evander left, Thomas came out with Coco in his arms.
"My lord." Thomas bowed. "The boy is having a temperature. His mother is asleep and has refused to awake."
Calhoun turned slowly. "What did you say, Thomas?"
"I said the boy is having a temperature and his mother has refused to wake up." Thomas repeated.
Calhoun hummed. He glanced at Felix who shrugged. "Ensure that the trail doesn't begin until I return. Let them he tied at the town central until I arrive. Okay?"
Felix nodded. "Yes my lord."
"Thomas, come with me." Calhoun ordered and the both of them left to find Diana. Along the way, Calhoun took the boy from Thomas's hands. Truly, Coco had a temperature. Calhoun frowned slightly.
"Since when did this begin?" He asked.
"Not long after his mother brought him. After eating, he slept off and woke up not long after, sneezing."
"Hm, he must have caught a cold." Calhoun stated.
"Wolves do not exactly fall ill." Thomas reminded him. "Do you think it's just the regular human cold?"
Calhoun did not reply. He knew that the boy had stayed in the water for long so he wasn't surprised that he had caught cold. His main issue was why Diana had refused to wake up.
"Did you try to wake her?" Calhoun asked.
"I called and then I shook her." Thomas said. "Her body felt too cold against my palm."
Calhoun nodded. Once he got to the chamber door, he signaled for Thomas to return. He took the child in his arms and went in to meet Diana still laying in the same position he had left her. This was surprising since Diana did not sleep quietly.
"Diana." He called. He sat close to her and leaned into her. He tapped her skin and he felt how cold she was. He turned and looked up, the window was not open. Why then was she so cold?
"What is going on?" Calhoun murmured. He opened the blanket and placed Coco under there with Diana. Once he had covered the boy properly, he moved back to where Diana was laid and started rubbing her body. She wasn't getting any warmer.
He rushed outside again. A maid was passing by.
"Get me Patricia." He ordered. She bowed and hurried back to the servant's room to where Patricia had been ever since the battle began.
After a while, she returned to Calhoun's chamber.
"My king, she is not here." She reported. Calhoun raged.
"What do you mean by she is not here? Where is she?"
"I have no idea, my king. I've searched the servant's room and the kitchen and the corridors where I have seen her work and she is not around here."
Calhoun growled angrily. The girl moved back in fear. She had heard reports of how bad Calhoun was when he got angry and she didn't want to witness it first-hand.
"What about Phoebe and Mary? Where are they?"
"My king, they're all gone." She responded.
Calhoun scowled. "Leave."
The maid bowed and ran away. Calhoun returned to the room. He knelt beside the bed, the side where Diana lay. He held her palm and rubbed it.
"Diana, please wake up. If you're alive, just give me a sign." He pleaded. "Coco is ill, I don't know what to do..."
He got up and went to the bathroom. He turned on the tap when suddenly, he remembered something. He remembered what he had asked Patricia to get for him after he had awoken.
He returned to his bedroom and opened the drawer on the bed. He found the ointment still intact. He took it out. As he removed the bed cover, he noticed something different. Diana was clothed. When he had left her, she wasn't putting on any clothes.
Has someone been in here?
He hurried out of the chamber and went straight to Thomas's room. Thomas was just coming out when he was arriving.
"My king-"
"How did you get into my chamber?" Calhoun growled.
"Huh?" Thomas asked in surprise. "By the door of course."
Calhoun growled even louder. "Don't play games with me, Thomas! How did you get into the chamber? I locked the door before leaving."
"You did? It was open when I arrived." He said. "It wasn't even jammed properly."
Calhoun paused. Someone had truly been there after he had left. Who could it be? His suspect wasn't in the castle.
"Where is Patricia?" Calhoun whispered.
"Oh, I saw her among the people being taken to be slaughtered. She's Simon's daughter, remember?"
Calhoun nodded. Could it be her? Or maybe she had sent Mary and Phoebe to do her dirty work and they escaped right after. He nodded and walked away, leaving Thomas more confused than he met him.
Thomas could just understand that there was something wrong with Calhoun and Diana. He wanted to follow him but at the same time, he felt like the man needed some space alone.
Once he was arriving in his chamber, he heard whispers. He opened the door noisily and walked in. The woman he saw was older and he frowned.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded.
"Can you see me?" She asked in surprise. "Oh, how can you see me? Wait, are you alive or dead?"
"What sort of question is that? Of course I'm alive." Calhoun retorted. He was angry and he hated stupid questions when he was angry.
"I am not alive, my king. I came to convince my lady Diana to return back to the land of the living-"
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Calhoun demanded.
She sighed. "One time, while I was looking after your parents, while you were dead, my lady Diana came in to see your parents."
"How did she know where they were? I told you to keep it a secret!"
"I did. I don't know how she found it, I also didn't even know she was there. Joyce told me."
"And...?"
"And after searching for her for some time, she suddenly jumped out from the place she hid and began saying something about a terrible smell."
"Death?"
"Yes."
Calhoun frowned. He had heard his mother complain about that a little too often, before she finally died. His father's death was simply because he was with his wife when she was killed.
"Then what happened?"
"A sort of explosion or something similar-"
"The war was already over by then." Calhoun snapped.
"I'm aware. But then she ran away as if she was being chased. I think you can see me because you've died before. I don't know why she's this way but I've been trying to convince her to return."
"If I can see you, why can't I see her?" Calhoun asked.
"I have no idea. Maybe because she isn't fully dead yet."
Calhoun sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Please tell her that if she wants to die, she has to first come back and kill me. So that we can all be together. Otherwise, I will kill myself and Coco to join here where she is."
After speaking, he left. He did not want to imagine another life without the people he had grown to love. The people he could outrightly call as his own.
Once he came out, he found his way to the town central and he was ushered to his seat. He watched the trial and the hanging. He wasn't exactly pleased. When it was time for Patricia, she began to cry so terribly. She bawled and refused to be carried. She kept pleading her innocence to Calhoun and he soon got fed up.
She matched up to where she was and grabbed her hair, pulling her up. Staring into her eyes, he saw her mask.
"Patricia, I shall ask you one question and if you lie, I will behead you personally." Calhoun threatened.
Patricia soon became afraid and began to shiver in fright.
"M... My king ... I did nothing."
"I did not ask anything yet." Calhoun said. "But your response has led me to believe you have done something you aren't supposed to do."
"I did nothing, my king, I swear." She cried.
"Patricia, allow me to ask my question." Calhoun chuckled. He grabbed her hair tighter and the onlookers felt a little pity for the girl. They didn't dare to speak up and offend the king, he could decide to behead them on her behalf and still behead her too. Or, if he was in a good mood, he would behead them and spare her.
"Now, Patricia, for my question." Calhoun started. He could already see how shaken up she was and it led him to believe, rather than that she was innocent, but that she had a hand in what had happened to both Diana and his son.
"What did you do to Diana?" He finally asked. "Shh, before you answer." He interrupted the moment she opened her mouth.
"If you give a wrong answer, I could kill you here. Make sure to answer rightly. Otherwise you're dead. Okay?"
"My king." She cried. "Remember how well I served you, I have never done anything to hurt you, why start now?"
"Wrong answer." Calhoun replied. He grabbed the sword from his warrior's side and raised it, high in the sky. Patricia felt her soul leave her body and she screamed.
"Wait!"
Calhoun glared down at her. "Speak."
"I... I will tell you what I know. But I swear, I did nothing to her."
Calhoun's hand came down, whooshing like the wind.