His Fire Maiden - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,57

Gil lay on top of the pile, his lifeless eyes staring up at them. His neck had broken in the fall. Someone had dumped the corpses into the hole in the floor to cover up the crime.

No. Not somebody. Violette knew who was responsible.

“It was the castle treasury, hidden beneath the sewing looms.” The sadness in Josselyn’s voice was palpable. “Now it’s a grave.”

Isaac moaned.

“He’ll need a medic,” Violette said. Her wounds ached. She swayed, a little lightheaded from the blood loss. “We need…Dev.”

Josselyn gasped. “You need a medic. I’m sorry. I…” She gestured down and then slid an arm around Violette’s back. Yelling, she called, “Jackson? Lucien? Viktor? Rick? Can any of you hear me?”

“Joss?” Lucien yelled. “Where are you? This place is a maze. We heard a shot.” The sound of footsteps came and soon Viktor and Lucien were standing before them. “What in all the star blazes happened down here?”

“We were in the tower and lost communication. We came down to find Rick and Jackson unconscious and—who stabbed Violette? Josselyn! Why did you stab Violette?” Viktor instantly went to help support Violette’s weight.

“It wasn’t me,” Josselyn protested.

“Dev,” Violette insisted, breathing harder.

“Dev stabbed you?” He frowned, clearly not believing it.

“Evan and Dev are in the dining hall,” Josselyn explained. “They don’t have snowsuits. Please, hurry. Help them. I’ve got her.”

“I’m on it.” Lucien ran from the room.

Viktor looked down into the body dump and then nudged Isaac with his foot. “What about him?”

“We’ll contact his ship and have them come for him,” Violette answered. Isaac would never forgive her, but she wasn’t about to kill him for it.

Viktor pulled out a handheld medic. “I’ll patch him up and keep him sedated, but let me help you first. You’re in no condition to walk, let alone run to Dev’s side. Lucien will get him. I promise.”

Violette grunted as she tugged at her snowsuit. Blood trickled down her arm and side, wetting the black underclothing.

“I’m not a doctor,” Viktor warned. “It might not look pretty.”

“No sedatives. I’m already lightheaded. Just patch me up.” Violette gritted her teeth as he brought the medic to her side to stop the bleeding. The laser burned, but it did its job.

“Thank you, Violette,” Josselyn whispered. She didn’t have to elaborate.

Violette nodded. In the moment, the choice hadn’t been hard. She’d chosen to protect what remained of her family.

Josselyn went to pull the bolt of material to activate the switch to hide the bodies in the floor.

“What were you thinking?” Violette demanded of Josselyn. “Did you think Lucien and Viktor heard us through the broken coms and would come to our rescue?”

“I thought I’d buy some time so we could save ourselves,” her sister answered.

Viktor finished his crude doctoring. Her body ached, but Viktor had stopped the bleeding.

“He’ll be out for awhile,” Viktor said, gesturing toward Isaac. He lifted his hand to his ear.

“What is it?” Violette asked, as she pulled her snowsuit back on. She couldn’t hear a faint voice broadcasted on the com like she had with Dev’s unit, and figured the brothers had the frequency on a private channel setting due to the attackers. “Lucien has Dev and Evan. He’s getting them out of their shackles and…” Viktor stiffened in horror and looked at Violette. “Go. Run. Dev isn’t moving.”

Violette hurried as fast as she could, limping her way toward the dining hall. She found Dev unconscious on the floor next to a shivering Evan. Lucien struggled to put his snowsuit back on him. Evan tried to help, but his shanking hands were more of a hindrance and Lucien pushed them out of his way.

“Blast it, Dev, you better not die on me cause I’ll spend the rest of my life figuring out how to resurrect your ass so I can tell you that I…” Violette limped to where he lay and collapsed on the stone floor next to him. She breathed hard, focusing past the pain of her injuries. “So I can tell you that I…” Her voice caught, and tears fell over her cheeks. “That I lo—”

“What happened to you? Is that blood?” Evan demanded. His eyes moved to the doorway and Violette knew he worried about his wife.

“Small skirmish. Everyone is whole.” Violette pulled off her gloves to help Lucien with Dev’s suit.

“Grab the crate. We need to get him out of here,” Lucien said. “Dev’s internal temperature is naturally hotter and he can’t handle a sudden drop in heat.”

Violette did as he bid and ran to get the