Ginny Hartman by To Guard Her Heart Read Free Book Online Page A

tentatively placing it on his shaking shoulder. And then he did something he had never done before, he apologized to the King. “I'm so sorry I didn't save them.”
    The King continued to cry, long soul wrenching sobs, that Terric could feel to his very soul. Not knowing what else he could do, Terric slowly rose and made his way over to the first man he had killed. He used the tip of his sword to pry the man's helmet off to avoid having to touch such evilness with his own hands. When the helmet was off, it revealed a plain looking man, his brown hair matted to his head with sweat. Terric looked long and hard at his face, trying to decipher if he had seen it before, but his memory came up blank. Terric never forgot a face and he never forgot a name, though he couldn't always remember to put the right face with the right name. He was absolutely sure that he had never seen the man before.
    Next, he made his way to the other attacker, the man who was lying dead on top of the queen. He reached down and hefted the man angrily off of Queen Constance, hating to see his vile body disgracing the queen by touching her, even in death. He threw the man down on the floor like a sack of potatoes and indignantly pried his helmet off like he had done to the first man. A quick study of his face revealed to Terric that he had also never laid eyes on the man before.
    His eyes wandered briefly to where King Eustace and Queen Constance's bodies lay, blood pooling brightly on the floor beneath. His stomach lurched, and he wanted to vomit. Terric had seen his fair share of blood and dead bodies throughout his years as a defender, but never had he seen anyone killed who meant something to him, and never nobility. His thoughts turned to Princess Rosalind, and he felt as if he had failed her by not being able to protect her parents. He hated to think of her hearing the news, of hearing the bloody and violent way they had experienced their demise and knowing she would blame him. He wanted to curl up next to the king, to bring his legs to his chest in a fetal position and sob—sob for his failure to protect the king and queen, sob for the scene he'd had to witness, a scene that would never disappear from his mind no matter how much he willed it to, but most of all, he wanted to cry for Rosalind and the hurt he knew she would feel. But, he knew he couldn't and wouldn't do that.
    He shook the foreign thoughts from his head, unsure of where they came from. He was not usually prone to such weak emotion; his job had trained him to be different than that. He forced himself to walk back to the pitiful display that was King Cedric. He once more knelt besides the man and said in a loud voice, “The danger isn't over; you are not safe; the kingdom is not safe. We need to take action. Now.”
    His words had an effect on King Cedric, who looked up at him. His eyes that were rimmed with redness were eerily haunted. “I can't go on without him. He's my brother, and he's dead. I wish I were dead too.”
    Terric pulled him forcibly up by the shoulders, bringing his face squarely in front of his. “You can go on and you must. Darth has experienced a great loss today. If the kingdom lost you as well, utter chaos would ensue leaving the entire kingdom vulnerable. It would be the perfect excuse for another kingdom to come in and conquer Darth. You wouldn't do that to Darth; I know you wouldn't.”
    Terric's tirade seemed to sober him. “You are correct.”
    "We need to get you to safety. I need to go out and see if the rest of the castle is under siege, if there has been any other fatalities."
    King Cedric managed to sit up, propping his back against the cold, stone wall. "I need you to ensure that the rest of my family is safe; all of them."
    "Of course." Terric rose, anxious to see if chaos prevailed throughout the rest of the castle. "Bar the door the minute I step into the hall. I haven't the time to relocate you at the moment or I would. Do not open the door for