The heavy steel sword came down fast.
A blue window flashed in front of my face.
`[Emergency Protocol Activated.]`
`[Temporary Physical Boost Applied.]`
Heat tore through my veins. My body moved before I could think. I threw myself backward. The blade missed my neck but cut deep into my left shoulder. Pain exploded. Blood ran hot down my chest.
I kicked out. My boot hit the guard’s knee. He cursed and stumbled. The sword scraped stone.
"Move the transports!" Tristan shouted from the top of the stairs. He did not care if I lived or died.
The nearest carriage started rolling. I forced myself up, grabbed the iron handle, and threw my body inside. The doors slammed shut. Darkness closed in. The carriage bounced hard over the rough road.
I pressed a strip of my torn shirt against the shoulder wound. Blood soaked through fast.
A hard heel slammed into my ribs.
"Stay away from me!" a woman screamed in the dark.
Another kick hit my wounded shoulder. White pain flashed behind my eyes. I grabbed the ankle before it could strike again.
"Let go! Don’t touch me, you Voss dog!"
Isolde. She thought I was one of the guards coming to hurt her.
"It’s Cassian," I said through clenched teeth. "I’m bleeding. Stop kicking."
She froze. Then she yanked her foot free and scrambled back until her spine hit the wooden wall. Her breathing was fast and scared.
"Cassian." She spat the name. "Did your father throw you in here to mock me?"
"I was thrown out the same as you." I kept pressure on the wound. "We’re going to the border estate."
She gave a short, bitter laugh. "Perfect. The crippled bastard, the ruined princess, and the blind girl. All in one trash cart."
I did not answer. The System window still floated in my mind.
`[Wife Investment System Online.]` `[Current Status: Critical Injury.]` `[Fiancee 1: Seraphina Aldric - Paralyzed, Hostile]` `[Fiancee 2: Isolde Draven - Blind, Hostile]`
No healing. No big power. Just cold facts.
The rain started outside.
The carriage rattled for a long time.
Isolde stayed pressed against the far wall.
She did not speak again.
Every time the wheels hit a deep hole, my shoulder burned and she sucked in a sharp breath, as if the dark itself might attack her.
Hours passed. The pain settled into a deep, steady throb. My hands grew cold. I could hear Isolde’s teeth start to chatter.
Finally the carriage stopped hard.
The doors were ripped open. Freezing rain and gray light hit us. A guard grabbed my wounded shoulder and dragged me out. I hit the mud face-first. Behind me Isolde was pulled out and fell beside me. Her black hair stuck to her face.
I pushed myself up. We were in a broken courtyard. Moss covered the walls. The main doors of the keep hung half off their hinges. This place had been empty for years.
"Bring the other one," the captain ordered.
Two guards hauled Seraphina’s wooden chair out of the second carriage and dumped it.
The chair tipped.
The strap snapped.
Seraphina fell face-down into a deep mud puddle.
Her golden blonde hair turned brown with sludge.
She could not lift her head.
Her shoulders jerked as she tried to breathe.
The captain drew his sword. The other three guards did the same.
"Lady Cordelia sends her regards," the captain said. "We lock the gates and leave you to bleed."
His eyes moved to Seraphina, still drowning in the mud. A cruel smile pulled at his mouth.
"Actually," he said, lifting his boot, "let’s finish the Aldemoor bitch first."
He brought the boot down toward the back of her head.
I threw myself over her. The steel-toed boot slammed into my ribs. Something cracked. I tasted blood, but I kept my body over hers and rolled her onto her back.
She gasped and coughed up muddy water. Her golden eyes locked on mine. Even half-drowned, the hate in them was clear.
A blue window appeared.
`[Target: Seraphina Aldric]`
`[Action Logged: Protective Care - Shielding Heroine from lethal strike at personal cost]` `[Grade: B - Attentive Investment]`
`[Reward Granted: Initiate-Tier Iron Body (Passive) & Basic Bladework (Memory Transfer)]`
Cold energy stabbed into my skull. Muscle memory of basic grips and stances poured into my arms. At the same time my bones felt heavier, denser. The cracked rib stopped grinding so sharply.
The captain laughed and raised his sword to finish us both.
My right hand moved on its own.
I caught his wrist.
The new strength in my grip made him drop the blade.
I drove my left fist into the side of his knee.
The joint gave.
He fell forward.
I pulled the dagger from his belt, drove my knee into his chest, and shoved the blade up under his chin.
He gurgled and went still.
The other three guards stared. One of them cursed, grabbed a torch, and threw it onto the dry brush near the gates.
"Lock them in! Let them burn!"
They scrambled onto their horses and rode out. The heavy iron gates slammed shut. A chain locked into place.
The brush caught fire fast, even in the rain. Flames crawled toward the abandoned carriages.
I wiped blood from my eyes and looked at the two women.
Isolde sat in the mud, arms wrapped around her knees, shaking hard.
Seraphina lay on her back, rain washing some of the mud from her face.
Her eyes never left me.
She had watched me kill the captain.
The hostility coming off her was thick enough to choke on.
"Don’t... touch me..." she rasped.
"The courtyard is on fire," I said. "If we stay here we die."
I lifted her under the arms. She weighed almost nothing. I put her over my good shoulder.
"Isolde. Grab my belt."
She flinched. "Stay away."
"Grab it or burn."
She reached out, found the leather, and held on tight.
I carried Seraphina and led Isolde through the mud to the main doors. Heat from the burning carriages pressed against my back. I kicked the rotten wood open and stepped into the dark hall. The air smelled of dust and old damp.
I set Seraphina down on the stone floor and told Isolde she could let go. She yanked her hand back at once and wrapped her arms around herself.
For a few breaths no one spoke. Rain hammered the broken roof. My shoulder and ribs throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Isolde’s teeth still chattered. Seraphina’s eyes stayed fixed on me, cold and measuring.
I turned to close the doors against the fire outside.
A dry voice came from the shadows of the staircase.
"Well. Look what the rain washed in."
I stopped. My hand tightened on the bloody dagger.
A man in a tattered gray cloak stepped into the weak light. He held a loaded crossbow pointed at my chest.
"Lady Cordelia said you might be stubborn," he said. His finger rested on the trigger. "I was getting bored waiting."
The crossbow string snapped.
I shoved Isolde hard to the side and dropped. The bolt hissed past where my chest had been and cracked against the stone wall.
The assassin dropped the crossbow and pulled a serrated knife. He came down the stairs fast.
I met him at the bottom.
The new bladework knowledge moved my arms.
I deflected his first cut with my forearm.
The knife scraped across the hardened skin of my Iron Body and left only a shallow line.
I drove the dagger into the soft place under his ribs, pulled it free, and stuck it in again.
He gasped. Hot blood ran over my hand. I shoved him back. He hit the floor and stopped moving.
I stood over him, breathing hard. The temporary boost was fading. Every cut and bruise from the day came back at once.
Isolde’s voice came from the floor, tight with panic.
"Cassian? What happened? Who is there?"
"Cordelia sent someone to make sure we died tonight," I said. "He’s dead."
I searched the body quickly. Flint. A little dried meat. A thick wool cloak. I took all of it.
Seraphina watched me the whole time. Her golden eyes did not soften.
"Don’t touch me," she said when I moved toward her with the cloak.
"You’re freezing," I answered. I wrapped the heavy wool around her anyway. She could not push me away. She glared as if she wanted to set me on fire with her eyes alone.
I guided Isolde to a broken chair and sat her down.
Then I found a small side room that still had a working hearth.
I broke a rotting chair for wood, used the flint, and got a fire going.
The orange light pushed the worst of the cold back.
We stayed like that for a while. Rain outside. Fire inside. Three people who did not trust each other, locked in a ruined keep with bodies in the hall and gates chained shut.
Isolde hugged her knees and said nothing. Seraphina’s eyes never left my face. My shoulder kept bleeding slowly into the cloth I had tied around it.
I sat on the floor near the fire and finally let my head rest against the stone wall.
The System window floated again, quiet and cold.
Outside, the fire from the carriages was still burning. Inside, the only sound was the crackle of the new flames and Isolde’s uneven breathing.
We had survived the first day.
Something told me the next one would not be easier.