Rowan audibly sighed, interrupting Katryna with rolling eyes. “I’m sure you had many important matters to attend to in Redwatch. You must have been utterly swamped with work to do all this time, given that this is your first visit home in, what six years?”
Aunt Rashel scoffed. “Rowan, don’t be so rude to your sister.”
“What? I only speak the truth. Has it not been six years?”
“Rowan,” Katryna said, “I didn’t attend your wedding because I wanted to give you the courtesy of not befouling you and Ofelia’s special day with my presence. I am sorry if that was the wrong decision, but it was the decision I made because I thought it was for the best.”
Rowan scowled. Hectar and Ellene were unimpressed.
“Oh, Katryna,” Ofelia replied sympathetically, “don’t speak such words. We missed you at the wedding, but we understand.”
“I’m just glad you weren’t here when mother died,” Rowan snapped in an icy tone. “You spared her that pain, and for that, I am grateful.”
Everybody in the room fell silent. The words hit Katryna in the chest like a dagger. She could feel the guilt boiling deep inside. She felt her blood boiling over the top and raced out the door. She couldn’t take it.
Katryna stood out in the empty corridor, the distant noise of castle conversations far off. Her only companion was an ornate standing planter filled with withered flowers, hanging half out of the ceramic pot.
Finn followed Katryna out, closing the oak door behind him. Katryna wiped the sweat from her brow. She wanted to cry but refused to.
“Kat, are you alright?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine, I just needed a minute,” she replied, sniffling. It took every ounce of effort not to barge back into the room and let loose on Rowan.
“You need to ignore Rowan. He’s… he’s…”
“A complete arse?”
Finn smirked. “Yes. But he’s our brother.”
Katryna snorted in reply, shaking her head. “All my life, I have been cast out by our family. Mother practically disowned me. Our own mother! Our aunt and uncle and half of our extended family think of me a killer. And our brother. He has had nothing but hate for me ever since we were young.”
“They are our family,” Finn insisted.
“As if blood means anything anymore.”
“Kat, blood means everything.” Finn held his sister. “Some don’t deserve the gifts you bestow. Others will never see how remarkable you are. That is their curse to live with, not yours. Don’t make the mistake of bowing to whatever ill spite they still hold.”
Katryna felt her eyes stinging as tears swelled up. She was able to give a half-smile at the kind words, however, kissing Finn on the cheek. Such simple words held so much power for her.
“No matter what happens we are in this together, Kat.”
“You’re right.”
“I love you. You are my older sister. You have always been there for me. If nothing else, you have me, you have Aunt Rashel. And you still have father.”
“Where is father? Can I see him?” Katryna asked. She did not want to waste another second. She felt she was running out of what time he still had left.
“Not yet,” Finn replied. “The physicians and apothecary are with him now. He had a bad day today and is too ill for anyone to see him yet.”
Katryna shook her head. “I rode all this way, and I’m met with eagle eyes and snake’s tongues.”
Finn comforted his sister again. “You’re not too late, don’t fret. Now, let’s go back inside and try and focus on what really matters.”
Katryna was hoping deep down that he was right. She took her younger brother by the hand and the two stepped back inside.
Aunt Rashel was standing over Rowan like an overbearing mother. She raised her voice as Katryna came in.
“The two of you need to cut it out this instant. You father is on his deathbed. I think we need to focus on more important matters than you two squabbling, while we wait for the healers to finish with Giliam.”
The two siblings silently agreed to the statement with a nod.
Rowan got up and brought in the High Sword from an adjacent room, whose role it was to oversee the safety of the royal family. The High Sword directed the Infinity Guard, a group of one hundred elite bodyguards. He stepped in, and Katryna was blown away by how tall he was.
Clad in shining silver and gold armour, the High Sword introduced himself to Katryna with a bow. “My lady, it is an honour to meet you. I am Ser Arthus Medonia, appointed High Sword of House Bower.”
He had been given the position while Katryna was away.
In with the High Sword came Jerrem Denar, one of the royal physicians. Katryna was stunned to see him still alive- he seemed on the cusp of death even when she was small.
Jerrem had to be at least eighty years of age. He moved slowly, like a frail tortoise. His hunchback had grown more pronounced. He did not engage with Katryna, but out of coldness or unawareness she was uncertain.
Katryna, the High Sword, the royal physician, and the Bower and Maarsden families sat at the long table in the centre of the hall. The doors were barred shut.
In the hall, every noise made a harrowing echo, and the wind blew through the rafters like an ominous booming. The colossal hearth at the end of the hall roared like the tension Katryna felt within herself.
Rowan stood up as he began to speak. “Now that we are all here, we have something to discuss regarding all of our safety and the future of our House. I have told the guards that no one else is to enter the hall until we leave, as these matters are serious. Jerrem, if you
