15

Violet was fast asleep. The door to her room flung open and a man stood at the doorway, peering inside at the woman lying on the bed defenceless.

The hair at the back stood up and her eyes flew open. Her breath hitched upon seeing a man looming at the doorway, she sat upright scooting back before stumbling out of the bed.

Her eyes were solely fixed on the man as she wondered where the guards were.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just checking if you guys were alright because there was no guard on duty on the floor."

"Lennox...."

It was him. She squinted her eyes and he eased her scrutiny by stepping further into the room out of the shadows.

Her heart stopped upon seeing him coated in blood. She was frozen for a brief second before pain kicked in. She scrambled to his side. "What happened? Are we under attack or something?" The fear in her voice gave of the trauma of how she escaped her palace and what she went through there.

"No, we are safe. You're safe. And this