Chapter 77

Chapter 77
Nia's POV

Heavy footsteps echoed down the dungeon corridor. I pressed my bruised face against the cold stone wall, every part of my body screaming from the silver whip marks. Soon we'll be free. That thought kept me going through three days of torture, three days of keeping Lady Eloise's name out of my mouth.

When the cell door clanged open, I looked up to see six rough-looking guards. The leader had a jagged scar running from his left eye to his jaw, and his smile made my blood run cold.

"Time to go," he growled.

My legs shook as I stood. Every movement sent fire through the welts on my back, but I forced myself to walk. Lady Eloise promised. The rescue will come tomorrow evening. We just have to survive until then.

The morning air slapped me in the face when they dragged me outside. After days in that dark hole, the sunlight hurt my eyes. But then I saw them.

Tom. My beautiful, gentle Tom standing by the prison wagon with tears streaming down his face. Beside him, our children. Mike, twelve years old and trying so hard to be brave. Little Mira, only eight, clutching her raggedy cloth doll and sobbing.

"Mama!" Mira broke free and ran to me.

I dropped to my knees and pulled her into my arms, ignoring the pain that shot through my back. "My baby. My sweet baby."

Mike rushed over next, wrapping his thin arms around both of us. "Mama, are we really going away? Forever?"

Tom joined our embrace, his voice barely a whisper. "Nia, I'm so scared. What if we don't make it?"

I held them all tight, breathing in their familiar scents. Just two days. We only have to survive two days. "Don't be afraid," I whispered. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise."

The scar-faced guard yanked me away from my family. "Enough! Get in the wagon."

The prison wagon was nothing more than a wooden cage on wheels. Rough planks, no cushions, gaps that let in cold wind and rain. The six guards looked more like hired killers than proper escorts. I caught them exchanging meaningful glances, and something twisted in my stomach.

These aren't normal guards, I realized as we started moving. They're too... eager. Too cruel.

But I pushed the thought away. Lady Eloise had arranged everything. She wouldn't let me die, not when I'd kept her secrets for so many years.

"Mama, where are we going?" Mira asked, shivering in the cold morning air.

"To start a new life, sweetheart." The lies tasted bitter on my tongue. "We're going to find a beautiful place to live, just the four of us."

Tom looked at me with desperate hope in his eyes. "Really?"

I nodded, forcing a smile. "Really. Lady Eloise promised me everything would work out."

The first day was hell. 

The wagon bounced and lurched over every stone and rut in the mountain path. Mira got sick from all the jolting, throwing up the little bit of stale bread they'd given us for breakfast. Mike shared his threadbare coat with his sister, leaving himself shivering in just a thin shirt.

Tom's fever was getting worse. I could feel the heat radiating from his body when I held his hand. The guards had only given us murky water from a dirty bucket and some moldy cheese that made my stomach turn.

Meanwhile, the guards sat around their fire eating hot stew and drinking wine, laughing as if they were on some pleasant journey.

One more day, I kept telling myself. Tomorrow evening, help will come.

"Nia," Tom whispered that night as we huddled together in the wagon. "What if... what if we don't survive this?"

"We will." I squeezed his hand. "I know we will."

"But if we don't..." His voice cracked. "I want you to know I don't blame you. For any of this. I know you were just trying to protect us."

Tears burned my eyes. "Don't talk like that."

"I love you," he said simply. "Whatever happens, remember that."

The second day brought cold rain.

Water poured through the gaps in the wagon roof, soaking us to the bone. Mira's lips turned blue, and she couldn't stop shaking even when Mike and I wrapped our arms around her.

Tom was burning with fever now, mumbling things that didn't make sense. His skin was hot and dry, and he kept asking for water we didn't have.

"Please," I called to the guards. "My husband is sick. He needs medicine."

The scar-faced leader just laughed. "He won't need medicine much longer."

Something about the way he said it made my heart stop. What did he mean?

But I couldn't let myself think about it. Help was coming. It had to be.

"Mama," Mike said quietly, "I'm scared."

"I know, baby. But remember what I told you? Everything's going to be okay."

"Promise?"

Lady Eloise promised me. She said we'd have a chance at a new life. She wouldn't lie to me. Not after everything I've done for her.

"I promise."

The third day, we entered the Black Forest.

Ancient trees stretched up all around us, blocking most of the sunlight. The air felt thick and wrong, like death lived in these woods. Even the guards looked nervous, checking their weapons more often.

This is it, I thought, my heart racing. This is where the rescue is supposed to happen. Lady Eloise's people will come for us tonight.

I started scanning the trees, expecting to see friendly faces any minute. Every shadow could be our way out.

As evening approached, the guards suddenly stopped the wagon. 

"This'll do," the scarred man said with a grin that made my blood freeze.

"What do you mean?" I asked, but I already knew. Deep down, I already knew.

That's when they came out of the trees. Not rescuers. Not Lady Eloise's people. A dozen men in black masks, carrying knives and clubs, moving like hunters closing in on prey.

But they weren't attacking the guards. They were working with them.

"No," I whispered, the horrible truth crashing over me like ice water. "No, this can't be right."

The scarred guard unlocked our cage with a key he shouldn't have had. "Time to get out, folks."

"Mama?" Mira looked up at me with terrified eyes. "What's happening?"

Lady Eloise lied to me. The truth crashed down on me. This isn't a rescue. This is murder.

"Run!" I screamed to Tom and the children. "Run!"

But Tom was too weak from fever to even stand. Mike tried to shield Mira with his small body. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

"Lady Eloise!" I screamed into the dark forest. "You lying bitch! You promised me!"

The first blade went into Tom's chest as he tried to protect our children. Blood spread across his shirt.

"Nia..." he gasped, reaching for me with shaking fingers. "Save... the children..."

"Tom!" I lunged toward him, but hands grabbed me, holding me back.

Mike stepped in front of his sister, my brave little boy trying to be a man. "Don't hurt my mama," he said, his voice steady even though I could see him shaking.

"Mike, no!" 

But the knife was already moving, and my son fell without another word.

"NOOOO!" I screamed until my throat was raw. "YOU MONSTERS!"

Mira was too frozen with terror to even cry.

This is all my fault, I thought as my world ended. I believed her lies. I trusted that evil woman, and now my family is dead because of me.

"Eloise," I sobbed, holding Mira against my chest. "How could you do this to us?"

Just as the killers turned toward me, the thunder of hoofbeats shook the forest.

"What the hell—" The scarred guard spun around.

A dozen riders burst through the trees, led by a man I recognized from the estate. Joe, one of Prince Alexander's men. His sword was already drawn and gleaming in the dim light.

"Kill them all!" he shouted to his men. "Leave no one alive!"

The battle was fast and brutal. These weren't the same hired thugs who killed my family. Joe's men were real warriors, cutting through the chaos with deadly precision.

Steel rang against steel. Men screamed and fell. Blood painted the forest floor.

When it was over, most of the masked men lay dead. The few who tried to run were cut down before they reached the tree line.

Joe approached me carefully, his sword still drawn. "Are you hurt?"

I couldn't answer. I just sat there in the mud and blood, holding my Mira, surrounded by the bodies of my murdered family.

"Goddess," Joe breathed, taking in the scene. "We were too late."

"Why?" I finally managed to whisper. "Why did she do this to us?"

Joe's face was grim. "Because you knew too much. And because Lady Eloise doesn't leave loose ends."

She never intended to save us, I realized with crystal clarity. The whole time, she was planning our deaths. The exile was just a cover story. She wanted us murdered where no one would ever find our bodies.

"Tom," I sobbed, looking at my husband's pale face. "Mike. My beautiful children. It's all my fault. I trusted her. I believed her lies."

Joe knelt beside me. "This isn't your fault. This is hers."

But it was my fault. I had been Lady Eloise's willing accomplice for years. I had helped her with her schemes, kept her secrets, followed her orders without question. And when she needed a scapegoat, I had let them blame me rather than expose her.

I thought she cared about me. I thought our years of service meant something to her.

Now I understood the truth. To Lady Eloise, I had never been anything more than a useful tool. And when tools become inconvenient, you throw them away.

My grief was transforming into something harder, colder, more dangerous. The woman I had been, the loyal servant who followed orders and kept quiet, died in that forest with my family.

What came back from that blood-soaked ground was something new. Something that would make Lady Eloise pay for every lie, every betrayal, every drop of innocent blood.

"I want to see her face," I said quietly, my voice steady for the first time in days. "When she learns I survived. When she realizes her perfect plan failed."

Joe nodded grimly. "She'll get what's coming to her."

I looked down at Tom's face one last time, memorizing every detail. My husband, who had loved me despite everything.

I failed you, I thought. But I swear by the Moon Goddess herself, your deaths won't be meaningless. Lady Eloise will pay for what she did to us.

The old Nia, the faithful servant, was dead and buried in this cursed forest.