This chapter is dedicated to @NoseDeep for making me this beautiful cover! Thank you!

***

Isabella stormed through the castle, the arrow shaft clutched tightly in her hand.

"Isabella, they have wounded him!" Milenna cried. Isabella knew it was hard for her sister to keep up with her in those silky dress and robe but she didn't slow down.

She would throw that man out of the castle.

"Isabella!" Milenna called out for her again. She was audibly panting. "You can not make him leave in this condition!"

Isabella whirled around and faced her sister. Milenna skidded to a stop and almost lost her balance.
"He is a security risk, Milenna. Try to understand that," she said.

"Not in this condition! He is barely breathing. I don't even know if he will survive!" Milenna said.

"The safety of my Land is what matters the most to me."

"And the safety of a dying man matters the most to me!"

"Milenna—" Isabella sighed.

"You must let him stay!"

"I can't—"

"Yes, you can!" Milenna's voice boomed across the stone-paved corridor. "All you have to do is say. Father always listens to you."

"I will not jeopardize the safety of my Land for the sake of a stranger."

Milenna stared at her making Isabella wonder what was going on behind those brown eyes. Finally, she said, "The Land does not belong to only you, Isabella. However, if protecting a piece of land means squandering a life, then I want no part of it. I will never be as cruel as you."

Isabella took a step back as if her sister had slapped her. She couldn't believe her own ears. How could her sister say this? How could she not see the danger?

She closed her eyes and steadied herself. Then she softly laughed. "Oh no, no. Little sister, you are wrong." She opened her eyes, fixed her with a freezing gaze, and took a step closer to her sister. "This is not cruelty."

"Do you know what cruelty is?" Isabella asked quietly. "Cruelty is having six Lands under your rule and still attacking another. Cruelty is attacking a Land weaker than you in every sense. Darius can never stand up to Lucas' power and the Conqueror knows this. Yet he has declared war on us. Send a man to spy on us. He is tying up every loose end so he can crush us mercilessly."

Isabella stared at her sister, her breasts heaving, her eyes burning with anger and unshed tears. "That, Milenna," she whispered. "That is true cruelty. I am doing what I need to do."

Milenna looked at her with guarded eyes. "And would that be?"

Isabella felt her jaws tick. "That would be protecting my own."

The sisters stared at each other, both breathing heard. Isabella couldn't decipher the thoughts running in her sister's head, but she knew what she must do with absolute clarity.

"The Land is yours too, Milenna, but inheritance is not enough to make you a leader," she said. "Get your priorities straight, little sister."

Isabella didn't wait to hear what her sister had to say about it. She had had enough. She understood if Milenna declined picking up arms but this was too much!

How could she be so naïve?

She bunched the cloth in her hand. Lucas couldn't have thought they were that naïve.

He had fooled Sir Isaho and would have fooled her if she had not noticed the small patch of purple.

What she did not understand was why did they injure that man? To make him look like a fugitive? And if that was his goal, then why not give a simple knife wound or use ordinary arrows?

She halted. Was there more to it than what met the eyes?

Isabella closed her eyes. Then with a sigh, she pressed her back against a cold pillar and slid down on the floor.

What if there is more?

"You have the same thought as I do, haven't you?" Milenna's voice came from the dark.

She sat up just as her sister walked into the sphere of light.

"They have injured him. Let him stay. And when he recovers enough to talk, interrogate him," Milenna said quietly.

Isabella stared at her sister. Then she looked down and stared at the fabric in her hand, the patch of purple on it.

"How long until he recovers?" She asked after a long time.

Milenna shook her head. "I know nothing for certain. He might not even survive but consider it will take at least two weeks."

Isabella bit her lip and mulled over her sister's words. Her gut said he was a spy, but logic pushed that he was a fugitive.

"Fine," she said at last. "But he will be under watch all the time."

Her sister nodded. "As you wish, Crown Princess."

Isabella's eyes widened, but she refrained from saying anything. After a while, she heard Milenna's footsteps. They grew fainter with time until she couldn't hear it anymore.

A heaviness settled down in Isabella's heart.

She would give her everything to protect her people, this castle.

But it scared her to think that wouldn't be enough.