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Vex gasped, stuttering as blood gushed from the wound, but he couldn’t emit any words.

Ravi yanked Vex toward him by the collar of his shirt, whispering in his ear, “I told you I would kill you.” Then he let Vex drop to the side, and his limp body crumpled into a wilted pile on the stone floor.

Magda remained on the ground, her entire body shaking uncontrollably. Small bruises and cuts were already forming on her upper arms. All around her lay piles of glass and seeping pools of red wine. Four dead bodies surrounded her, having been slayed by Ravi or the dogs.

Ravi raced over to her, kneeling down. “Did he hurt you?” he asked, helping Magda to a sitting position.

“No,” Magda let out.

Ravi’s lips and nose were dripping with blood, and his eye was already bruised. Magda reached up to touch his face, attempting to wipe away some of the staining. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s fine,” said Ravi, grabbing Magda’s hand in his and removing it from his face. His hands shook as he held onto hers.

“Are you alright?” Magda asked.

“Yes…,” Ravi stammered, his hands still shaking. “It’s just, I’ve never killed anyone before.” His eyes trailed to Vex.

Magda reached up and embraced him around the neck, pulling him close. “You saved my life.”

Ravi let his arms encircle around Magda’s back, tightening the hug. “I don’t know what overcame me. It was instinct.”

Magda let a deep sigh release from her body, and for a moment in his arms, she felt safe.

Then Odie and the golden dog scampered over to the two, leaping directly between Ravi and Magda. Odie jumped onto Magda’s lap, almost knocking her over as he licked her face again. She gave Odie a tight squeeze as Ravi said:

“They’re both fine.”

“And that one?” asked Magda. “Does it have a name?”

“No, she doesn’t,” said Ravi, looking around the dog’s neck for a collar.

“What should we name it?”

“Poppy,” said Ravi with a smile.

Poppy gave a loud bark, before running out of the wine cellar, and darting out of sight, leaving all of them behind. Odie whimpered, but Magda stroked his fur whispering, “She has to go find her family too.”

Ravi turned to look at Vex, and a look of dread spread across his face at the sight of the dead guild leader. But instead of sharing what was on his mind, he moved over to the dead body, searching inside of Vex’s jacket.

“What are you doing?”

Ravi found what he was looking for, and held up a letter with Queen Sanyal’s seal in his hands. He ripped it open. “An invitation to the ball.”

Ravi passed the invitation to Magda. It was a turquoise and yellow gilded slip of paper, stamped with Queen Sanyal’s seal. Shining letters read:

An invitation to the palace of the Guardians of the Soul to Princess Kiran Dhara’s birthday ball. And one invited.

“Are you serious?” Magda beamed.

“Looks like you’re my date now,” Ravi grinned. “Let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER 36

Dagmara

The engagement ball came to a close when the engaged couple never returned.

Dagmara sat upright in her bed, wearing nothing but her nighttime slip. She told Urszula everything. Luckily, Urszula didn’t seem to judge her. She didn’t even insinuate that Dagmara was going mad. She listened in silence, only asking follow up questions as needed.