There were shouts in the wake of the deafening explosion. Roche's ears rang, a single name echoing in the silence that descended on the room.

Moiris, Moiris, Moiris.

Fragments and shards of the shattered cauldron skittered across the ground, glistening with a mix of water and inkblood. As the air settled, Roche belatedly realised that she'd thrown up a thin, shimmering shield around Tigris and all those who stood beside her.

"Thanks a lot," Aodh grumbled, flicking beads of water off his vest.

Roche barely heard him. Her eyes were locked on Tigris, on the soft lips of her queen that were currently pressed into a bloodless like.

Moiris, Moiris, Moiris.

With each harried rise and fall of Tigris' chest, Roche saw the vision that Kairon had shared. Burned into the back of her eyelids was Orpheus, eyes empty, stabbing his sword into Tigris' body. She watched Tigris' body lurch as the sword pierced her, her lips parting with surprise-

Roche's eyes flew open. Aodh was peering at the map.

"This is perfect!" he exclaimed, a wide grin on his face, "The passageway between the cliffs open up at the edge of Moiris. If we stage our assault there, only a few uska will be able to squeeze through at a time. They'll be far easier to fight."

Tigris cleared her throat. She pointedly avoided Roche's gaze as she strode over to the map.

"Is there anywhere else that we could hold the battle?" she asked hoarsely.

Aodh's brows furrowed, concern breaking through his elatement. "Why would we-"

"Humour me," Tigris said flatly. Aodh's eyes sharpened at her tone, but he bent over the map once more.

"Well," Aodh replied slowly, his brows wrinkling, "We would lose our tactical advantage, but we'd be able to pull back the fight to the garrison here." He tapped a point on the map, further away from the ancient capital. Roche felt her blood freeze as Tigris' throat bobbed. The queen tapped a pale, manicured finger against the paper.

"What about all the villages in between?" Tigris demanded.

Aodh hesitated. "I'd assume that the uska would have to pass through them to get to us," he answered quietly, "It wouldn't be ideal. Unfortunately, none of the villages have the means to support the battle or be evacuated quick enough. So-"

"The uska would devour them. It would be a slaughter," Tigris realised. Her eyes flashed with something that looked like defeat. Roche's heart leapt to her throat.

Tigris, Tigris, Tigris.

"No," she whispered, but her voice came out too softly, drowned out by the steady drum of panic pounding in her ears and Tigris' strained voice.

"There's no question then," Tigris announced to the quiet room, "We'll have to stage the battle at Moiris."

Every bit of strength drained out of Roche's body. She stumbled like she'd been physically hit, her vision filling with the image of Tigris' gaze lifting, the surprised 'o' of the queen's mouth as Orpheus' blade pierced her chest-

Aodh nodded. "It'll give us the best chance. We should go update the court."

"Right," Tigris straightened to her full height, an assured mask falling over her features. Her crown gleamed brightly, her spine made of steel. Her gown fluttered around her, scarlet fabric trailing behind her like blood. "I'll update them."

Roche finally regained control of her body. She scrambled forward, her limbs clumsy and lumbering. She knocked a stack of books off the table as she managed to wrap her fingers around Tigris' wrist.

The queen lifted her gaze. She didn't look confused.

She merely looked weary.

"Let me go, Roche." Tigris said quietly. The words were an order, not a request.

Roche swallowed, her throat drying at the resolve in her lady's eyes. "Tigris, please," she pleaded frantically, "You can't-"

Tigris ripped her hand away. Roche let her hand lie limp in the air as Tigris took a few careful steps back towards the door. Her pale cheeks pinkened, her high, regal cheekbones framed by pale coils of hair.

The space between them had never felt so empty.

Roche felt her heart shatter, like Tigris was already dead.

"I can," Tigris murmured, not a hint of doubt in her verdant eyes, "And I will. There is no other choice."

"There is always a choice," Roche begged, making another grab for the queen. She would physically restrain Tigris if she had to. But the queen had already anticipated the movement. She sidestepped Roche's weak hands in a flurry of fine fabric. For a moment, Roche's vision was filled with nothing but red. Then Tigris' gown settled against the ground, and the queen had cracked the doors open.

"Not this time," Tigris replied, her voice hollow and empty. She cast Roche an apologetic look before sweeping through the doorway. She didn't look back, not even as she called over her shoulder, "Come on, everyone! The court's waiting."

Tigris' voice was nonchalant and easy. The perfect picture of an unbothered, confident queen. A scream built in Roche's chest. After a moment, Kai followed, passing Roche with a confused look. Roche turned to Verita and Leinos, desperation gripping her like a vise.

"I'm a maid, I can't speak out in the courtroom. Please, you have to stop her. You know what will happen." she pleaded, her voice bobbing and pitching like a boat on stormy seas.

Verita was as pale as a ghost. She nodded curtly, gathering several books in her arms before darting out of the library, Leinos hot on her heels.

Roche's breath was coming in quick pants. Sweat beaded on her skin, anxious, trembling energy filling her limbs. She shook, her thoughts racing with abnormal clarity. When a hand clamped on her forearm, a tidal wave of ink rose to throw it off. She barely managed to tamp it down when her gaze locked with the familiar ice blue eyes attached to that hand.

"What is it?" Aodh asked, his voice deathly soft. "What isn't she telling me?"

Roche gasped, black spots dancing at the edges of her vision. Tigris hadn't told him.

Oh gods, she hadn't told anyone, had she? Roche was the only one who knew. Roche would break the news to all of them.

"She'll die," the words came out quiet at first, then as a keen, "Aodh, she can't go to Moiris. She'll die."

Aodh's grip slackened. He stumbled back like she'd slapped him across the face.

"No," he breathed, his eyes searching her face for some sign of deceit. "How do you know?"

"It's been prophesied," Roche's breath hitched involuntarily, cutting off her words with a barely restrained sob, "I saw it, Aodh. I saw it."

"No," Aodh repeated, shaking his head. He stormed towards her, ignoring the cool tears streaming down her cheeks. "You're lying."

Roche let out a hysterical sound, a cross between a sob and a moan that made her sound like a wounded animal.

Aodh shoved her aside and charged out of the library, shouting his sister's name with a rage Roche had never seen before.

And all Roche could do was pick herself off the ground and follow because she'd follow her lady anywhere.

Even to the death.

-------

There was no escaping Moiris. Aodh argued fervently against the idea, rising to his feet and yelling at the top of his lungs during the war room session. Tigris had him escorted out, ignoring Aodh's furious gaze as she held her composure and continued the meeting. The rest of the court agreed that they'd have the best chance of winning if the battle was held in the abandoned farming village. The lives of Faultless civilians would not be put at risk. There would be no needless slaughter. To top it all off, they'd be close enough to the portal that they'd be able to seal it once Finn exited.

Everything seemed perfect.

Verita and Leinos argued fervently against the idea anyway, despite the fact that they had no reasonable defense that would satisfy the court. They couldn't reveal Tigris' death prophecy without revealing Roche's inkblood.

Roche despised her secrets at that moment. She wanted to leap on the table and reveal her inkblood to the court. She would do it if it meant Tigris would stay safe in her castle instead of riding to her death.

But Roche knew, deep down, that such an act would do her no good. Tigris would not abandon her knights to Finn's mercy. She would stay with them until the bitter end, and she would not move the battle to save her life instead of her people's.

Icy fear trickled into Roche's heart as the war session drew to a close. As a last ditch attempt at changing the battle plan, Verita revealed that the only way to seal the portal would be through the combined use of inkblood and a life sacrificed.

Tigris batted aside the argument with a steely look in her eyes. "I'll see if we can contact the covens, they might have someone willing to help with the inkblood bit. As for the sacrifice... we'll see who still stands at the end of the battle."

That was the only moment that Tigris deigned to meet Roche's piercing stare. And her eyes were apologetic, or fearful, or rebellious as Roche expected.

They were pleading.

Tigris thought that she would be the sacrifice.

And she expected Roche to assist her in the process, in using her inkblood to kill her.

The room whited out around Roche, panic and desperation bleating in her ears like a siren. Roche sucked in thin breaths, trying to control her racing pulse. Tigris was wrong. The queen wouldn't be the sacrifice. Orpheus would kill her long before then.

Roche couldn't breathe. A voice filtered through her ears, distorted like it was underwater. There was a hand on her arm, someone asking her a question.

She felt the press of eyes against her. One pair of those eyes were green and sparkling and soon to be dead.

Because Roche wouldn't be able to save her.

Roche ran out of the war room, bursting through the doors. Her vision blurred as she charged through the halls. Her inkblood pulsed prominently in her veins, impossible to ignore. It tore at her from the inside, shredding at the confines of her body. It begged for escape and Roche did too. She wanted out of this castle, this pain, this heartache. She wanted out of destiny and all the grief it was destined to bring.

She sprinted out of the castle gates, blowing past the lower town. Cool air nipped at her cheeks as she ran straight for the forest, for the relaxing scent of trees and mulch and nature, things that would long outlive her.

And her queen.

Tears pressed against her eyes. Her legs couldn't support her any longer. She crumpled to the ground, huge, heaving sobs rattling out of her chest. She was so mired in her misery and terror that she didn't notice the reptilian eyes gleaming at her from deep within the forest.

An impact slammed against her chest. Roche went flying, slamming into a tree. Her vision doubled as pain exploded from the back of her head. The air flooded out of her. Before she could do anything but wheeze, there was something scaly clambering up her body, teeth clamping against the flesh of her neck and pulling.

A scream broke free from her then, agonised as warm blood gushed against her skin. Her fingers scrabbled, gripping something fleshy and rough, a neon pink. She pulled futilely, her panic reducing her efforts to weak tugs that did nothing to dislodge the strange creature.

The bite began to burn. Roche rallied her inkblood to the surface.

"Aukret!" she gasped out, feeling her inkblood rise to the surface-

-and promptly get sucked into the maw of the creature.

There was a stir in her veins, the bubble and burble of all of the fluids within her shifting course, flowing to the source of the bite. Darkness edged at Roche's vision. She squirmed and thrashed, roaring as she struggled to grab the writhing creature gleefully clamped to her neck. A tail smacked against her eyes, and her hands loosened instinctively. She didn't have the strength to regain her grip.

Darkness crept across her vision, deeper and more threatening than simple unconsciousness.

Terror tore through Roche like a hurricane gale. She was going to die.

The next few moments were a blur that Roche's blood deprived brain could barely understand. One moment, the vampire-like creature's teeth were icy and sharp against her bloody neck.

The next, the strange beast was ripped away with a screech, leaving arcs of blood flying after it. Roche barely managed to lever herself up, her blurry eyes registering a familiar face. Ivie stood over her, sword lofted. The knight's face was drawn with a mix of disgust and horror as she lunged towards the neon reptilian blur trying to make another attempt at Roche. Ivie's sword arced through the air as a metallic blur.

The creature's head landed next to Roche with a dull thud, painting the mud red.

Roche sank back, breathing hard. The blood against her skin, once so warm, was now icy and sticky. She sank back, her fingers weakly clutching the gaping hole in her neck as Ivie kneeled before her, dropping her sword to the ground.

"Roche," the knight whispered, her hands fluttering frantically through the air. Roche dazedly wondered why the steady woman looked so flustered.

Don't worry about me, Roche wanted to tell her, but her lips were too heavy to move. SHe made a muffled sound of protest as strong hands curled beneath her, tapping her gently.

"Come on, Roche. You need to..." the feminine voice muddled and trailed away as Roche finally succumbed to the beckoning darkness.

A/N: 

Ivie: Roche you need to stay awake.

Roche: 😴✌️

Lol, hopefully those emojis load on Wattpad. Anyways, it looks like Roche is going to be down for a while. Any ideas what that creature did?

I hope this chapter didn't come off as too cheesy or anything. I thought that for someone who had been guided by destiny and prophecy for so long, Roche would feel the effects of hearing Tigris' death prophecy the hardest. Any thoughts?

As always, happy reading!