After that, everything began to happen and pass in a blur. Vincent arrived - nearly naked, might she add - and sat down atop the Duke. A different security guard confiscated the knives that the Duke had on his person - obviously knives that had been intended to take her life - and went to send them off for finger-print testing. If they came back with anyone else's fingerprints on them along with the Duke's, they would have a suspect for who was out to kill her and who had hired him to perform the dirty deed. In the meantime, Chess hopped up and curled on her lap, her face snuggling into the soft, pink skirts of her dress as she played.
It was when Katherine arrived that she felt her lower lip begin to tremble. What if the Duke had gone after Katherine? Or what if she was actually the intended target, but the Duke felt that ridding the vampire race of her, too, would earn him bonus points with his boss? What if he had intended to kill her brothers when they arrived home?
Thank God it had been her that had been attacked. Anyone else, and the outcome would have undoubtedly been different.
Oh, no, she didn't doubt her siblings' capabilities to protect themselves. But who knew? Something might have happened to cause them to trip up and end up making them become hurt ... Or worse.
Never-the-matter now, of course. It was over and done with, and there was nothing that she could do to change anything that had happened.
She could, however, prevent what would undoubtedly happen next. With a gentle hug to her sister and a whisper of, "It wasn't your fault, and there's nothing that you could have done to stop it," in answer to the younger girl's worries, she lifted Chessy into her arms and rose from the piano bench. Several strides later, and she passed through the door and back into her bedroom.
"No one is going to be punished for anything. It is doubtful that anything could have prevented what happened. How he managed to kill the guards down below and get past them astounds me, but he did, and there's nothing that can be done about that now." She crossed the room as she walked and lowered Chessy onto her bed, before turning to face the three Royal Guards. "As for him ..." She looked pointedly at the Duke. "Take him to a prison cell for holding until his interrogation. Once the interrogation has been finished, return him to the holding cell. He will remain there until further notice. I plan to wait for Alric's return before taking action upon a Duke, of all things. His followers will undoubtedly strike back if we cause harm to him. For now, make a notice to the vampire public that the Duke will be staying for an extended period of time to further court Katherine. That would be best to cover up what occurred today."
Opal paused and looked at the guards, before turning her gaze towards the balcony windows.
"Have someone collect those two poor men outside and delivered to their families. I will visit them myself to deal out my condolences once all this has passed. Understood?" she asked, looking over at them. She glanced at Vincent. "I need you to remain here as a guard for Katherine while Brinley and Markus take care of those details. Brinley, I would greatly appreciate it if you would take care of the Duke, seeing as I trust you more then, well, him," she said, pointing at Markus. After a deep, cleansing breath, she turned on Markus.
"As for you," she began, her eyes flashing with anger as she slowly made her way over to him.
"I will no longer stand for your disrespect towards your superiors and those that are in any way a higher rank then you. There comes a time when someone is forced to draw the line on how you treat them, and I suppose that that time has come. You have become lazy, disrespectful, and force others to perform your duties due to your general lack of work-ethics," she said, stopping when she was mere inches from Markus. "Therefore, I am ordering Vincent to train you and turn you into a proper officer of the royal guards, and a proper butler in the process. Failure to become so, and I will have no choice but to dismiss you from being a guard here. Vincent will report back to me on a daily basis on your cooperation, skill level, and general basics so that I may assess your behavior. Is this understood, Mister Heimrich?" she asked. Throughout the entirety of this speech, her voice was soft, yet held a dark undertone to it, her words obviously both a threat and a promise that she would carry out on them.
After a moment of her eyes intensely searching his, she straightened herself and turned towards Vincent. "The training will begin tomorrow, but I still expect regular duties to be performed. Katherine and I will spend more time around each other so that you are both doing your jobs. Vincent, remain here to guard Katherine. For now, Markus can take care of the two men that the Duke killed. Does that sound like a plan?"
In all honesty, she hated having to act like this, but she was really left with no choice. Brinley was the only one she trusted with the Duke at the moment, Markus needed to grow up and stop acting like a child, and Vincent, well ... Vincent was Vincent.