A lot of planning had gone into this scheme well before it was executed. The person who'd hired her had had the layout of the compound, the placement of the guards, the timing of their shift changes. She'd been given the proper equipment to scale the walls and sneak into the compound, carefully finding her way into the young Heiress's rooms.

Her instructions were clear: steal her from her bed while she slept, now old enough to be in a separate room from her parents. Get in, take her, then get out just as quickly before the alarm was raised.

Slipping into the room, she padded quietly across the floor to the girl's bed. If she had a heart, she almost would've felt bad about what she was doing. Kidnapping a child wasn't exactly a crime to be proud of, but she had her orders and the money she'd been handed was well worth any potential moral objections she might have had.

She was almost disappointed by how easy this job was turning out to be. She thought sneaking into the royal Compound of Krowest would be much harder than it was. Her boss had truly outdone themselves with how well planned this was.

As she reached for the Heiress, footsteps sounded behind her. Freezing in place, she glanced over her shoulder.

Okay so maybe not everything had been accounted for.

The large man staring at her made her face go white as a sheet. Gulping loudly, her hand twitched, wanting to desperately reach for the blaster at her belt, but knowing that in doing so, the man would most definitely attack. Her foot slide an inch backwards.

She was damned no matter what she did. Steeling herself, she made up her mind.

Her hand flew to the blaster, yanking it out just as the man lunged, knocking her to the ground. A large knife stabbed into her forearm, instantly tearing through flesh like tissue paper. She let out a blood-curdling scream, her other arm flailing about wildly, trying to shoot the man pinning her down.

The man removed his blade and the last thing she saw was a bloody knife descending upon her throat. Pain ripped through her.

And then nothing.

Sabine jolted from her sleep at the sound of screaming and shooting coming from her daughter's room.

"Ezra!" she shouted, hearing him scramble behind her as she ran towards the loud commotion.

Throwing open the door right next to theirs, Sabine halted in her steps and gasped, her hand covering her mouth. Ezra ran straight into her back, not having expected her to stop so suddenly. His eyes went wide at the scene.

Tristan was hunched over an unmoving body on the floor, blood slowly dripping from his knife. Sabine had never seen such fire in his eyes and for the first time, she truly realized what a terrifying person he could be.

Sitting up in her bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes was Amira. She looked around with a terrified expression.

Quickly, Sabine went to her side and shielded her view of the corpse lying beside her bed. She gestured for the newly arrived guards to deal with the mess. Picking her little girl up, she went over to Ezra and handed her off.

"Keep her in our room and double the guards. I'll be in shortly, I just…need to speak to Tristan."

Recognizing that now was not the time to argue, Ezra gave her a short nod and did as he was told.

Sabine walked over to her brother, stopping mere feet from him.

"That woman," Sabine said, clearing her throat. "She was going to hurt Amira, wasn't she?"

"Yes." He said

"And you stopped her."

Tristan blinked at her.

"You saved my daughter." She took his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his. "Thank you."

Tristan smiled, feeling content.

"I love you so much, Tristan." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head and hugged him.

Tristan was no spring chicken anymore. Having been exposed to radiation during the war, he was getting slower, lazier, loved to lay around more than usual. His skin had begun to turn a light gray. Sabine wasn't sure how much more time he had left with them, but she would forever be grateful he was here tonight.

She gestured for him to follow. They walked back to her and Ezra's room and she was glad to see guards posted in every corner of the hallways and outside the room. There would be an ugly mess to deal with in the morning with trying to figure out who that woman was and what her purpose was, but that would wait. She was tired and she needed to check in on her little girl.

The second she walked into the room, Amira yelled her name and ran over to her. Bending down, she scooped her up, holding her close, the tension finally leaving her body.

"She wouldn't go back to sleep until she saw you," Ezra said from his position on the bed.

"Oh my love, it's okay," she cooed. "I'm here, Daddy's here, Tristan's here. Everything's alright now."

Amira shook her head and buried her face into her mother's neck. "I was so scared, Mama. I heard blaster fire and then someone screamed and I didn't wanna open my eyes and—"

"Shhshh, Amira, it's okay. That bad woman can never get to you again. Your father and I won't let anything happen to you," she said while she rubbed Amira's back. "And Tristan would certainly never let anyone near you. He protected you tonight and he'll protect you tomorrow. And every day after until he no longer can. Isn't that right, Tristan?"

Her brother tickled Amira's foot. "Yes."

Gradually the hold Amira had around Sabine's neck loosened and she pulled back to look at Tristan. Wiggling free of her mother's arms, she jumped down and wrapped her arms around Tristan.

"You'll always save me, right Tristan?"

"Always, kid." Sabine smiled at them. She glanced over at Ezra and saw him smiling fondly at them as well.

"Come on, love, it's time for bed," she said. "I think we've all had quite enough of tonight."

Amira let go of Tristan and jumped back into bed, followed quickly by her mother. She snuggled up to her father, his strong arm holding her close as she nestled safely between the two of them.

Sabine placed a hand over her daughter's while the other hung over the side of the bed, as Tristan left for his own room.

Things could've gone very wrong tonight if Tristan hadn't been there. But he was getting sicker and he wouldn't be there forever. Amira had been begging them recently for a pet and they'd staunchly refused, concerned she wouldn't be able to handle the responsibility. But after this…maybe she and Ezra could at least consider it.

No one would ever be able to replace Tristan.

But just maybe.