She didn't even have time to feel relieved.
The second their heads hit the ground—wet thuds, necks spurting red like broken pipes—Isabella froze in place. Her entire body locked up, her grip on her fan turning rigid, blood pounding in her ears.
The silence that followed was terrifying.
A strange, thick silence. Too heavy. Too complete.
Her heart began to race, her lungs working in fast, uneven gasps.
She didn't move. She didn't blink.
Her wide, terrified eyes stared at the mess sprawled across the dirt. The bodies of the three men twitched once. Then stopped. Lifeless.
"What the actual hell…" she whispered, voice dry, thin.
She'd just been arguing with them—swinging her baby-damage fan and calling them swamp creatures. And now… just like that… their heads were off. Severed like melons at a street market.
Her stomach twisted.