At the top of the stairs, Lia stood directly in front of the door and motioned for silence as she turned to the group.
“Cassian, Devin, stand to the right of the door and be ready to follow me. I’ve got a vest so I’ll stay in front just in case. Emori, when I say go, I need you to pull open the door as fast as you can and stay behind it.”
Emori instantly tensed and looked up at Devin. In response, he pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead before whispering something in her ear. She nodded her head and turned back to Lia.
Lia assumed that meant she was ready so she awkwardly inclined her head at Emori.
Everyone got into position and waited for Lia’s signal. Three, two, one.
“Go!” she whisper-shouted.
Emori swung the door open, keeping her body behind it as Lia advanced, gun first, through the exit; Devin and Cassian quickly flanking her. After panning out and seeing that no one was there, she turned back to Devin and gave him a nod. Clear.
As if he had been held against his will, Devin sprinted back to the door and pulled Emori from behind it. He leaned down and said something to her prompting a wide smile in response.
Lia watched for a second, curious as to the nature of their relationship when the world disappeared around her. Everything went black. She blinked and shook her head.
“Cassian!” she called through her mask.
“What?” he responded, slightly startled.
“I can’t see!”
Lia held her hands out in front of her and saw nothing. Gripping the edges of her mask, she tugged it off. Nothing changed.
“Cassian, I can’t see!” She was panicking now.
She felt a hand touch her arm and instantly batted it away.
“It’s me!” Cassian told her before grabbing her head and gently pulling apart her eyelids. “Hold still.”
She could feel the air touching her naked eyes but she still saw nothing.
Distantly she heard a small, raspy voice. “Salem, stop! It’s Eulalia.”
In the next second, the world reappeared. Lia gasped and blinked rapidly, struggling out of Cassian’s hold. As her eyes adjusted to the low light, she spotted the Queen and her sentinel down the hall.
“I apologize,” the sentinel said, not looking the least bit sorry. “I thought that you were an intruder.”
Lia could’ve been angry but the only thing she felt was relief.
“It’s fine. It wouldn’t be the first time,” she said, side-eyeing Cassian. Then her attention was drawn back to the Queen.
She looked terrible. Her strides were heavy, head was lowered, breaths were stifled. It even looked like there was dried blood on her face.
“What the hell happened to you?” Devin gasped.
Deianira cut him a dirty look before nodding her head to her sentinel. The sentinel took her cue.
“We don’t have time for me to give you a detailed explanation but Jude is the one who orchestrated the attack. He manipulated her mind which caused side effects resulting in her current condition. We can’t go to the arena but we need to get out of the palace.”
Lia already knew this. Well, the first part.
“And Cade,” Deianira breathed.
“And find Cade.” Salem nodded.
So they weren’t together. A dark feeling crawled up Lia’s spine.
“Do you know where he went?” Cassian asked.
Deianira responded before Salem could. “No, but he was here. I don’t know when, but he was. He left this.” She held up a ring.
Eliza’s ring.
Lia had given that to him years ago. She had no idea he’d hung onto it this whole time.
Devin stepped forward. “But protocol states to go to the arena. If he’s anywhere, it would be there.”
Lia instantly disagreed, shaking her head.
“No, he’s not. I didn’t see him out there and I know he wouldn’t leave this building without her,” she said, nodding in Deianira’s direction.
Deianira’s expression dimmed even more. Shouldn’t she be happy?
“Well, even if he’s inside, the palace is huge. He could be anywhere.”
“Well, he isn’t up here,” Salem stated.
“We could split up and look for him,” Cassian suggested.
Salem blinked at Cassian. “That would be the worst thing to do for a multitude of reasons. We are grossly outnumbered, we don’t know which enforcers to trust, four out of six of us are untrained, and one out of the two that are is momentarily incapable of defending herself.” She turned to the others. “Does anyone have any better ideas?”
Lia held back her snort but Devin didn’t. To her surprise though, Cassian didn’t look offended. He looked intrigued.
Deianira
Everyone was silent as they all waited for someone else to make a suggestion when the door at the other side of the hall burst open.
“Shit!” Lia jumped.
“Don’t run,” Devin urged all of them. “Get behind me.”
Deianira wasn’t sure what his plan was but she didn’t have anything better to offer, so they all scurried to get behind him.
He took a deep breath before clapping his hands twice and pulling them apart.
She was about to ask him what that was supposed to do when she noticed the slight shimmer of the air in front of her. Before she could make any other observations, at least fifty enforcers advanced from around the corner, headed right in their direction. They were looking right at them. But then, she noticed that they didn’t pick up their speed as they started towards them.
They can’t see us. It was a cloaking spell.
As they got closer, Devin carefully took steps out of their path and the others matched him, slowly angling themselves out of their way. They were marching right in front of them.
As they passed, Deianira managed to pick up some of the conversation that a few in the front were having.
“This is the last floor. I’m telling you, she isn’t here.”
“Where else would she be? We would’ve seen her if she’d left.”
“I don’t know but if she’s hiding somewhere, the boy ought to know.”
“Well, Alden needs to hurry up and beat it out of him. I just want this to be over with so I can get my cut and go home.”
Cade?
The first enforcer laughed. “That guy is a cold bastard. Cutting up his own son for a payout? Wish I had the stones.”
Deianira sucked in a harsh breath.
“What was that?”
They have him.
The sharp glare that Devin shot her way should’ve told her to stay quiet but she couldn’t.
Cutting up his own son for a payout.
Deianira’s mind was set. She ignored everyone’s objections as she stepped forward and dragged herself out of the cloak.
Grabbing the first enforcer to notice her by the neck, she summoned all her strength and dug her fingers into his nape. With a pained cry, she gripped the thick bone and screamed as she tore his spine from his back.
All the enforcers seemed to pause as they took in the sight before them with various looks of terror written on their faces.
Keeping his spine clutched in her right hand, she let his body fall and looked on at the large group of enforcers as blood dripped onto her foot.
“Where… is he?” she rasped, her breaths ragged.
Like a chain reaction, as one of the enforcers fired his gun in her direction, the rest followed.
“For fuck’s sake!” Deianira heard from her right, before Devin, Emori, Cassian, Eulalia, and Salem appeared out of thin air.
Devin immediately put up a shield as Lia and Cassian started firing back. Deianira didn’t want to be behind the shield. She wanted to find the man that had been speaking about Cade. She needed to find him.
Pushing through her fatigue, she grunted as she summoned shadows and lifted herself before flying over the shield and toward the front of the line.
As they noticed her above them, the enforcers started shooting upwards, but she paid little attention to them. She had her eye on the enforcer at the front.
Before she could reach him, a bullet grazed her arm. She cried out as she spiraled to the ground with a sickening crunch.
Looking up, surrounded by enforcers, she locked eyes with the one who had shot her as he brought his gun up again. Deianira growled. She didn’t have time for this.
Stretching her arm out, a shadow swooped in and swirled around his head like a tornado before she heard a satisfying crack.
As she struggled to her feet, hobbling slightly, she looked out to the rest of the group. Lia and Cassian were still firing into the crowd while Salem was using one enforcer as a human shield as she advanced on two more, spraying bullets with his gun. Devin was no longer holding up a shield; he was standing in front of Emori, hurling fire at the enforcers.
Every time he brought his hand back, flames would appear in his palm and grow before he’d throw it into the sea of enforcers.
Deianira didn’t have time to be impressed though as she was body-slammed from behind. As her head hit the ground in front of her, everything went hazy, even more than before. She was expecting to feel the impact of a bullet when the enforcer unexpectedly grabbed her hips and turned her over beneath him. This one wasn’t wearing a mask but she couldn’t even make out a feature on his face as her eyes fluttered.
“I’ve always wanted to get up close and personal with the Queen,” he whispered in her ear, his voice full of venom.
Deianira almost threw up in her mouth as his hand made its way up her hip and into her shorts. She started to struggle, to push him away, but there was no give, he was too close.
Reaching to the side, she stretched her fingers across the floor trying to grasp something, anything. As he grabbed her rear, Deianira choked out a cry out of disgust. Then her hand locked around it. She wasted no time in grabbing the spine that she’d dropped and plunging the jagged edge into the side of his neck. He choked for a few seconds, stilled, then fell on top of her.
She pushed and kicked to wriggle out from beneath him as blood from his mouth started to drip onto her face. Deianira gasped as she got back to her feet and wiped the blood from her eyes with the back of her hand. She did her best to clear her vision as she searched for the man again.
There. He was keeping low, hiding behind his comrades. For some reason, that angered her even more.
Cade. That name was all she needed to call forth the power to take flight once more. As she approached, she adjusted her position and flew into him, feet first, knocking him to the ground. She didn’t give him a second to recover before she threw her body onto his and grabbed both sides of his head.
“Where is he?” she demanded ruggedly. She didn’t even recognize her own voice.
She saw the moment that the man realized who she was and watched the fear enter his body. If she hadn’t been on a mission, she would’ve laughed at his expression.
“Who?” he whispered.
“Where is he?” she repeated, her voice much quieter, much more sinister.
She could feel his heart pound faster in his chest as he said, “Arena.”
Deianira took a deep breath and leaned in closer, tightening her grip on his head.
“That is the second time you’ve insulted my intelligence,” she gritted out before trying to steady her voice. “Don’t make it a third.”
Now he was shaking.
“K-kitchen.”
He’s in the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Deianira said earnestly.
Pressing her hands together, she let out a strained cry as she pushed.
“Please!” the man gasped.
Deianira grunted and kept pushing until his skull gave way between her hands and he stilled, releasing a final breath.
She stood shakily and turned back.
There were only a few enforcers left and she took the liberty of sending them flying into the wall with shadows before she dropped to one knee, breaths labored.
Salem rushed over to her.
“That was incredibly stupid.”
“Bite me,” Deianira breathed as the others gathered around. “He’s in the kitchen. His father has him.”
Cassian
No.
Cassian froze as the words left Deianira’s lips.
His father was in the palace. Drake Alden.
He was the last person Cassian wanted to see right now. After his time spent in the palace, his eyes were opened to a lot of things. What Eulalia had said to him that night in the forest had stuck. But that didn’t mean that he was ready to face him. Not now.
But Cade. Cade was down there.
Cassian tried not to even let himself think about the things that his father was going to do to Cade. He’d seen what he did when he didn’t get his way. With the pressure even higher than usual, Drake would be on a rampage.
He stepped forward. “We need to…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the lights flicked back on. Cassian squinted his eyes against the white light. Lockdown’s over? Why would they end the lockdown when they hadn’t found Deianira yet?
Krrr. “We’re sending back-up to the top floor. Are you sure you’ve got her? Over.”
Nobody moved.
Krrr. “Unit twelve? Do you copy? Over.”
Nobody spoke.
Krrr. “We’re coming up.”
Eulalia turned her wide eyes to Cassian. There was no way they could take on any more of them. They didn’t have the manpower or the energy.
Salem’s head popped up.
“They’re getting closer.”
That should’ve been their cue to leave but nobody seemed to be able to move. A few seconds of silence followed before Salem tilted her head.
“They’re here.”
As if on cue, the door to the east stairwell swung open, right in front of them.
Cassian watched as Devin’s head spun towards the enforcers that poured into the hall, then turned to Emori, a desperate look on his face. At her nod, he turned back to the group and bellowed:
“Cover your ears!”
Cassian didn’t know why Devin said that, but he’d already learned to listen to him first and ask questions later, so he dropped his gun and covered his ears. As did the others, while Salem only closed her eyes and placed her hands over Deianira’s ears where she was kneeling, half-conscious.
Just as the enforcers started running, Cassian vaguely heard Devin’s roar.
“EMORI! NOW!”
As soon as the words ceased, a piercing scream filled the air. The ground shook. Cassian didn’t dare to remove his hands as he turned to Emori. He watched her as she stood with her hands thrown out, mouth open wide.
That sound was actually coming out of her. In unison, the enforcers grabbed their ears and cried out, but their screams didn’t rival Emori’s.
One by one they dropped, clutching their heads and writhing on the floor. It didn’t take much longer for them to stop moving.
Then, it stopped.
Cassian hesitantly lowered his hands from his head as Emori gasped for breath before settling and righting her stance. The others followed suit and stared at her in shock.
“Guys. Kitchen.” Devin said, pulling their attention from her. So they weren’t going to get an explanation.
Cassian patted the side of his head and gnawed at his jaw to get his ears to pop as he started moving. They had almost reached the stairwell when he noticed that they were fewer.
Turning back, he spotted Salem, passed out on the floor. He didn’t even hesitate to rush over and fall to his knees beside her. Moments later, Deianira was at his side.
“Salem.” He picked up her head and shook her gently. She stirred but didn’t wake. “Salem,” he said a little louder as he jostled her shoulder.
She jolted and turned her head in his palm, trying to sit up. But her movements were awkward, jittery.
“Salem,” Deianira called from right next to her, but Salem didn’t even look at her. She was looking at Cassian’s lips.
“Salem, are you okay?” he said slowly.
She watched his mouth move before responding. “Yes, I’m okay.” Cassian let out a pent-up breath. “But I can’t hear anything.”
He winced as he remembered. She didn’t cover her ears. She was protecting Deianira.
“Shit,” Deianira breathed as she leaned into Salem’s eyeline. “I’ll get you to a healer as soon as this is over.”
Salem watched her, then nodded. “Okay.”
She calmly pried Cassian’s hand off of her and stood on unsteady legs.
