Croak ranted and sobbed as he continued to fight, shouting expletives at the woman waggling her fingers at him.
“Don’t you worry about your sister,” Serephina called out as she disappeared from his sight. He could still hear her voice, and her words made him fight even harder.
“She won’t survive what my Christos has planned for her.”
Lerek gaped as Ormano Peredor,his childhood friend and Ren’s confidant, dropped in a heap at the front of the dais. His eyes shot to Xoran, who watched the scene with a clenched jaw.
Moving closer to him, he hissed in the captain’s ear. “Find Terena. Tell her to cause a distraction right now!”
Xoran didn’t bother to acknowledge the order as he strode off behind the rest of the Imperial Guard, the men moving for their captain as he passed.
A buzzing sounded in Lerek’s ears, drowning out whatever that pompous idiot, Christos, was saying as his eyes ranged about the crowded ballroom.
Hoping to spot Ren, his eyes instead found Cassandra, whose wide-eyed stare was riveted on someone to his left. Glancing over, Lerek frowned. He couldn’t tell what had caused the frightened look on the woman’s face.
When he looked over at her again, she was still looking at the same spot. Turning back, Lerek scowled as a woman he’d never seen before turned and stepped up onto the dais, her face ashen. She swayed a bit as she caressed the amulet at her neck,a beautiful emerald that sparkled as it caught the light. Lerek craned his neck when he saw another woman beside her.
Duchess Ovenno.
He made to move closer when everything went black.
A collective gasp sounded around the room, along with some titters quickly giving way to shouts and panicked movements the longer the darkness remained.
Lerek put his hands out as he went to the back of the dais, stumbling a few times as he moved past the Guard and the Watchmen to the spot he’d prearranged with Xoran to meet. Terena had told them she’d use a blackout to cause the distraction they needed while allowing her friend Vassori to kill as many of the soldiers posted about the room.
Someone bumped into him and Lerek pushed back when Gabriol caught his arm, snarling in his ear.
“Xoran ran off. I saw him head for the dungeons. Isn’t he supposed to be with you?”
Nodding despite the pitch black surroundings, Lerek muttered to the mercenary to follow him as he led the way out of the back of the ballroom.
They left the darkness behind as they exited, striding down the hall to a hidden door in an alcove. Servants used these hidden passageways to move about the palace unseen, but Lerek and his brother, Isher, had used them as well, playing when they were younger and using them to sneak out of the palace when they were older.
They hurried through the narrow walkway, coming to a fork. Torches lined the walls at long intervals, the wan light just enough to keep them from stumbling, although Lerek knew these passageways like the back of his hand.
Reaching the exit they needed minutes later, Lerek ushered them through the lower kitchens, moving purposefully as servants stopped to gape at them.
The stairs to the dungeons appeared as they rounded the corner past the pantry Ren had hidden in days ago and Lerek quickened his pace.
“He’s in the cell in the furthest part of the dungeons,” Lerek murmured.
Grabbing a torch as they made their way to the back, he halted at the sight before him, confused. Behind him, Gabriol swore and unsheathed his sword.
“Welcome!” Serephina said with delight. Xoran stood behind her, sword drawn as he stared back at them, expressionless. Serephina clapped her hands, keeping them together as she brought them to her lips. She made a tsk and pouted at Lerek. “Someone’s been naughty.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Lerek snapped, eyeing Xoran and the five men flanking them with their swords readied.
“I was expecting you, silly,” she said. Glancing at Xoran, she grinned. “You were right again, my love. I am sorry I doubted you.” Turning back to Lerek she twisted her lips. “Prince Lerek, I had no idea you consorted with traitors and criminals.”
Lerek’s face flooded with heat as he held up his hand. The men beside Xoran looked familiar, but they wore black clothing, the bottom of their faces masked. They shifted uneasily as they backed away a step.
“I don’t know what you’re about, Serephina,” Lerek said through gritted teeth, his anger rising the longer he eyed the woman. Her smile made him want to slap it off her face. “But I suggest you return to the ballroom and take your place beside the emperor.”
“Oh ho,” Serephina said, her hands dropping to her chest as she howled at him. “Listen to the princeling trying to sound like his father! Although—” Serephina’s mouth compressed and her eyes lost all humor—“You will never be like your father. Because you’ll never beemperor. I found out about your ill-advised plan,again,” she said with a glance at Xoran. “And I sold the boy. You’ll never find him now.Shewill never find him.” Serephina flicked her hand. “Kill them both.”
Gabriol rushed forward, catching one of the masked men unawares. The man brought up his sword at the last moment. Serephina jumped back and one of the men escorted her away.
Lerek yelled and swung his torch at Xoran when he came at him. In his panicked state, he stumbled backwards, nearly falling over. His left hand landed on the wall, catching himself as Xoran stared grimly at him.
