The palace gardens,usually a place of solace and beauty, sent a chill through me now. Darkness had fallen. The tall trees seemed to whisper warnings, and the lush grass was stained with a reddish hue. The stunning flowerbeds, a riot of color and life, became a blur as I moved, hunting our prey.
I had been patrolling the royal palace for years. I did not care for politicians and their games and so I had paid no attention to them. Still, I never felt comfortable around this particular council member.
Vikter was considered not just a close friend, but an ally of the queen’s on all political matters. She trusted him implicitly. And he had betrayed us all, tried to murder the queen and the kings’ daughter. He was responsible for riots and protests, attacks and disruption to peoples’ lives in all three sectors of Viken. He was the leader of the Viken Sector Separatists, and he’d been sitting at the royal family’s dinner table nearly every night for years.
Apparently, Vikter wanted things to be the way they’d always been. Decades of war had made his family very, very wealthy. Powerful. Influential. Without a war to fight, his voice faded in importance and the money dried up.
I had been waiting in the garden to catch him meeting with some VSS members, but it was proving to be more difficult than we had anticipated. The meeting that was supposed to take place was now nearly an hour overdue. There were multiple people working to catch him in the act and document the entire event. I was here in case he made a run for it. One of us was stationed in every direction to head him off and arrest him.
If he ever showed up.
Either Vikter been tipped off, or the meeting had been canceled.
My heart jumped at the thought. Vikter was powerful. The royal family needed irrefutable evidence to take him down. Without this meeting, they wouldn’t have it. Not yet. They would have to plot and plan and wait for the perfect moment to strike.
Which meant Smith would stay a little while longer.
I had tried to keep my distance, to do the honorable thing and keep my hands to myself. And what now? I was afraid I was in love with her, just like Kayson and Geros. Which meant we would all have our hearts broken together when Smith left us behind.
Had I been foolish not to tell Smith I wanted to be with her before leaving our quarters tonight?
But she’d come out of her bedroom dressed in armor, like a fighter. She even had a weapon in a holster on her side. When I’d begun to say something, the look she gave me was pure irritated female. I kept my mouth shut.
But where was she now? The three kings as well as Kayson, Geros and I were spread out on the massive palace grounds with at least a dozen other guards, hiding in all the darkest places, waiting for Vikter and his VSS sympathizers to show themselves.
I had assumed Smith would be out here, with us, where I could keep an eye on her. But the queen had taken her away from the group the moment we’d arrived and I hadn’t seen her since.
A shout rang out in the distance, followed by blaster fire. The comms blew up as guards reported in. Two explosions, on opposite ends of the grounds. A grove of trees in yet another area was on fire, threatening to spread toward the palace. Teams were racing to put it out. And in all the noise and chatter, there was one voice I did not hear.
Where was Smith?
I raced past the marble statues and fountains, the cobblestone path a blur beneath my feet as I ran to assist the nearest group.
I rounded the corner, and the scene in front of me was a nightmare. Males and females scattered around, some lying on the ground, and others standing still in shock. My heart plunged as I saw Smith in the center of it all, her pale face looking around with pure rage. She didn’t appear to be harmed. I stumbled forward, and several people looked up at me in relief.
I only cared about one of them.
“Are you unharmed?” I grabbed Smith’s elbow and tugged until she looked up at me. When she didn’t respond, I tried again. “Smith! Talk to me. Are you hurt?”
“No.” She turned her head, looking around once more, doing some kind of strange calculation I couldn’t seem to get out of her. “This was all a set-up. A trap. But why?” She glanced back at the palace and her face went pale. “Oh, god. The queen. The girls!”
She took off at a dead run, surprisingly fast for someone so small.
The sound of the palace alarms blared into the gardens, adding to the chaos and confusion.
“What does that sound mean?” Smith yelled the question as she ran headfirst into danger. Without thought to her own safety. Without fear. I saw her as she truly was for the first time, a warrior. A fighter I would proudly stand next to. I couldn’t lie to her.
“Nothing good.”
* * *
Smith
The chaosinside the palace was worse than outside. Staff ran everywhere asking questions. No one knew why the alarm had been activated. No one could find the queen—or her daughters. Several guards had been found unconscious on the floor outside the royal family’s private quarters. The three kings were on their way back to the palace.
No one knew anything and everyone was panicked.
Typical. People were people, no matter what planet they were on.
