She pressed her phone to her ear. The line trilled softly before a man’s voice answered. “Put her on,” Nadia said.
A woman’s voice came next, but I couldn’t make out her words.
Nadia’s eyes shifted to me as she spoke into the phone. “You’re not going to believe this.”
She paused, her lips curving again. “Your doctor is in the dungeon.”
Whoever was on the other end raised their voice, though I still couldn’t make out the words. Nadia winced, holding the phone away from her ear for a second.
“Yes, of course, I will,” she finally said before she ended the call.
My heart hammered against my ribs. What in the world was going on here?
Nadia pocketed her phone, twisting to call over her shoulder. “Strazh!”
A second later, footsteps pounded toward us and two armed guards entered the room. I swallowed hard, trying not to panic, but every fiber of my being screamed at me to lose it.
Nadia twisted on her high heel, striding toward the entrance. “Take them upstairs. We have business.”
The guards nodded in response as she left the room. My eyes widened as they unhooked the handcuffs, asking us in their Slavic accents to step back from the bars.
The creak of the cell door sent a shiver down my spine as it swung open, and the beefy guard stepped toward me.
Seconds later, I had handcuffs restraining me and was being led with Alex and Ava from the dark, dank prison.
The guards marched us through a hall before we ascended a set of winding stairs. The decor changed markedly, turning from crude to stately. The thick red rug that padded the halls muffled our steps as we traversed the majestic hall.
I craned my neck, staring up at the ornate crown molding, the crystal chandeliers, the rich wallpaper hidden behind the tapestries. Where were we?
The guard swung a left and pushed through a set of double doors. Nadia, her feet kicked up on a heavy wooden desk, rocked in the chair.
“Can someone tell us what’s going on here?” Ava asked.
“My sister will explain in a moment, I’m certain,” Nadia said, her eyes never leaving her phone.
“Sister?” I asked, my heart lifting for a moment. Did Nadia have a sister? Maybe there was hope for me finding Nattie yet.
“Will you at least tell us where we are?” Ava retorted in her relentless pursuit of information.
“Belvarian Royal Palace,” Nadia murmured.
Royal Palace? My mind couldn’t wrap around those words before the unthinkable happened.
The double doors behind us burst open. A middle-aged woman in a skirt suit and sensible heels scurried inside. “Her Majesty, Queen Regent Natasha.”
The guards snapped to attention, their salutes sharp and practiced. There was no hesitation, no casual indifference in their movements. This wasn’t just protocol—it was reverence. Whoever Natasha was, she commanded absolute loyalty.
My eyebrows knitted before I shifted my gaze behind her. My features went slack, and the world spun around me as Nattie stepped inside.
My vision tunneled, and the ornate surroundings blurred into the background.
This couldn’t be real. Nattie wasn’t a queen. She couldn’t be. She was just Nattie, the woman I’d…wait…
My stomach churned as the pieces clicked together. Every evasive answer, every hint of an accent she couldn’t quite suppress, every time she’d avoided talking about her past. She hadn’t just been hiding something. She’d been hidingeverything.
CHAPTER 16
NATASHA
