"Jordy," I breathed in relief, spotting the dark-haired man curled up against the far wall. His whole cell was totally empty. No bed, no chair, nothing. Just an empty cell with a broken prince inside.
Fuck. This was all my fault.
"Go away, Violet," he groaned in a pain-filled voice. "I don't want you here."
I swallowed past the lump of agony his words hit me with and crouched in front of him. "Well, too fucking bad. We're getting you out of here."
Jordan didn't even raise his head, just exhaled a long, defeated sigh. "Stop doing this, Violet," he whispered in a cracked and raw voice. "He's only going to hurt you more. Go away. Go back to him before he knows you're here."
"We don't have time for this," Rafe hissed at my back. "The fighting will be here any second now. We need to gonow."
"Go then!" Jordan shouted, finally lifting his face and showing deep, shadowed bruises. "Leave! But don't drag Violet down with you. Urielknowsyou're going to try this. It's all a fucking trap. You're walking right into his trap. He's going to catch you, and then he'll hurt her again." His words dissolved into unhinged laughter and I didn't think twice.
I punched him in the side of the head, knocking him out.
"Come on," I told Rafe, swallowing all my emotions and hardening my resolve. "Let's get him out of here."
Rafe didn't say a word, just slung his best friend's unconscious body over his shoulder and carried him out of the cell.
The way was clear as we hurried back outside, no guards having yet found the bodies of the ones we'd dispatched, and in just a few quick minutes, we were in one of the Society's black armored vehicles. Rafe drove, and I sat in the back seat with Jordan's head in my lap.
"I'm so sorry, Jordy," I whispered, gently running my fingers through his short hair. In the light of day, I could see the marbling of old and new bruising all over his face. I knew all too well that the rest of his body would echo the same effect.
Rafe glanced at me in the mirror, and I met his eyes.
"It'll be okay, Violet," he told me in a gruff voice. "Jordy's a tough fuck. He only stayed to try and keep you safe. Stupid bastard."
A flood of emotions welled up in my throat, and I bit the inside of my cheek. Words were too hard, so I just nodded back. He'd better be okay. He had to be. Because without Jordan... Rafe and I were doomed. We were just too fucking damaged.
Chapter 11
It took several hours of driving, an exhaustive check point with the Society—the good part, not the faction run by Uriel—and a short helicopter ride, but around midnight, the three of us finally reached Rafe's parents’ palace.
"How's your dad?" I asked him in a quiet voice as we waited for the medics to unload Jordan from the chopper. He was still unconscious, but this time it was a sedated sleep, which the Society medical team had assured us would just help him heal from the multiple injuries he'd sustained in Uriel's care. Fortunately, though, most of the damage was superficial and would heal in weeks, if not days.
The damage done to his mind would be another issue to address, and not something we could assess until he was awake.
"He's doing okay," Rafe replied, swiping a tired hand over his face as the medics carried Jordan ahead of us up the front steps of the palace. Some staff hurried out to help, but King Felipe was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Queen Jacinta or the twins. "He's still recovering, but it sounds like it wasn't as bad as we thought."
Relief hit me like a ton of bricks. Ever since Rafe had said we were returning to his parents palace, I'd fretted over how to ask about King Felipe. He was so kind to his kids—to all of us—and he was exactly the type of leader we needed. He was the one who could fix the mess we'd found ourselves in, I just knew it.
Reaching out, I linked my fingers together with Rafe's. "That's good. I'm so glad he's going to be okay."
Rafe's steps paused, and he frowned down at our linked hands. "Yeah," he agreed, sounding wooden. He extracted his hand from mine—causing my heart to sink straight to my feet—and turned his face back to the huge palace. "We should get some sleep. I told the staff not to wake my mother, so we can fill them in on everything in the morning."
“Wait!” I shouted after him, halting him in his tracks. “You haven’t given me anything. What happened after we were all taken? How many people died in the earthquake? What about Mattie and Nolan? Are they okay? Rafe,please, tell me something useful. I’m losing my fucking mind with worry here.”
He turned slightly back toward me, his jaw tense. “Lots of people died. Lots of monarchs died. It was a total fuck up of epic proportions.”
I held my breath, my heart in my throat.
“The twins are fine. They’re back at Arbon being their usual annoying selves.”
My whole body sagged with relief at the good news, but apparently that’s all Rafe felt like sharing with me. He followed after the medics without another word, and my heart sank. Things haddefinitelychanged between us. Because of Uriel? Or because of my unwitting involvement in a resistance faction that almost killed his fatherandhis best friend in a matter of weeks? Oh, not to mention his fiancée, but I doubted he was all that distraught over losing Claudette.
Fucking shit. Uriel had a lot to answer for the next time we crossed paths. I wasn't stupid or naive enough to think he'd died in the Society "cleaning house" at his camp. My sensei was like a cockroach. The whole planet could implode and he'd still be alive, crawling around in the rubble.
I caught up to Rafe as he finished directing the medics to one of the guest rooms where Jordan could be set up.
