“That’s out of line!” Otto stands in front of the king. “Finn is a respectable representative of Unity, and he will not be spoken to like that by anyone. Apologize to him.”
The king moves his golden staff too fast for me to pull Otto back, but what happens next is not something I could have anticipated. With the staff pressed beneath his chin, Otto opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get a word out, a blade pierces through the top of his head. His eyes widen in horror. The blade swiftly retracts into the staff, and Otto slumps onto the ground, blood pouring from his pierced skull.
Shouts erupt around me, but they blend into the background. Otto lies with his eyes staring into space, a puddle of blood growing around him. I reach for the knife I always carry, ready to kill a king, but I’m pushed back by one of the guards before I can act.
Through the commotion, the king shouts,“Lock them up in the holding cells! You may shoot if they resist!”
*
They take my knife before locking me up in a small cell below the palace, where the air is cold and thick. River and Lyla are put in two separate cells next to me. Once we’re alone, they try to break free.
“They built these cells with old metal,” Lyla says. “I can dent it, but it won’t break.”
“I will kill him,” River says from the cell to my left, his tone sending shivers down my spine. “I will kill him, and then I will find Josh.”
I sit down on a thin mattress and try to digest what happened.
Finn is a respectable representative of Unity, and he will not be spoken to like that by anyone.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, commanding my eyes to stay dry. That big-mouthed fool. He should have kept quiet, but he was always bad at reading situations.You fucking idiot, Otto.
“Lyla, I can’t sense Nanny Spider.”
“We’re too deep down the mountain. I saw him sneaking out in time.”
“Was there blood, River?” I ask, hugging myself because it’s cold. “Did you see any signs that Caden or Josh might have been hurt?”
He thinks before he answers. “There was a lot of blood, but I couldn’t tell who it belonged to. They shot Trey in the head when his hands were bound.”
I feel nauseous, trying not to picture the same fate befalling Caden or Josh. The Raiders could have killed them, but theychosenot to. There must have been a reason. “Do you know why the king betrayed us, Lyla?” I ask.
“No. I told you that something was off with him, but I didn’t imagine he’d do something like this. He started acting strange during a hunting trip over a year ago. He disappeared for a few hours, and when we found him, he claimed he just got lost, but things weren’t the same after that.”
Weren’t the same?“Do you think he met Hector?”
“Maybe. I don’t know enough about him.”
“I’m sure all of this has something to do with Caden’s nightmares. This trap was about taking him away from here.”
“And Josh,” River says.
“No, I don’t think it was about him. He never met Hector, so he might have just been in the wrong place. If Hector is somehow affecting Caden’s dreams, then he could have learned that he was making his way here. And if he’s working with the king, he could have given him the order to help capture Caden.”
“Didn’t Hector let him go in the first place?” Lyla asks.
That is strange.“I don’t know why he would do that and then go to all the trouble of capturing him again, but I bet they’re taking them to Denver, and we can’t stop them in time.”
“I asked Mother to look for them, but she hasn’t found them yet,” River says.
I go over tonight’s sequence of events in my head. “I don’t think the king counted on us finding out about his betrayal. He tried to pretend he had nothing to do with the attack, but now we know, and Otto is dead.” I won’t be surprised if the remaining Defenders in our team are now being handled by the king’s men, and I doubt any of them will survive the night.
“He’s going to kill me,” I say, wishing I was less confident. “He’ll claim it happened during the attack.”
“Will Dino believe that?” Lyla asks.
“No, but he can’t accuse the king of lying—our alliance with High Hope is more important. The king can pretend to be working with us for a few more months, and if he’s smart, he’ll sell us some jetpacks to make it more believable.”
I see it all playing out in my head, the pieces moving on the board. If I could just find a way to send a message to Dino, I might make a difference, though it will be too late to save myself.
