The dogs seemed kind of scared of him, too.
I saw Melchom’s hand move, reaching for something in his back pocket, but I moved first. I rushed forward before the dog could spring. A loudcrackwas followed by white-hot pain slicing my arm, so sharp that it cut through the fabric of my sleeve. I heard a few shocked gasps before the library fell silent.
A beta dog keeper had just struck the omega prince with a whip.
Melchom’s eyes were wide, but he trembled with anger. The quiet trance in the room was broken as Fluffy began barking viciously at Melchom. Cecil barely held him back by the collar.
“Cecil, keep your dog away from Melchom,” I said loudly.
“Seize him now!” Melchom screamed at the knights. In the chaos and confusion, the knights didn’t seem to know what to do except obey the loudest voice. They grabbed my arms and hauled me out of the library.
“Seb!” Elian yelled. “Stop it, you fucking assholes!”
“Sebastian!” Cecil cried.
“Do what I told you!” I called back. It was the last thing I said to them before the library doors slammed shut.
The second we were out of sight, a sudden hard pain smacked me in the side of the head. I gasped, stunned.
“That was for disobeying me,” Melchom growled.
I stared at him, honestly too shocked to respond. For a beta to lay a hand on an omega in violence was bad enough, but to assault the princetwicein front of people? I couldn’t believe Melchom was acting this way. Had Father given him free reign to treat me like this? The idea chilled me to my core.
As fear seeped through my body, I found myself desperately needing Rourke the way a drowning man needed air. The last time I’d felt truly safe was in his arms—and now, I had no idea where he was, or if he was even okay.
I stayed silent, quietly fretting about our fates, when I was dragged out of the palace. I hoped at least one of the servants who knew me would offer assistance, but strangely, there weren’t many around. When we exited the palace and marched through the gardens, I frowned. A single knight was going around and telling stragglers to gather in the upper quarter courtyard.
What is going on?I thought, my heart sinking.
Pain throbbed—dull in my head, and sharp on my arm. The streets were empty. Everything was quiet. It became terrifyingly clear that, whatever was going on, no one was going to help me.
The knights led me into the courtyard, where the entire population of the upper quarter had gathered. Shame flooded me. I was on full display like this, being dragged around like a common criminal.
How low the prince had fallen.
I was led into a great open circle in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded on all sides by curious onlookers. I remembered the knight calling people to assemble here, so I assumed it was a blanket order given to all members of the upper quarter. I scanned the crowd. I recognized people I passed on the streets, people I’d purchased things from in the past. I tried to withhold a wince when I saw the face of my beta tailor, looking baffled and concerned.
Seeing his face only made me think of Rourke. This game my father was playing definitely had something to do with him, and I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
I gasped when I saw the statue in the fountain. Woods was shackled to its base on a small stone pedestal right above the pooling water. He was a mess. His face was red and puffy from crying, and he looked utterly exhausted. There was a dead glaze in his eyes—they only had a flicker of recognition in them when they met mine before they fell back into despair.
My heart began to race.
Rourke,I thought desperately.I need you. Where are you?
“I see you’ve brought him. Good.”
My head whipped towards the sound of Father’s voice. He glanced coldly at me before speaking to Melchom.
“You’ve done well,” Father said. “Now only one of them is missing.”
“Not missing, Your Highness,” Melchom said with a smile. “I know exactly where he is. I’ll retrieve him for you right now.”
Father nodded and Melchom scurried off. I tried to meet my father’s gaze, but he wouldn’t look at me. I was hurt, but also angry. Furious.
The knights jerked me towards the fountain. Woods watched in dull dismay as the knights put me on the pedestal next to him and clamped a cold, hard pair of handcuffs around my wrists.
“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded. “Release me this instant!”
