I drag my hand over my mouth and open the wax seal. It’s the same thick cardstock as the other letters, and as I slowly reveal it, one sentence plain and simple comes into view.
Keller, the time has come.
What?
Dread falls over me. We were right, the bomb was a decoy. I need to call Ottar. Just as I reach for my phone, a blinding pain hits me between the shoulder blades, forcing me to my goddamn knees.
“Mother . . . fucker,” I groan as my back is tased, rendering me a useless, lifeless puddle on the ground, twitching with the electrical shock flowing through me.
And then in a flash, my arms are pulled behind me, my face is shoved into the tapestry rug beneath me, and my legs are bound together.
“What the fuck,” I say as my head is slammed against the floor, the taste of blood quickly slipping across my lips.
“Don’t make him bleed, you moron. We can’t leave any traces,” a voice says.
My head is yanked back by my hair and a tissue is shoved up my nose before I’m released back to the floor, my body slamming on the ground from the lack of control I have over it. I groan from the onslaught of movement.
“Bring him to the desk.”
Still lifeless, two men drag me to my desk by the window. In the middle of the desk is a single piece of paper and pen. That definitely wasn’t there before.
“Clean up the blood on the floor. Use the bleach wipes,” the authority says.
“What . . . what’s happening?” I ask, feeling like my entire body has turned into liquid.
And then, in an instant, a cold, metal barrel is placed against my temple and the sound of a gun cocking back rings through my ear.
Fuck.
“Listen closely,” a voice says. “You’ll keep your goddamn voice down, or I’ll end you right here, right now.”
On a shaky breath, I nod.
“You have two options. You can do what we say and spare your bride from getting hurt, or we can press this button.” He tosses a remote on the desk. “This will detonate a bomb right outside the princess’s window, blowing up her room in seconds. Your choice.”
I swallow hard, trying to get my mind on straight.
A bomb outside Lilly’s room? There can’t be because we’ve kept this entire place on lockdown. Then again . . . someone is in my room right now. There are at least three guards outside my room and all the windows lock from the inside.How the fuck did they get in here?
He could be bluffing, but if there’s one thing I will never do, it’s gamble on Lilly’s safety, so I say, “I’m listening.”
“Good choice,” the voice says as he gathers the remote but keeps the gun at my head. “You need to write a letter to your bride. Word for word, you write what I say. If you try anything funny like escaping, I’ll not only blow your brains out but your bride’s as well. Got it?”
“Yes,” I answer, my mind trying to commit this all to memory. The sound of his voice. The smell of his clothes. The type of gun being held to my head, but my mind is falling short. I’m still reeling from being tased and slammed into the floor.How did they get the drop on me? I’m fucking trained for this.
“Release his hand.” My hand is released, and for a moment, I think about knocking the gun away, but I don’t know who is behind me, how many men are in this room, and what other guns are pointed at me, so I make the smarter decision and pick up the pen. “Write this. ‘Lilly.’” I start scrolling across the paper. Every word he says, my gut churning with every sentence, knowing when she reads this, she’ll be absolutely devastated.
No, not just devastated.
Ruined.
Broken.
But what fucking choice do I have?
“Sign it,” the guy says. “Sign it like you would any other letter.”
Grinding my teeth together, I put a K at the bottom and then drop the pen.
