Maria wails, and the Empire guards scramble to arm themselves, but Aron is faster. He shoots out the lights next, causing a cascade of sparks and falling glass. Muzzle flashes flare in the resulting chaos as more shots fire out, and a pair of strong hands lifts me up. I’m tossed over someone’s shoulder and carried through the darkness, unable to see who managed to pick me up until the back door to the room bursts open. Moonlight casts a hazy glow on Aron as he races through the overgrown fields surrounding the building that held me, which I now see is a giant barn.
As my lover speeds away from the scene, I ponder our next moves. Mom could still survive with the wound he gave her, meaning this is far from over. There’s still a whole criminal organization that wants my head, and probably Aron’s now, too. Then I remember the Royal Syndicate. Somehow, we’ve got to weed out any potential spies or turncoats, all while convincing loyal Syndicate officers that Aron isn’t the real threat. Mom is.
Once we’re far enough away from the barn with no signs of pursuit, Aron stops long enough to cut me loose. He checks the cut on my head with tender fingers, then looks deep into my eyes. For a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me, but instead …
“No concussion. Do you think you’re good to run from here?”
Damn. “Yeah. I’m good.”
Aron leads the way through shoulder-high grass and weeds until we finally come to a rotting wooden fence. We hop over and disappear into the night.
Chapter 2
Aron
Instinct and deeply ingrained training are the only things that keep me going.
Protect Matt. Save Matt. Get Matt to safety.
I can’t think about what I learned in the barn. If I do, it might kill me.
Matt remains quiet as we flee the farm. He’s probably trying to give me some time to process the night’s events, but I’d rather not. If I’m being honest with myself, I’d rather plot revenge on his mother—God, she practically raised me!—and the rest of the Empire.
My only regret is that I don’t know if my actions harmed Maria. She’s innocent in all this. My poor girl, barely a month old and already witness to so much violence. What will Emily and Lucinda do with her now? Hasty though it was, I made my choice; I chose Matt, meaning Emily’s hold over me through my daughter is more tenuous.
I don’t know what Matt plans to do with me once we get back to the Syndicate. By all rights, he could have me tortured and killed for what I put him through, and could I even blame him? No. I’ve earned whatever punishment I get.
We finally slow down a few miles outside of town, close to the woods that lead to Matt’s Syndicate mansion. The early morning sun beats down on us, warming us after a night running in the cold.
As we huff and pant, trying to catch our breath, the silence between us becomes unbearable. I finally break it with a question that I’m not sure I want to know the answer to.
“What next?”
Matt bends over and holds his side as he heaves in gulps of air.
“We go home.” He says it like it’s something simple, like I haven’t poisoned the Syndicate against me by siding with my father and Emily.
“There’s a slight problem with that plan, Matt.”
He chuckles wryly as he straightens. “What, the whole your-dad-murdering-my-dad thing? I’m sure they’ll get over it.”
“A lot of people there owe their lives to Tito. Your dad fostered loyalty like no one else.”
“Loyalty like Mom had? Like Javier had? Beto, Jules … I think maybe Dad pissed off more people than he helped.”
Fuck … I forgot that Matt had his reality shattered tonight, too, though maybe not as deeply as mine was. “Shit, Matt, I’m sorry. What Lucinda did to you—to us—It’s not your fault, you know. It’s unforgivable, but it’s not your fault.”
“Not everyone will see it that way. The sins of the father, and all. Or I guess in this case it’s the sins of the mother.”
“Your mother, my father.”
He nods. “True, though I think Mom’s sins outweigh Javier’s. What she did … How can the Empire stand behind her through that?”
“You think they knew?” I frown. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Did you see your guards’ reactions to everything Mom and Emily said last night?”
“Not really. I was a little preoccupied.”
