Chapter One
Briony
I stare down below at the space where only moments ago the three Princes stood, surrounded by the Empress’s elite guards, and now that space is empty; the only sign that they were there at all the crushed grass. I press on Blaze’s neck, urging him down to that patch of ground, and I’m sliding off his back before his four paws even touch the earth.
“Fox!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Fox!”
He doesn’t respond.
I don’t know where he is. He wasn’t with those guards. He wasn’t with the Princes. Instead of the Professor, Dray’s three youngest brothers come racing out of the house, and I send a blinding bolt of light at the three of them. The youngest, Dirk, raises his hands.
“Briony,” he says. “We’re on your side. We’re not?—”
“You!” I say, my light spinning around him, binding his arms tight to his body. “You betrayed us.” I glare at him, thinking of how much I loved my sister, of how much she loved me, of all she did to protect and care for me. She wouldn’t have betrayed mefor all the gold, diamonds and jewels in the realm. “How could you? How could you do that to your own flesh and blood?”
Dirk shakes his head desperately along with the twins. “No, Briony,” he says. “We didn’t know. It wasn’t us.”
“Then who was it?” I snap. “No one else knew we were here.”
“Danders,” one of the twins says.
Danders – the second eldest of the Eros boys. The brother who would step into Dray’s shoes if anything happened to him. I guess it makes sense, although I still can’t believe a brother could do that.
“You told him?” I hiss.
“No, we didn’t. Honest to all the stars, we didn’t. But there’s always been this rivalry between Danders and Dray.” His eyes shift to his brothers. “Danders has always been waiting for his moment to take Dray out, claim his spot as the alpha of our pack.”
I stride closer towards them. Blaze obviously isn’t feeling trusting himself because he growls, the three Eros brothers trembling in response. I’m used to thinking of Blaze as a sweetie pie and sometimes forget he’s actually a pretty terrifying beast.
“Are you telling me the truth?” I say, staring into three sets of colorful eyes. “Or are you lying to me?”
The other twin scoffs. “You think we want Danders as the head of our pack? He’s an asshole.”
“Dray’s an asshole,” I point out.
“Yeah, but not as big an asshole as Danders. Honestly, Briony, we didn’t know.”
I stare into their faces for a moment longer. I’m probably being a fool trusting them. They haven’t been whipped away like the others. They’re still standing here. That in itself is downright suspicious. Then again, they haven’t made a move to fight back against me or even to capture me. I think I believe them. Dray trusted them, after all.
I call my magic back into my hands, and the three Eros brothers visibly relax in front of me.
“You can’t stay here,” Dirk says. “They could come back. They were searching for you too.”
I bite my lip and nod. I know I have to get away, but first I have to find Fox, and I need to have some idea where the Princes have gone.
“Where have they taken them?” I ask the three brothers.
They look at each other.
“It’s one of two places, most probably,” Dirk says. And even though he’s the youngest, I gather he’s the one the other two look to. “The palace or the Black Tower.”
“The Black Tower?” I ask.
“It’s where they take …” Dirk pauses, his gaze falling to the earth. He scuffs his foot along the grass. “It’s where they take traitors.”
My hands leap to my mouth, and I feel my whole body shudder uncontrollably. “Traitors,” I say. “They’re not traitors.”
Dirk’s gaze flicks back up to mine. “We know that, Briony. But that’s what they were saying. The guards, I mean. That’s why they were arrested.”
