The moment he entered the master bedchambers, Bastien ground his teeth at the sight of a girl who couldn’t be any older than fourteen. She was in tears.
Half-dressed, Barnabas turned on them with a growl. “What is this? I didn’t request security!”
Bastien glanced over his shoulder to Brand.
She immediately locked the door behind them.
Barnabas went pale. “Open that door!”
Bastien tsked at him. “You know the hardest part about finding you? The eight palaces my father frequented… you changed up when the emperor occupied them.” He pulled his helmet off.
Barnabas’s eyes narrowed threateningly. “You! You don’t scare me! You were never anything more than your mother’s pampered brat.”
Bastien nodded. “I was that. And I cherished every moment of it.” He waited until Cin had the girl out of harm’s way and isolated in a corner. “You should have never gotten greedy, Uncle.”
“None of you deserved to rule. And none of you will!” He lunged at Bastien.
Bastien caught him with his fist. And he’d intended to continue it with his fists, until Barnabas pulled a blaster from his boot.
He grabbed Tasi and held it to her head.
Ember gasped.
Bastien went cold. A part of him was pissed that he’d allowed Barnabas to get the drop on them.
It wouldn’t happen again.
“You don’t want to hurt her,” Bastien warned.
“You don’t order me around.” He glanced about frantically. “All of you! Out of my way!”
Bastien nodded at them to obey. “I’m not the same boy I was, Barnie.”
“Don’t you dare call me that!”
Bastien held his hands up. “Fine. Asshole works better for me, anyway.”
A palace alarm sounded.
“You know what that is?” Barnabas laughed. “It’s all of you heading for your executions!”
He was wrong. It was the countdown on his life. But the bastard was too stupid to realize it.
Bastien shook his head. “Do you remember what I said to the Overseer?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
His guards began pounding on the door with a battering ram.
Barnabas smiled even wider. “They’ll be through it in a minute, and when they are, you’ll all be arrested.”
“What are we doing?” Kindel asked in a panicked tone. “Shouldn’t we be running?”
“No,” Ember said calmly. “They’ll catch us. Just wait here.” She gave him a knowing look that said she knew exactly what he was thinking and doing and that she was behind him completely.
“For what?” Cin held a hysterical note in her voice.
“You’ll see.” Ember smiled.
