Out.
Pain tore through her scalp.
She cried out. The boss dragged her through the gravel toward the door.
Over Aiden’s shoulder, she saw Lance face-first on the ground. One man knelt on his back, and two others forced his legs down. Blood and gravel speckled his face. He bucked and roared.
Miya should feel something, but she didn't. Couldn't feel anything.
“Don’t do this, boss,” Aiden said. “After all we put her through, all she’s done for us, no matter what she meant to do today, we owe it to her not to hand her over to that maniac.”
All talk. Those men holding Lance down were loyal to Aiden. If he really wanted to help her, he’d stop pleading with the boss and tell his men to get to work.
Aiden’s voice broke. “That’s my girl. You can’t give her to the captain.”
That was the only reason he wanted to save her. At least she got to hear him admit it before she died, even if he didn't see that was what he did.
Aiden stayed there, kneeling on the ground as he watched the boss drag her into the darkness.
Miya moaned and touched her cut forehead. The boss and Aiden had left hours ago. She had no idea where they were. It took around an hour to reach this empty house out in the country.
The captain’s officers drank on the ground on either side of her, ensuring she remained seated. They didn’t bother tying her hands. There was an entire squad here, and nothing in the room to use to fight, not even furniture.
That didn't stop Lance. He refused to quit fighting.
In an attempt to immobilize him, the soldiers knocked a hole in the wall and cuffed him to the studs. Even then, the wood had creaked from him slamming his back against it. So, they wrapped chains around his legs and drilled down into the floorboards to fasten him. He wasn't going anywhere. Still, he didn't give up on trying to break free.
Lance hadn’t taken his eyes off her either, except once when the corporal sitting beside her brushed her hair back from her cut. That was the only time he looked away from her, and he bashed against the stud so hard they tied his waist to the wooden beam too.
He couldn’t help her any more than she could help him or the rest of Caspador.
While waiting for death, Miya revisited every decision she'd made since seeing the captain arrive at Governor Krowe's estate. If she had run, the captain wouldhave likely killed the king and the rest of her family. They would have selected a new king and stripped Caspador of its power. But they wouldn't have shot people in the middle of the city. The government of Caspador remained intact, for now, but Miya wasn't sure the people were any better off for her work to stop the plot against the kingdom.
What would Lance think? He knew so little. But if she'd told him everything from the start, and they fought the captain together, he wouldn't have run either. And he wouldn't tell her this was her fault. He'd say the Phaedra waged war against their kingdom, and the guilt fell to him.
Miya still wasn't sure whether the kingdom would have been better off without her, and it bothered her that she didn't feel more devastated. Those emotions waited for safety to emerge, she knew that. But it seemed heartless not to cry after seeing so many people killed.
The sergeant reclining beside her finished off his bottle of rum. “Any more news?”
A private looked up from his laptop. “Three cities occupied and four more in progress. The United’s putting up a good fight, but the damage is done. They never saw it coming.”
“They’ll fight back with a vengeance. Still, the first strike sets the tone. At this rate, Caspador will look like the shithole cities in Antor.”
Miya pulled her knees to her chest, seeing the whites of the Krowes’ eyes. How many more people had the soldiers slain across Caspador? Why did she think she could stop the Phaedra? Look at what she'd done.
Captain Garrison pushed the front door open, glare locked on Miya. Her heart lodged in her throat. The sergeant and lieutenant jerked her to her feet, and Lance fought against his restraints, hardly able to wiggle.
“Why did you tip off the United, Miya?” the captain approached slowly.
She took a step back. Bumped into the sergeant.
“You made me look like a fool. We had to resort to an invasion. All because of one whore.” His eyes were wide with rage. “Why did you talk?”
Looking into his eyes now, she could see herself again, warped and small, unable to breathe or scream for help.
He slid a finger along her throat. “Facial recognition traced you back to your teenage years. The United wouldn’t have gotten to you before then. When did it start?”
The reality of being trapped with this man hadn't set in before. Was too terrifying to consider. Still was. “I don’t work for the United, Captain.”
