Page 113 of Null & Void

“Cover the dead with sheets.

“Go down into the tunnels and begin clearing the collapsed one.”

I get only slight pushback about not having my own personal guard, but I remind them that I have Lottie with me. When everyone we can find from the caves is outside, Lyss takes stock. The imposter king and five others are missing, as is Riley.

Lyss has healed Bitty’s burst eardrums, but she cannot promise that their Gift will be the same. Bitty is still unconscious, so we won’t know until they wake. Eryn holds Bitty’s head in his lap, while Beans helps to clear the tunnels.

Nine are dead, three are critically wounded, and another six have superficial wounds. So much carnage. The pain of Riley missing is a knife to my organs. The two men I killed are part of the nine, having been crushed beyond recognition. Or at least beyond any recognition that they died by a handmade blade and not fallen rock.

“The main tunnel is almost clear, but we think they must have escaped further in,” Tovi says with a hoarse voice.

“Do the cave systems lead to the surface somewhere?”I ask, temporarily forgetting my current appearance as the king.

Lyss leans on Tovi. “I didn’t have time to investigate, but the…assailant must know the caves better than us.”

We’ve made the unspoken rule not to mention the imposter king. The person responsible will be a nameless enemy. The implication that I will have to remain king for a little longer becomes more obvious as the day progresses, and my skin itches to change back to myself.

I’m getting a lot of wary—and some hostile—looks from the conscious wounded. They think I’m the king, and I don’t blame them for hating this form. I instruct some of the guards to take the wounded to the healers' hall. But not Riley.

Because Riley isn’t here. He isn’t with the wounded.

Riley is gone.

It’s been hours since the explosions. Finally, the tunnel has been cleared enough that we can follow, and I send a small army. “I want that cave system mapped,” I scream. None of them bats an eye or looks at me like I’m not the king they know.

Bitty woke up with their Gift intact. They wanted to go with the army—so do I—but both Beans and I denied them. Eryn is still here, watching me as if I am on the edge of chaos and destruction. And maybe I am.

Unwillingly to leave, we have all gathered to debrief inside a tent erected just outside the entrance to the collapsed cave. This strategic placement conceals the entrance back through to the king’s rooms, which have so far not been detected.

One of the other prisoners stayed with us instead of going to the healer's wing with the others—Zinniani, a Sadoriborn woman Lyss has befriended. She has the forced manifestation Gift of turning into smoke. Unfortunately, she has no concept of time when she’s in smoke form and remembers nothing. Lyss assured me she would keep our secret, having already told her. She needed help after I left her, and she trusts Zinniani with her life. I tried not to let my rage slip as she told me, but she’s trusted Zinniani with all of our lives now. The number of people who know about the king and my Gift must not increase beyond this.

Zinniani is beautiful. She must be from one of the tribes in the northern part of Sadori, as she has skin so dark it rivals the night sky. She has broad shoulders and a slim waist, holding herself with careful grace despite the atrocities inflicted upon her.

However beautiful she is, it’s still startling to see a smile directed so…lovingly at Lyss. I’m not the only one who sees it or sees Lyss return the look in equal measure. I catch Tovi’s eye, and she gives me a small, sad shrug. Lyss is leaning on Zinniani while she strokes her dark, blood-red hair, looking cozier than friends.

The day is already over, the sun long since set. I’ll have to organize everyone's guest chambers soon, as the king. I was going to have to do king things. I’m going to have to be the king, and soon. I can’t be out here overseeing everything because the king wouldn’t be doing this.

I want to scream. I need my hatchets so I can annihilate something, anything, with my rage. I want to lead a team through the tunnels and find the imposter king. I should have ripped him apart. I need to tear him to pieces with my bare hands.

Rage slams into me harder than it ever has. As if it blames me for what’s happened.

“How did he get the manacles off?” Beans breaks the deafening silence inside the tent.

“It…They were unlocked. He must have had a spare key,” Lyss’ small voice responds.

Of course. “Or lockpicks,” I say to myself, losing the battle raging in my chest. It’s my fault he escaped.

I should’ve checked him more thoroughly. Stripped him. Instead, I left him alone with Lyss. And now he’s escaped with a band of scared and dangerous people. And likely taken Riley.

I had stopped breathing normally at some point in the afternoon. I now knew Riley wasn’t under the rubble, but it didn’t stop my brain from imagining it. The short, sharp breaths slice my throat as if my rage is reaching up and trying to escape. Eryn puts his arm around me, and I lose control of my shape momentarily, trying to hold myself together. Trying to breathe again.

Without Riley.

Lenore and Renn, along with Sadoriborn twins Omari and Romilly and a Mievaborn named Mitta, are the missing prisoners. Except for Mitta, those missing were the imposter king’s favorites.

Riley is missing.

Romilly has the forced manifestation Gift of using someone’s sight and hearing or forcing them to experience hers, and Omari can induce and manipulate memories. Both are very mentally unstable, experiencing hallucinations and severe separation anxiety.

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