Page 29 of Trapped with the Undercover Prince

“Okay, just give me a two-second warning.”

“Ready, and...now.” Zar shifted both himself and Anna to the right. At first, the weight on his back resisted. Then, with a thunk, it was gone. Looking down, he realized his legs were tangled with Anna’s. She also still had a death grip on his middle.

“Anna?”

She coughed. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” He gently pried her hands from around him. “But we’d better find out.” He stood up, then pulled Anna to her feet. Thick black smoke immediately made them both bend over. Zar pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. “Here, cover your nose and mouth with this.”

Anna nodded and took it, but looked at him with wide rebellious eyes. “What about you?”

“I’ll use my sleeve,” he said, unbuttoning his left cufflink and ripping the cloth. He covered his face with it, then held out his free hand. She took it in a strong grip.

They made their way to the nearest exit, the door leading to the car filled with his staff, but found it blocked by a large jumble of twisted metal. Heavy black smoke billowed out from behind the door.

“Can you feel the heat?” Anna asked.

Zar reached out to touch the debris but snatched his hand back immediately. “There must be a fire on the other side.”

“You’re injured,” she said, grabbing for his hand.

He hadn’t even noticed. “It’s superficial,” he replied, letting her look at a sluggishly bleeding cut on the back of his hand. “We need to get out of here. If the fire isn’t put out soon...” He didn’t need to finish his sentence. From her wide eyes, he could see she understood.

Zar took her hand again, and they made their way toward the other door, but it, too, was blocked. Smoke continued to fill the car, making breathing difficult. Coughing, he led her to an emergency exit, lifted the lever, and pushed hard against the window. It groaned then popped out.

Zar hoisted himself onto the windowsill then lifted Anna through. They slid down the side of the car and took a few steps back. Anna tripped and would have fallen if she hadn’t caught herself. They reached the side of the tunnel.

The tunnel.

Looking forward, dull gray smoke was backlit by emergency lights and pierced by a fire where the train car they should have been in should be. No flames broke the shadows to the rear, but there was enough emergency lighting to show them a line of rail cars littered along the track like kindling waiting to be lit.

“Oh my God,” Anna whispered. “How many people are on this train?”

“Hundreds.”

Something collapsed with a crash a few feet away, sending a powder keg of sparks into the air.

Zar started forward. “We have to get everyone out.”

Anna followed and ran into his back when flames shot up unexpectedly right in front of him.

“This way,” he shouted, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the tracks, along the tunnel wall, and around the fire.

Air currents pushed the smoke aside for a moment, revealing the extent of the damage to the royal car and the train’s engine.

It hadn’t just derailed; something had destroyed the car they should have been in when it blew up. What was left of it looked as if it had been tossed about like a pile of sticks and leaves in the wind. Flames illuminated twisted metal and broken glass, cutting the night with their sharp, bloody reflections.

His people had been in that car. His friends.

No one could survive that. No one. His stomach tumbled down into his shoes, and he had to force himself to breathe, to think. He couldn’t allow his emotions to paralyze him. There were many other people who needed help. Many of them were his people.

Anna surged past him, heading toward the inferno.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “No!”

“There could be survivors,” she argued, trying to jerk her arm out of his grip.

With soot smeared across her face and her shirt torn in several places, Anna looked nothing like a rescuer, until he searched her eyes. Determination radiated out of them with the unfailing power of the sun.

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