Page 52 of A True King

I know I should stay here. The smart part of my brain screams at me to stay put, but my heart doesn’t listen. I have to find him.

Think, Mia, think. I go through the places I would hide. I narrow it down to two. One is the safe room in the palace and the other is the cabin. But he came looking for me, so why would he go into the woods? But maybe he thought I was hiding. No, that doesn’t make sense. If I came here out of anger, I’d go to my room. I only know about the safe room because Christian told me about it a month ago when we were worried about The 44. Ironic, because right now, it feels like déjà vu.

I look up at the stone walls of the palace, smoke visible from the other side of it. I guess I’m going inside.

I run along the outer wall. I can hear men shouting from the front and back. I manage to make it unseen through a small wooden door hidden behind bushes. I close the door behind me and lean against the cold wood. Closing my eyes, I try to remember how to get there. Christian showed me once, in case of an emergency, but these secret passageways are narrow and confusing. My first attempt lands me in the kitchen. I can smell the smoke from here. I run back through the maze. I can hear people inside the palace. I go upstairs and down more corridors. What floor was it on?

Third? No, the first floor. I get turned around and have to start all over. This time I go a different way. I pass Christian’s suite and head toward the king’s room. The smoke is thicker here, but I know I’m close. I recognize a marking on the wall. I remember Christian saying Auggie marked the path because he always forgets which way to go.

There’s more yelling. I can hear water. The fire crew must be here. The smoke is almost too much to bear, but I keep going. I have to find him. There’s no going back now. Two more turns and I reach a giant metal door. I run my finger over it before I find a small box on the sidewall. It’s for fingerprints.

Please be in here, Christian. I place my hand on the scanner and wait. The buzzer tells me it didn’t read my prints. I take my shirt and rub it over the screen, placing my hand back on it, willing it to work. He said he added my print. It should work.

This time a green light appears, and I almost cry out in relief. The steel door begins to slide back and I step to the side, anxious to see Christian, to hold him in my arms. To tell him I love him, that I’ve always loved him, that I will never stop loving him.

Suddenly, the power stops. I feel the building shudder. A bomb? Without the power, the door can’t move. I step forward, trying to wedge myself inside it.

“Christian?” I call out as I push on the door, hoping he’ll hear me and come help me. “Christian?”

I wait with bated breath. My heart pounding. Please, please answer me.

Chapter Thirty

Christian

I see the door start to open. I grab the gun I pulled from the safe in the room and hope there’s only one person I need to shoot on the other side of the door. But just as the door starts to slide open, the lights suddenly go out as the building shakes. I smell smoke and realize that the palace is on fire. For a split second, I’m disoriented by the smell, the darkness, and the feeling of danger that swirls around me faster than the smoke. I hear a person move and I raise my gun, ready to fire.

“Christian?” Mia’s voice rings out in the pitch black.

Oh, God! For a split second, I think I’m hallucinating. “Mia?”

“Christian?” Mia’s voice responds, louder this time.

I cautiously walk to where I know the door is. It’s her small hand that I feel first. The second our hands connect; I know it’s her. I know she’s real. I slowly put the gun down.

“Mia!” I yell as I try to hug her, but I soon realize she’s not able to wedge through the door. It’s stuck.

“Help me! I can’t get the door to move,” she explains. “We have to get out of here.”

Letting my hands guide me, I feel for the door. I press my hands above hers. “On the count of three, push,” I command. “One, two, three.” We both brace ourselves, trying to move the impossibly heavy door. Nothing happens.

“We need help,” Mia says, her voice panicky.

“Hold on. Let me think for a moment,” I state. The realization that she is here dawns on me. “How did you get here? Is everyone safe?”

“We’re fine. Everyone’s in safe houses and your father is in his plane on his way back here,” she explains.

Relief floods me and I let my head lean on the solid metal door. “There’s a latch.” I finally recall something my sister once told me. Auggie and she had been playing and she got mad at him and locked herself inside. Auggie wouldn’t let her out until she promised to leave him alone. Anna, being Anna, was stubborn as fuck and refused to yield to his demands. Instead, she said she started to take apart the wall and found a lever that opened the door. Why that memory is just coming back to me now, I’ll never know, but I immediately start feeling along the wall.

“What are you doing?” Mia asks as I step away from her.

“There’s a lever in the wall. I just have to find the right panel and remove it. I don’t know where though,” I admit as I slowly feel each inch of the wall next to the right side of the door.

I can hear Mia’s hand patting along the doorframe on the left side. “Here,” she says after a moment. I step over to her and blindly feel around until my hand finds hers. She takes my finger and runs it along an edge of metal. It’s a metal panel raised above the inside security panel.

“That’s it,” I state excitedly as I try to pry the panel off the wall, which is easier said than done. “I need something. Hold on. There’s a toolbox in here somewhere,” I say as I cough. The smoke is getting thicker and it’s getting harder to breathe with each passing minute. I step away and start feeling along the ground until I come to a metal tin. I struggle with the clasps but eventually get it open. My fingers slide along a hammer and then I find a screwdriver. Bingo.

I make my way back to the door and start working to dislodge the panel.

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