Page 97 of Royal Captive
“Did you say something?” I said to Eve, but her eyes were on the female in my arms. Her eyes rolled back into her head, but her hand clutched weakly at my shirt.
“Do you know where the barrier is?” Eve asked her.
She seemed to want me to bend my head down to her, so I obliged.
“G-go n-north.” She slumped against me, fighting hard against unconsciousness.
“North,” I repeated to Eve, who put her hands over her face.
“We can’t take her; she’ll die,” Eve whispered, talking to herself.
“If we leave her here, she’ll die,” I added.
Eve paced in a small circle, clearly torn.
The female tugged at me again.
I hated how out of control everything felt. Just like back at home. Just like during the Royal Hunt.
“P-Peri said you’d come. Before the Hunt. She had a dream. L-leave me here. Go find the head rebel. They will keep her safe.” Her eyes flicked to Eve, unseeing.
They froze that way. My heart stopped in my chest, realizing what that meant.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed out, my arms shaking as I held a dead female in my arms. Gently, I laid her down under the awning of a building that had miraculously escaped destruction so far.
“Ellis, what—no!”
Eve fell against me as we kneeled in front of the dead female, my arms wrapping around her. I didn’t even know her, yet this loss ripped itself through my chest. Why was that? Was it exhaustion? Fear? Desperation?
Eve sobbed against me, and I let my own tears fall. I couldn’t remember that last time I’d just been able to sit and think. We’d both been running on constant adrenaline and fear for so long. What was even normal anymore?
That was how Fennis ruled this place.
I was an idiot. We had been so consumed with our problems—with each other, with getting home, and with surviving—that we weren’t able to see the bigger picture. And that was how Fennis stayed in power.
He kept his people always surviving but never thriving. Our eyes had been open, but we neversaw. And it was the same problem with my people back home. Desperate people would go to desperate lengths, even if it was wrong. Even if it meant murdering little children in their beds.
I saw it all clearly now. But there were still questions.
Why were the rebels being so careful about using Eve to keep the barrier open? I wouldn’t be surprised if this had been part of a longer plan. And what was the goal?
“Ellis, I need to get to the pleasure house. I have friends there; Hazel, and Annie, and—”
Eve blubbered nonsense; random words strung together that didn’t make sense to me as my mind spun.
I had burgeoning suspicions, but if the rebels were after what I thought they were, it would only bring more chaos and more hardship to our world.
“I’m so happy I found you! Please! I’m scared!” someone called.
I snatched the knife from the dead female’s belt and held it out toward the advancing figure. It was hard to make out the form and voice through the storm, but they held out their hands wide to show they were not a threat.
Or hide the fact that they were.
I tightened my grip on the knife, Eve’s hands tightening on my shoulders.
The wave of déjà vu hit me so fast that I nearly vomited.
A female figure standing cloaked amidst fire and brimstone.
