Page 104 of Kingdom of Chaos
No pressure.
Kade finally laid out his terms. I defeat Kerrim and retrieve Shadow Striker, and in return he’ll release Becks and escort all of us to the nearest gate so we can return home.
“Do we really have a choice?” I ask.
If I don’t do what Kade wants, he won’t hand over Becks.
“Yes,” Talon says from his seat across the room.
I twist to face him. He’s been quiet and hard to read ever since we left the Order’s headquarters.
“What do you mean?” I ask, searching his expression.
“You have two choices. Actually, three.”
“Which are?”
“Well, now that we know Becks is alive and relatively unharmed, we could choose to leave without him.” He lifts his hand, wiggling his fingers so the black gem catches the light. “We have the tamalite, so we can use the same gate we came through to get back.”
I’m already shaking my head before he finishes, but he holds up a hand to stop me.
“But I’m guessing you don’t want to leave your princeling behind.”
I shoot him a look that clearly says,What do you think?
“We’re not leaving my brother,” Ensley snarls.
Titus, who’s also been quiet since we left the Order, comes up behind her and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I don’t think he actually thinks we’re going to do that.”
Talon shakes his head. “I don’t. But I wanted to point out that itisan option. As is the third, we could attack the Order and take Becks by force.”
Imogen perks up from where she’s been filing her nails in the corner. “I like that option,” she says, no doubt still salty about the Order’s anti-vampire bias.
“You don’t get a vote,” I tell her.
She squints at me. “Says who?”
“Me,” I say, giving her a hard look.
She rolls her eyes and goes back to her nails like she doesn’t have a care in the world. I suppose she doesn’t. She doesn’t care one way or another whether or not we bring Becks home.
It makes me wonder, and not for the first time, why she even followed us on this misadventure. Was she just bored?
“Trying to free Becks from the Order might be easier than going up against Kerrim,” Titus says thoughtfully.
They have a point. But what if . . . ?
“I don’t like that look,” Ensley says, reading me like only a best friend can.
I chew on my bottom lip, a million thoughts zipping through my mind. “It’s just . . .” I glance at Talon, and for some reason it feels like he knows what I’m going to say. “What if Kade and the Order are right? What if I am Lucian’s descendant, and if I don’t stop Kerrim, no one will be able to?”
I expect Talon to say something, to give his opinion, but he just crosses his arms over his chest and remains quiet.
“Are you saying you want to go after Kerrim just so you don’t feel guilty?” Ensley asks.
“I’m saying breaking into the Order to get Becks might be easier, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”
Ensley drops her head into her hands and groans. “I just want my brother back and to go home.”
