Page 126 of The Promised Prince
Joniss shone his hand light to the far corner of the cave, watching until his men were done. He walked toward his prisoners, examining them. A purple bruise stretched across the first one’s face.
“I thought I told you not to hurt them.” Joniss looked directly at Fike.
Fike’s mouth twitched, and his gray eyes flashed with fear. “Well, that one there causes trouble.”
Joniss looked at the older man, and without any notice, struck him across his cheek the way he imagined the prisoner had been hit. Fike stumbled back, grasping his face.
“Did that hurt?” Joniss asked calmly.
“No, boss,” Fike replied, still holding his cheek.
Joniss looked back at the prisoner. “Then, I suppose it didn’t hurt her either.” He shone his light on the rest of the prisoners. Despite the blindfold over their eyes, they turned their faces from the bright light. Their hair was tangled and matted, their gray working dresses dirty and ripped in places, but they all seemed fine.
The missing daughters of Axville had been relatively compliant prisoners.
It was a brilliant plan, and in the end, Joniss would be the hero. It would be him, not Ezra, that found the girls and returned them home, laying the blame for their capture firmly at the feet of the Tolsten soldiers.
He glanced at Dundy, a tall man with muscular arms and long brown hair. “Gather them up, and let’s go.”
Dundy nodded, pulling on the rope that tied the eight girls together, preventing them from escaping.
“Watch your head,” Dundy said, as he pushed down each girl’s head. “It gets low here.”
Everyone followed Joniss down the passageway. In a few hours, he would save the day.
Joniss ducked under the last ridge then stood. He waited for the rest of the group to exit the cave before moving.
When cold metal pushed against his neck—metal from the barrel of a gun—he froze.
“Hello, Joniss,” an icy voice said behind him.
The blood drained from Joniss’s face.
From the corner of his eyes, Ezra emerged from the darkness.
Trev
“You’re finished, Joniss,”Trev said, digging the gun further into his neck.
A bald man behind Joniss pointed his gun at Trev. “Not so fast.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Drake said from up above the ridge, pointing his own gun at the bald man. “You’re surrounded.”
Two dozen Albion soldiers with guns appeared from the trees and circled around them.
“You all should be thanking me,” Joniss sneered. “Not pointing guns at me.”
“Why would we thank you?” Drake asked.
“Because my men found the missing girls.”
Trev scoffed. “Your men kidnapped them.”
“Prove it!” Joniss huffed.
“Oh, we can,” Drake replied. “We’ve been following you for a month. Tracking your every move. We can prove you kidnapped these girls and that you’ve been leaking government information to Tolsten.”
Two Albion soldiers stepped forward, taking the rope from the tall man, and ushered the girls away from their captors. The girls sobbed as the soldiers untied them and removed their blindfolds. Trev had to cough to keep his own emotion in check.
