Page 31 of The Stolen Princess
“Arco?” she yelled, but her voice sounded strange between her ringing ears.
“He’s not here to help you,” Drake said.
Myka turned over her shoulder to look at Drake. His expression was unreadable, and somehow his grip seemed to tighten around her arms.
“I should’ve killed you!” she screamed at him as the shaggy hair guy pulled out a rope and began tying it around her waist. “Shot you in the chest!” Tears stung her eyes.
“What’s she talking about?” the older man asked, looking at Drake.
Drake shook his head. “I met her today in the market…in passing.”
In passing?
Myka jerked her body against his.
“Is that going to be a problem?” the one with the goatee asked.
Myka looked up at Drake’s clenched jaw, a jaw she wished she could punch.
“Not for me,” he said. “I don’t even know the girl.”
She couldn’t believe it. “Why are you doing this?”
He looked away.
Nothing.
There was no answer.
No explanation.
Her focus turned to Arco. He sat on his horse, completely unfazed by the fact that Drake restrained her. Was hewiththese men—againsther? It looked like it. He’d betrayed her. The pain struck deep and hard. It all made sense now why Arco had always been so eager to help her escape Tolsten House over the last few years. He had been setting up this moment—setting up this kidnapping. How could she have trusted him?
She bared her teeth. “You did this!” she spat at Arco. “How could you? I trusted you!”
His eyes finally met hers. “It’s for the best. For Tolsten.”
What was he even saying? How wasthisfor the best?
“They won’t hurt you,” Arco replied, trying to reassure her.
Myka let out a rough laugh. “They have knives!”
Drake released her arms, and the other man grabbed her by the wrist, tying another rope around her hands.
“How dare you!” she said into the man’s face. “I am the princess of Tolsten.”
“You're not my princess,” the man said under his breath.
She tried to fight back, but their hold on her body was too strong. She watched helplessly as the man tied her wrists together in front of her.
They were kidnapping her.
Her. The princess.
What about Myka’s father? She wouldn’t be able to get the medicine to him. He might die tonight, and she wouldn’t even be there. Maybe she could ask Arco to take it to him, but he didn’t even know that the king was sick. She’d be letting himandher kidnappers know if she said something right now.
Drake reached for the rope that had already been tied around her waist. She turned her head and met his eyes.
