Page 42 of The Last Strike

Goodbye, Princess Theodora. You will never disobey me again.

He felt satisfaction as he sat watching the blaze. There was no sadness, because Theodora had ceased to be his daughter the moment she’d chosen to support Asher. He felt only satisfaction for a wrong righted—satisfaction that he’d gained back an ounce of the respect Asher had taken from him.

I will destroy you, Asher. Mark my words.

Asher

Asher watched the carnage unfold. Sirens wailed loudly as first responders entered the site, securing it and checking for any innocents. But there wouldn’t be any—Asher had cleared everyone in a mile’s radius around the building before Khalil had the chance to bomb it. This had been a test for Khalil, and he’d failed miserably. He hadn’t even slept on the idea of killing his daughter.

“You moved me twice this morning. How did you know he would target that building?” Theodora asked.

“I didn’t, but I visited that building this morning after you’d moved and made enough of a show of it that I hoped anyone watching would pass the information back to Khalil. We had someone who looks very similar to you walk in with me alongside multiple security teams. It was a setup,” Asher said, knowing it would have only been a matter of time before Khalil’s spies received the information.

He still hadn’t known exactly what that plane was going to do, though. It had been a gamble to let it enter Santina’s airspace, but Asher had a back-up plan and had multiple chances to shoot down the plane if it wasn’t heading to the correct apartment block.

Now Khalil had severed his relationship with Arinia too. The queen was not happy Khalil had used her airspace to launch an attack on Santina.

“Asher, the target and six surrounding buildings have been checked. No casualties,” James reported from the bombing site.

“Good, thank you,” Asher said. He turned to Theodora. “Now that he thinks you’re dead, you’re safe. I’m not going to let you go while you can still be an asset to Santina, however.” Asher needed every tool he could get, and Theodora could be of further use. “When the war is over, you can do what you want. I will not hold you prisoner.”

“When the war is over, I want to disappear,” she said as her eyes welled. She shook her head angrily. “I don’t know why I’m sad—I have nothing left to leave behind. He took everything from me.”

Asher empathized. “You’ll start over, Theodora,” he said, even though they were empty words. If something happened to Abi, he wouldn’t want to start over; he wouldn’t want to live. “Start over without the responsibilities and restrictions of royal life. You can live on your terms now. Or you could take reigning power of Adani. With your father and Nicholas out of the picture, you could reign and lead Adani the way it should always have been led.”

She shook her head. “I have no interest in taking control of Adani—you can have it. I want to do something else with my life, I just don’t know what that is yet.” She looked directly into his eyes. “Thank you again for giving me a chance, despite Khalil being my father,” she said, blinking back tears. Exhaling shakily, she continued. “Honestly, I half-expected your security guards to throw me out of the plane. I wouldn’t have blamed them.”

Asher nodded. He himself was somewhat surprised James Thomas hadn’t.

“I understand complicated family relationships better than most,” Asher said, shaking his head. “I used to think blood ties came before everything else—that’s what my father believed, and he practiced what he preached. Maybe that’s why he never saw his brother’s betrayal coming. Maybe that’s why I never saw it either—none of us did. We were completely blindsided, but never again. Our mistakes make us stronger, they make us better.”

She looked at him a moment and something flickered in her eyes. “Santina is lucky,” she eventually said. “Thank you, again.”

Asher stood to walk her out when the door was flung open and Abi strode in.

“Hi!” she said, looking at Theodora. She reached out her hands as if Theodora was about to flee the room and Abi needed to stop her.

Abi glanced at Asher. “Apologies. I’m sure I’m supposed to knock before barging in, but this is important.”

Asher grinned, almost laughing at the chagrin on her face. She clearly had been in a rush and hadn’t thought through her entrance. Asher wasn’t sure a queen had ever barged into a room like that in history. But Abi didn’t follow the rules—she never had. “Do you want to talk to Theodora or to me?”

“Theodora, but you should stay,” Abi said. She extended her hand to Princess Theodora.

“Hi, I’m Abi,” she said. “I apologize for interrupting, but this is important.”

Theodora smiled. “Abigail Bennett, it’s an honor. I know all about the work you do with IFRT. I envy the brave choices you’ve made.”

Asher watched Abi and as he expected, her expression softened. “Thank you. You may call me brave, but most probably think I’m insane. I like to think I’m somewhere in between,” she said, cracking a joke to lighten the mood. “But now’s your chance to do something brave, Theodora.”

Theodora’s eyebrows lifted and she sat down.

Abi sat beside her. “I was looking at the video footage of your father and the girls. Surprisingly, none of the men present are men we have files on. A word of interest was said in passing, but not to any one person. I’m wondering if you’ve ever heard the wordMadobe?”

Lines creased Theodora’s forehead. Moments passed then she shook her head. “Is it a name?” she asked.

“We think so, but we’re not sure. We’ve intercepted it in various communications, and we’ve ruled out that it’s a geographical location but have never been able to determine if it’s a person, or anything else for that matter. In the video, and it’s very faint, but we’re sure the man closest to the edge of the right frame says, ‘A gift for Madobe.’ We’re verifying it now and running some sound tests, but if this is correct, these men are likely linked to Lamberi’s crew—because we’ve only ever heard it in their communications.”

“Haven’t they dispersed?” Asher asked quickly. He’d thought that ordeal was over.

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