Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Awareness rushed at me with a start, my lungs gasping. I tugged against the binds around my wrists, my head throbbing painfully. Bile coated my throat.
Blinking, I tried to clear the thick haze from my eyes.
I realized there was a reason I couldn’t see.
A cotton sack was over my head, only letting in filtered shadows from a crackling fire near me.
I could feel I was in a small space by the way the single fire warmed the room.
The smell of old wood and potato soup made it cozy.
My fuzzy brain whirled with fear and confusion. I knew HDF’s prisons. They were cold and sterile. I even knew the smell of Istvan’s office, his cologne.
This wasn’t any of them. Where the hell was I?
Any HDF soldier would have me taken straight to headquarters. Or did Istvan want to torture me in private? Didn’t seem like his MO. He’d want to publicly execute me to make it clear what happens to traitors of HDF.
Several pairs of footsteps clipped the wood floor, moving closer to where I was, my body stiffening. My shoulders pitched back, my body fighting the need to vomit and curl into a ball from the effects of the drug.
My heart thumped, my fingernails digging into the rope with every step as the group drew closer. Clip. Clip. The steps paused, and the air in the room shifted, adapting itself to the addition. Whoever captured me was now in the room.
Holding up my chin, I prepared myself.
“Gods . . .” I heard a voice mutter. “I told you to bring her here. Not tie her up and blindfold her.”
The voice was familiar, striking something in me, but my clouded head wouldn’t allow me to fix on it. To believe.
“She’s here, isn’t she?” another smooth voice retorted.
The first guy didn’t reply, but the second one grunted, marching over to me.
My muscles locked up, feeling a large physique looming over me.
The bag was ripped from my head, my hair crackling with static. I flinched, my vision adjusting and blurry while it took in the familiar beefy figure with caramel-colored hair and violet eyes, tripping my brain up even more.
What I saw and what I was expecting did not click together.
“Sloane?” I stammered, my forehead wrinkling, not understanding why the high-ranking, elite fae soldier was before me.
His expression stayed blank, stepping around me, revealing the figure behind him.
Everything stopped.
“Oh, my gods.” Hoarseness strangled my throat, my lids prickling, hoping I wasn’t totally losing my mind.
“Why is it always you, Ms. Kovacs, causing so much trouble?” Smooth like honey and wine. His voice punched a hole through my chest. A dark eyebrow cocked up over his bright violet eyes.
“Killian!” I didn’t even notice Sloane had cut my binds. I was flying out of my chair, crashing into the warm, solid form, tears already spilling down my cheeks with happiness as he pulled me in. My arms wrapped around him so tight, making sure he was actually there.
Alive.
“Missed you too,” he muttered in my ear.
Sobs hiccupped in my throat as I smelled him, felt him.
“How?” I leaned back, my eyes gobbling up every feature.
He appeared tired and ungroomed compared to what he usually looked like; his scuff was more like a beard, his hair unkempt, but to me, he was even more sexy and beautiful.
“Y-you’re alive. I thought you were dead.
How? Oh, my gods.” I hugged him again, not letting him get a word in.
I hadn’t even let myself feel the pain of losing him; the hollowness was too much.
The heartache too great. Even if we were on different sides half the time, he had become very important to me.
He held me tighter, tucking his chin into my hair. He sighed against me, squeezing tighter before he pulled away. This time when I peered up at him, a smile still curved his mouth, but his forehead furrowed.
“What?” I asked.
His eyes scanned me like he was searching for something. “Nothing.” He shook his head, stepping back, pinning his smile up higher. “It’s nothing.”
“I don’t understand. How did you escape?” He’s alive. He’s right here and alive. My heart kept looping over and over with pure joy.
“We will get to that.” He rubbed at his chin, the fire reflecting off his silky dark hair.
I finally took a moment to notice his casual outfit of dark green cargo pants and a black t-shirt with boots, appearing more a soldier than a king.
It was sexy on him, but it didn’t “fit” him like his suits did.
Killian held too much grace and nobility to think he ever actually got down in the trenches.
I also took in the small cottage we were in. This room held a sofa and chairs facing the fireplace, a small, round table with four chairs not far behind it. A doorway opened to a hallway, which I figured lead to a kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms.
“But first, Ms. Kovacs.” His eyes glinted, stepping to the side. “I thought you’d want to say hello first.” He held his hand up at the doorway. Three figures stood around the hallway entry.
It was the one in front who held my focus.
A repressed cry rose in my throat, my hand clapping over my mouth, tears no longer staying back as I ran across the room, jumping into his arms.
“Z-Zander.” My heart cracked open, letting everything I had kept at bay out. The horse-shifter neighed, tucking me in tighter to his chest.
“So good to see you.” He whispered against my temple, holding me until I was ready to step back.
Wiping the tears away, I retreated to look at him, to double-check that he too was alive and healthy.
“I can’t believe this.” I sniffed, glancing at the others behind him.
Eliza and Simon smiled back at me.
“You are all alive.” Eliza didn’t know me, but I gripped her hand, touching Simon’s head. “I saw it blow up.” I shook my head. “We went to the palace . . . saw the devastation. No one could survive that. How?” I faced back to Eliza. “We need to find Warwick. He needs to know you are all right.”
“That will have to wait.” Killian gestured to a chair. “There is a lot to catch you up on.”
“He needs to know.”
“Ms. Kovacs.” Killian lifted his brow again, insisting I sit down. Eliza nodded her head in agreement. Wearily I went back to the chair where I had been tied, watching the room. I felt like I was missing something.
Zander indicated for Eliza and Simon to take one side of the sofa, Killian on the other. Zander and Sloane stayed standing.
I rubbed my head. I tried to center myself, my elation ebbing enough for the sickness to come back. “People really do love chloroforming me,” I grumbled.
“I apologize for that.” Killian folded his hands together on his knees, shooting Sloane a sharp look. “It wasn’t supposed to go like that.”
“I personally wanted to knock you out.” Sloane shrugged one shoulder.
“Why did you need to do anything at all? I would have gladly come.”
“Easier,” Sloane replied. “A lot less chatty my way.”
“Right now.” Killian pulled my attention to him. “We can’t trust anyone. I can’t have anyone, including you, know where we are hiding. Plus, you wouldn’t have left without your tree fairy sidekick. I only wanted you.”
“Why can’t you have anyone knowing you’re alive and well? Aren’t you leaving your side vulnerable? So many people are devastated, thinking you are dead.”
“They need to remain thinking that way for a while longer. Until we find out more.” Killian loosened his hands, glancing at the fire. “The bombing was from inside.”
“I know, I saw it.”
“No, I mean, someone on the inside. One of my own men.” Killian peered back at Sloane again, causing him to move closer.
“I found Vale and Conner dead. Discovered their bodies minutes before the explosion. They were on duty, watching a private back entrance which leads straight to the private chambers.” Sloane spoke, lifting his chin, strain along his jaw, appearing to fight the emotion at losing his two comrades.
“Their necks were broken and sliced open. There is no way a human could breach our fae lines and also sneak up and kill two of the best soldiers in the world.” Emotion flickered in his eyes before it was gone.
He cleared his throat. “Whoever killed them was someone they trusted. Someone part of the palace.” Sloane nodded at Killian.
“They were not the targets. They were in the way.”
“If this person could get straight to you. Why didn’t they just do that?” I bounced between Sloane and Killian.
“More destruction. More devastation. It also looks more like an attack on the fae than a personal job.”
“The buzz around is it was Sarkis’ army.” Zander piped up, his hand on the sofa right behind Eliza.
“But it wasn’t.” I shook my head. “They got bombed too. It had to be Istvan.”
Killian sat back on the sofa, his expression distant. I could see all the questions going round and round in his head, probably on an endless loop, never quieting.
“Two bombings that night, and the humans aren’t touched?
It’s so obviously Istvan. Why has no one gone after him yet?
” Asking that question coiled fear in my gut.
Between what I saw earlier and this brash arrogance, Istvan was showing more and more.
I wondered what it all meant. Why he was feeling so bold.
“Another thing I’m trying to figure out.
” Killian rubbed his head, pushing back his hair.
“All I know is someone wanted me dead. Someone powerful enough to sneak in with enough C4 to blow up half my palace, which has magic protection on it. This individual or group had to be very aware of that magic and how to counter it and also be known and unquestioned by the staff. Only those within my palace know information like that.” He sighed.
“Until I know more, the best thing for me is to pretend I’m dead and let them poke their head up and start declaring themselves the new leader of the fae. ”
The fire crackled and popped, all of us trying to put the pieces together.