Chapter 28
Amos studied the map laid out on the table in the Hydra’s meeting quarters. “Do you think they’ll target the other oases?” He pointed to a spot on the map. “The last report suggests they’re moving north.”
“We’ve already alerted the warriors in the North Oasis to prepare,” Sariah informed him. “You,” she said, using finger quotes, “sent an order to the royal battalion there to prepare for an attack.”
Amos lifted his head to look at her. “How were you able to get a message to Rainer that fast?”
“We have your royal seal,” Ruth reminded him. “Alice asked Jennifer to draft the message.”
“Did you tell Jennifer about the Hydra?” He straightened. She’d be pissed he’d kept it from her if she learned about it from someone else.
“Yeah, we told her all our secrets,” Ruth deadpanned. “No, Alice didn’t tell her about the Hydra, and Jennifer didn’t ask many questions.”
Amos wouldn’t have to hide the Hydra from her much longer because there wouldn’t be a Hydra to hide. They’d just be warriors in the royal battalion. “Good.”
Clover rested her elbows on the table. “When will Rainer and Isabella be back?”
“Anyday now,” Lester said. “I left right after the grain supply attack, and they’d planned to leave a day or two after. They just needed to tie up a few things with the new council.”
“North Oasis needs to take as many prisoners as they can,” Clover said. “The more we have, the more likely we are to break one. Any information helps.”
Amos smirked. “I love it when you’re vicious.”
“Don’t flirt with my daughter when I’m in the room,” Marcus grumbled.
Clover rolled her eyes. “I’ll go to the North Oasis and speak with their Hydra leader.” Her eyes slid to Amos, daring him to argue.
He wasn’t a complete idiot. “I think that’d be best. We’ll leave in the morning.”
“We need one of you here,” Lester said, and Amos considered hitting the older man. “Rainer should be here tonight or tomorrow and we need to debrief and plan our next move.”
Amos’ jaw tensed. “That can wait until we’re back. We’ll only be gone a few days at most.”
Lester shook his head. “We don’t have a few days. The rebels are escalating. Their attacks on the smaller villages are pointless. My guess is a loyalist is using them as puppets to run you in circles so they can take over.”
“You stay,” Clover told Amos. “I’ll take a few Hydra with me to the North Oasis.”
They’d backed Amos into a corner, and they knew it. “Good plan.” The words tasted like ash in his mouth.
The next night, Amos sat at his desk, drafting notices to the other oases about readying for attacks. He’d also send patrols to smaller villages until they got the rebels under control.
He’d expected Rainer back today—after all, that’d been the entire reason he hadn’t gone with Clover—but his cousin had yet to show. Roland spoke with Ember, who said Rainer and Isabella were fine, but that they were at least another day out.
It only took a few hours to get to the North Oasis, and Amos briefly considered riding out and returning the next afternoon. Clover might kill him if he did, so he decided against it.
Someone knocked frantically on his door. “Amos!”
He shot out of his chair and crossed his sitting room, throwing open the door. Lucy looked terrified, holding a piece of paper in her trembling hands. “I know I’m not supposed to be here, but I think something happened to Jennifer.”
She thrust the paper into his hands. “I-I went to clean her room this afternoon and found this on her pillow.”
Amos scanned the note, rage and dread battling inside him.
Come get your mate.
You have four days.
That was all it said, along with an address in East Oasis. Fuck.
“When was the last time you saw Jennifer?” he asked Lucy, who was now crying.
“Y-yesterday.”
Amos and Clover saw her at dinner last night, but he’d not heard from her today. Had they taken her last night or this morning? They couldn’t have gotten far. The East Oasis was a three-day ride, at least. If he rode hard, he could catch them.
Amos folded the letter and put it in his pocket, grabbing his sword and strapping it to his belt. “When will Alice return home?” She’d gone to the North Oasis to see her sister again.
“I’m not sure,” Lucy sniffled. “Her sister has been really sick off and on for a while. Sometimes she stays for a couple of weeks.”
“Check Jennifer’s room for anything that might tell us who took her,” he instructed. “Report back to Ruth Ambrose.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” She disappeared into the hall, running toward Jennifer’s rooms.
Fuck. He couldn’t wait for Clover and Rainer to return, not when he only had a few days to get Jennifer back.
“I’ll go with you,” Sariah volunteered. “You can’t go alone.”
Marcus rubbed his jaw. “I still think you should wait for Rainer.”
“Anything could happen that would slow him down, and I can’t risk it. I’m a royal. I’ll glamour myself invisible, get in and get out.” Amos hung his hands on his hips and stared at the table. “She’s in this fucked up mess because of my lies.”
“Do not blame yourself for the actions of others,” Sariah said. “You are not the one who took her.” He knew that, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
“We leave in an hour,” he said with finality, and turned to Marcus. “When Clover returns, tell her I love her.”
The next day, Clover and three women from the Hydra rode back into Dragon Village. Their meeting with the North Oasis general had been quick and easy. Clover trusted the general’s ability, and instead of staying to oversee things like a mother hen, she decided to come home.
As they rode past the market, Clover heard a young voice call out her name. Marjorie, now going on sixteen, waved with a bright smile. It’d been a few months since Clover had seen her, and she swore the girl had grown two inches since then.
“You three go on without me,” Clover told the group. “Tell the others I’ll be there in an hour to debrief.”
She jumped off her horse and tied it to the closest hitching post. “Marjorie Rose. You’re almost as tall as I am.”
Marjorie wrapped Clover in a hug. “Not yet, but Grandma Trinity says I’m not done growing.”
“Where is Trinity?” Clover looked around for the older woman.
“She’s at the produce stand.” Marjorie pointed at the other end of the market. “I wanted to look at the cart with the pretty headscarves.”
Clover threaded her arm through Marjorie’s elbow. “Then let’s go look. What color are you looking for?”
A warning call pierced the air—five sharp whistles that had been hammered into Clover since childhood. They were under attack.
Thundering hoofbeats sounded behind them, and Clover flipped around. A group of riders stormed the streets, jumping from their steeds with swords drawn. Rebels. Fuck. They’d assumed the rebels moved north to hit the oasis, but what if Dragon Village had been their target all along?
The rebel men yelled for surrender, but they hadn’t counted on the Hydra fighting back. Store owners came out, swords in hand, taking down the rebels with militant precision. People on the street met the rebels in hand-to-hand combat, disarming them with ease.
Marjorie stood frozen with fear, and Clover shook her shoulders. “Run back to the den as fast as you can. No matter what happens, keep running.”
Marjorie nodded, tears collecting in her eyes. She’d been raised in the Hydra, trained like the others, but she was a soft soul who didn’t have the heart for battle.
Clover hugged her tight. “Go.” She drew her dagger, running into the fight. A rebel tried to mount his horse, but her first dagger flew, hitting its mark in the middle of his chest. He fell to the ground with a loud crash, causing his horse to rear back.
She ran forward to retrieve her dagger, but stopped dead when she heard a scream behind her. Clover flipped around and watched in horror as a rebel dragged Marjorie through the street by the hair.
“No!” She shot forward, reaching for her other dagger. The rebel saw her coming, his eyes widening at her speed, and tossed Marjorie aside like a rag doll.
He tried to run, but Clover took a fistful of his shoulder-length hair and jerked him back, kneeing him in the kidney on his way down.
The man fought hard, but she pinned him to the ground, his strength no match for hers. She could see the fear and confusion in his eyes as he tried to figure out how a woman half his size could overpower him.
“Marjorie!”
Clover’s head snapped toward Trinity’s voice, the sight of the old woman scooping Marjorie’s limp body into her arms hollowing out her chest. Blood coated the side of Marjorie’s head, and her once bright eyes stared unseeing.
Clover didn’t understand. She’d been alive when the man had thrown her aside.
Her eyes searched the area, landing on the blood-coated sidewalk where Marjorie had hit her head.
Clover couldn’t move. “Trinity?”
Trinity lifted her watery gaze to Clover. “She’s gone.”
The man took advantage of Clover’s distraction and shoved her off. He rolled his massive body to the side, but she snapped out of it and grabbed him by the arm. “You fucking killed her,” she snarled and yanked him closer.
The man spat obscenities and thrashed in her hold. Clover dropped his arm and climbed to her feet. He tried to escape, but she reached out and fisted his hair, dragging him through the street as he’d done to Marjorie.
She whistled, summoning the Hydra warriors. Clover threw him to the ground in the middle of the street, took out her dagger, and sliced at the tendons on the back of his legs. He screamed in agony, rolling around.
“Any prisoners?” she asked when warriors appeared around her.
“Three,” one woman answered. “They’re tied up and ready for a holding cell.”
“Bring them to me.”
The pathetic man on the ground cried, his face a sniveling mess of tears, snot, and dirt. She kicked him in the jaw, satisfied when a few of his teeth flew out.
Three men were dragged forward and tossed to the ground, their hands and feet bound.
Clover looked at her fellow warriors. “He killed Marjorie.”
Everyone knew Baby Marge, and Clover had to close her eyes at the cries of outrage and grief.
“She was everything good in this world–an innocent untouched by the cruelty of man. He dragged her through the street and threw her aside like she was less than nothing.” Heat clawed at Clover’s throat.
“He snuffed out her light without a second thought. Today, he will pay with his blood.” She stalked forward and flipped her prey on his back.
“Hold his arms and legs.” Her fury knew no bounds.
She raised her head to look the other three rebels in the eye. “Watch closely.”
Her vision tunneled as she raised her dagger and sank it into the man’s chest. He fought against the women holding him down, but with Clover pinning his middle, he was trapped.
She carved away, her fury blinding her to the gore of it all. His body had stopped moving, but she didn’t stop. His ribs ripped away with little effort, and when she saw the sac holding his wretched heart, she grinned.
It didn’t take her long to cut away everything holding it in place, and once she had it in her blood soaked hands, she stood and walked to the three men. They trembled, begging for their lives.
“Take those two to the holding cells,” she said, pointing to the two oldest of the three. A wet spot appeared on the third man’s pants, his pleas incoherent through his fear.
Clover squatted down in front of him, holding the heart for him to see. “Take this back to your leader and tell them the Brutal Queen is coming.”