56. Ash
Chapter 56
Ash
I quickly followed Caleb and Sam’s lead, my ears ringing from the gunfire next to me. The wooden display case bit into my cheek as I peered my face around it just enough to aim and fire at the men rushing toward us. There was no time to think, no time to feel guilty for the lives that would be lost. I had to take my shots carefully. A man turned the corner around a shelf, and I put the sight on his chest. One.
He fell in a heap on the floor, and I quickly aimed again at a man that lunged through the window. Two.
Only, this time, I missed. If only I had my bow; I was much more deadly with that. Three. Four.
He finally lay dead, inside the window. More men rushed in. Caleb and Sam kept shooting next to me, but we were severely outnumbered. Five. Six. Seven.
Some men didn’t have guns, and the ones that did only aimed at Caleb and Sam. What the hell?
My ability worked in overtime, telling me where the men would go, but it didn’t help my shaking hand that threw off my aim substantially. I poked my whole head out as a test. The men saw me, but still, no one shot in my direction. They wanted me alive. Eight. Nine.
“Sa—“ I began to yell, to tell him we were severely outnumbered, but I was so busy watching the future and how it affected me with its infinite possibilities, that I hadn’t been paying attention to Caleb and Sam. I turned and watched in horror as a bullet sliced through Caleb’s chest, and there was nothing I could do about it. He fell next to the man he first killed, his last breath rushing from his lungs. My heart stopped in my chest. I thought I could see the future well enough to protect them, but it was all too much. There were too many possibilities. I felt blind in my panic.
“Ash!” Sam yelled, tugging on my arm. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
Caleb’s fallen body was all I could see. The way his chest still leaked blood after he was gone. He’d died protecting me, protecting the rebellion…and he wasn’t even blonde.
I threw my body in front of Sam. “Stop!” I shouted, and the gunfire ceased.
“Ash, no…”
I stepped out from behind the case, and all the men trained their guns on me. My hands shot in the air, with my weapon still loaded in my hand. One more shot. It was all I had.
“Get behind me, Sam,” I murmured. Instead, he stepped up next to me, aiming at the surrounding men. Infinite possibilities rushed into my head. Why had I only seen one way forward before, but now there were dozens?
“You want me alive?” I asked.
One man stepped forward from the wreckage, with a mask still on his face. “Come with us, and there won’t be any problems.” His face may be hidden, but I recognized his voice from the meeting—the leader of the Dark Rise, that had been in the front of the room with Davis.
“I’ll come with you, but let Sam go.”
He looked around for a minute. “Fine.”
“Go, Sam, find Kane.”
“Ash,” he growled. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Sam, please,” I snapped. I couldn’t watch him die too. We moved together toward the back door, with all eyes on us. Explosions still erupted outside the building, shaking the foundation. Sam held his gun pointed at the men as we backed away toward the back door that remained open.
The leader brought his gun up and aimed it at Sam. “Nuh uh, Princess. Not another step, or I’ll kill him.”
My feet ceased moving. “Go, Sam,” I whispered urgently. He peered at me with wide eyes, unwilling to let me stay.
Click. The distinctive click of a gun being cocked sounded behind us. My head was so muddled with possibilities I forgot to look for that one coming. There were too many people—too many possibilities making it all so murky. I remained still with my arms over my head.
Advisor Davis stood behind Sam with the barrel of a gun to his head, and I whipped mine down, aiming at Davis’s head.
“Drop your weapon, son,” he spat .
Sam slowly dropped his arms, and the gun clattered to the ground at his feet.
“You too.” Davis looked at me. I glared at him with hard eyes, the fury in my chest burning ever brighter. I pulled and prodded and searched the possibilities in my head until I found one.
I could end him before he had the chance to pull the trigger on Sam. He didn’t think I’d do it, and I made my decision in a split second.
Ten.
Click.
The sound only echoed in my head, where it played out. Either I’d counted wrong or there were only nine bullets in this gun.
“You won’t kill your own son,” I sneered through clenched teeth, but I knew he would. My head swam with possibilities, and in every one of them, Sam died if I so much as made a move. There was no way out—no escaping this.
“Try me.” Davis leered at me. “Drop the gun, Princess .”
The useless, empty gun slid out of my fingers and crashed to the floor. The leader rushed up behind me and held my wrists behind my back. I let him. There was no other way forward that wouldn’t get Sam killed. Sam and I locked eyes before something hard smashed into the back of my head and everything went dark.
When my eyes fluttered open, my head pounded and nausea swirled in the pit of my stomach. Cold liquid dripped down my face, and I looked up to see Davis holding a cup of what appeared to be water over my head with one hand and a gun in another. I didn’t think I’d been unconscious for long. Davis appeared to be in a hurry, and I moved my arms to find they weren’t secured to the chair I sat in.
I moved my eyes off Davis, still holding the gun to my head. We were…in the Queen’s room back at the mansion? I only knew because I’d been in here once before. There was no smoke, explosions, or gunfire—only Davis, me, and…the Queen. Her petite form was slumped down in a chair, and it looked like it was all she could do to keep her neck straight to hold up her head. I knew information that everyone else in this room might not—Regina would be dead in a matter of hours. Our eyes collided. Hers were so different from the blue ones I shared with my father and grandfather, but they were full of pure wrath, nonetheless.
“My Queen, she’s awake,” Davis informed her, though she could see the obvious right in front of her.
Where had everyone gone? Where was Sam? He couldn’t be dead. He can’t be dead . Our plan had failed.
I had to get out of here and find out what was going on—away from Advisor Davis. Surely he would kill me without the Queen’s presence, so why did he bring me to her?
Davis backed away slowly, keeping his eyes on me until he reached Regina’s chair. My hands slid over my thighs to my belt, searching for the knives that Kane had tucked in there not so long ago, only to find they were all missing. The book. No . The book was missing.
My fingers reached into my coat pockets and only found the comb that Ryan had gifted me—seemingly unassuming, but it could mean the difference between life and death right now.
Davis helped Regina stand and handed her his gun. She lifted it with a shaking arm and aimed straight at my heart. Her hand shook and her eyes were bloodshot, but she remained standing with Davis’s support.
“Your Majesty…” I tried to placate her. She lurched sideways, and Advisor Davis was there by her side, holding her upright. That’s when I saw the affection and concern etched in his eyes as he looked toward the Queen.
The Queen spoke. “You are a plague—an infection in this world that needs to die.”
Advisor Davis looked toward me, sneering. “The state of this country is all your fault.”
I was beginning to put the pieces together. “You’re part of the Dark Rise?” I stuttered to the Queen.
“Honey, I am their leader,” she hissed.
Shock stilled my frantic thoughts. Of course. It all made sense now. Regina and Davis’s relationship. Her hatred for the blondes. Both of them conspiring together against the King. I only wondered how much of this the King knew.
Advisor Davis peered at her with a smile, and then they kissed while she still held the gun aimed at my heart. Davis’s hand moved down Regina’s arm to help hold the gun aloft.
When they broke apart, she spoke again. “Say your goodbyes, granddaughter.”
My aching mind reeled, searching for a solution. I tried to clear my mind to see the future like I had before—not the infinite number of possibilities, but the one that would actually happen .
The Queen fired, and I lunged off the chair, out of the way in the nick of time. Their eyes widened, stunned to silence.
“You’re dying,” I said, breathing hard and staying crouched down in case I needed to move quickly. My head spun from that sudden movement, and I couldn’t fathom doing anything more, but I kept my face guarded and shoved down all the emotions until there was nothing left but anger and adrenaline.
“She’s only ill,” Davis said.
“No. She is dying,” I said.
They looked at each other.
“What are you talking about?” Davis snarled.
A sly smile spread over my face. I had the upper hand now, and I thanked the heavens for my foresight.
“Poison,” I enunciated each syllable.
Both their mouths dropped open before rage tore across Regina’s face. “Then you’ll die with me,” she screamed, and she pulled the trigger again. I rolled out of the way, my shoulders hitting the floor. That was sure to leave bruises. As I rolled, I reached for my comb. The part covering the knife slid off easily, and I drew it out of my pocket.
The stress and shock were too much for the Queen, and she slumped to the ground. It caught Davis off guard, and he caught her, dropping the gun.
I gritted my teeth and hurled the knife toward Davis with all my grief and anger. It sunk into his gut, and he cried out in pain, both of them falling to the floor.
The gun.
I lunged, but a boot kicked it out of the way before I could wrap my hand around it, and unfortunately, I knew exactly whose shiny boot was inches from my face. The King smiled down at me with evil glittering in his blue eyes.
“So predictable.” He had the audacity to roll his eyes and breathe a sigh as I stood and backed away from him. His guards blocked the door.
“Carter,” he commanded, and his guard surged forward, picking up the gun because it was far beneath Maximus to stoop. He then looked to Davis, who looked pale as a ghost from his spot on the ground, his abdomen bleeding heavily and a trail of blood streaming from his mouth.
“Your Highness,” Davis croaked.
All he received in return was a solid boot to the face, making his head recoil to the side and making more blood pour out of his stomach. Regina lay still beside him, unconscious but breathing as the blood pooled around her. Maximus made no move to touch her.
“Did you really think that I didn’t know?” Maximus asked Davis.
“I’m sorry, sir. They deserve—to die.” He paused and stuttered as he spoke.
“The Dark Rise has been a thorn in my side for far too long, but they actually served their purpose well tonight. Didn’t they, Asha?” He looked back at me. “The blonde sympathizers are tearing this city to the ground.“ He smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
My mind worked and worked. It wasn’t the blonde sympathizers, it was the Dark Rise that tore the city to the ground. He’d only want the Dark Rise to take the city down under the guise of the rebels if…if he wanted the people to hate the blondes even more. No.
He reached forward and grasped the comb handle of the knife, twisting it in Davis’s gut. Davis cried out with a sound of pure pain. “And that is for going behind my back with my wife .”
Davis cried out again when Maximus pulled the knife out, and I looked on in horror. Blood gushed from the wound. I knew enough about wounds to know you should never pull an object out or you’d bleed to death. The King’s intentions were very clear. He wanted Davis dead for going behind his back. Davis stared up at the King, holding his wound and gasping for breath until he stopped breathing all together. Maximus simply stared down at him with a nasty glare on his face.
Once the room was silent without Davis’s frantic breaths, Maximus turned to me, inspecting the comb knife.
“Clever,” he said. “Too bad I have been playing this game far longer than you.” Then he knelt and drew the knife across Regina’s throat, murdering his own wife in cold blood. He knelt there, gazing at her face and cradling her head.
My throat clogged, and something like utter shock and horror stalled my mind. How could he kill his own wife? How? How had our plan gone so utterly, horribly wrong, and how I was here, in a room with a man that had no sorrow on his face as his wife bled out in his arms?
“You killed her?” My voice didn’t sound like my own.
“Actually, I believe you killed her. I only sped up the process. Poison, was it?”
He knew everything. I couldn’t breathe. Did that mean he knew about Jerek, Ryan, Kane, Sam?
“You’ve done me a great favor. A blonde killing the Queen—her granddaughter, at that. The people are going to hate blondes even more after what they’ve done to the city tonight. ”
“You son of a bitch.” He had been playing me the whole time.
He laughed silently. “Old habits die hard. The people hate anyone who kills the women they have grown to cherish. What’s even better is that Gabriel will hate you, too. He will rule the way I want him to.”
A ruckus came from outside the door.
“Catch,” he said and tossed the knife in my direction. Blood swirled from the knife and splattered onto my hand and my coat when I caught it, looking at it in horror.
Gabe stormed into the room, covered in smoke and soot, his face black except for where it looked like tears had streamed down his face.
“No!” Maximus shouted. “You killed her!” His voice broke. My mouth dropped open.
“No, Gabe—I didn’t…I…” My words wouldn’t come.
Gabe looked at the two bodies and the pool of blood Maximus knelt in with horror. I shook my head. I hated him. I hated the King. I hated them all. He didn’t deserve my pleading. If he believed I did this and he believed the King, he deserved to be run through with the knife, just like Davis and Regina. Gabe’s green eyes found mine, and they were hard, unfeeling, empty.
“How could you?” he seethed.
“Arrest her!” the King shouted.
Gabe stood there, unmoving and breathing deeply, his nostrils flaring. I took his pause to rush at the window and crash through the glass.