Damnit. I knew our excuse for not having Thralls was as weak as a wall made of paper.
Taking a deep breath before blowing it out loudly, I saw the moment he decided to finally spit out the truth of the matter.
“I want the three of you to help me break her out of here—out of this prison she’s been trapped in for years.”
My heart beat loudly at that as I tightened my fists, trying to not think too hard on how long she’d been here and what she’d gone through.
Elijah didn’t take the bait. “And why would we do that? Why would we put our necks on the line for her? We’re Lords with lands and titles.”
The guard let out a deep laugh and crossed his arms to match Elijah’s stance. “Tell me the name of the city you rule over, the taxation percentage you owe to the empire, and the names of all of your Thralls. Please, be my guest and prove to me that Kyella and I are wrong about you three.”
The way he matched Elijah’s energy and called him on his shit made me inclined to give him a pat on the back. I liked the guy, and that was saying a lot. By nature, I disliked everyone until they proved to me why they shouldn’t be, and the way he challenged Elijah so casually was reason enough. Not many had the balls to do that.
“Does Kyella want us to help her escape?” Kolvar asked, drawing a scowl from Elijah and a smile from me.
“She does.”
My heart soared.
“But where would you take her?” the man asked. “I’m not letting you take her on a suicide mission. She deserves to live a life of fulfillment and happiness, and I won’t entrust a group of morons with her safety.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be offended that he thought we could be morons or pissed that he felt he had such a say in her life. What was their relationship? I think in part I felt jealous over the simple fact that he knew her better than I did. I was possessive over the woman’s name—Kyella—so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Elijah’s shoulders heaved as he took in a big breath before exchanging questioning gazes with Kolvar and me, silently asking what we wanted to do. With nods from each of us, he faced the guard and extended his hand in greeting. “My name is Elijah. We’re Lords from the empire across the Cursed Divide, and we can take her back with us.”
A smug smile pulled the guard’s lips up as he shook Elijah’s hand. “I’m Tristan, and I’m glad to hear that, but you won’t be taking only Kyella with you. You need to take myself, my wife, and my daughter as well.”
“We’re already putting ourselves in enough danger by trying to take Kyella,” Elijah argued. “There is no way we can risk taking four people.”
His features sharpened as he gritted out, “If anything happens to Kyella, the Emperor will kill my family. That is what he holds over my head in order to keep me compliant. If you take Kyella, he will kill them before killing me.”
Memories of my childhood rushed to the surface, and I immediately made the decision that I wouldn’t let another child suffer in this empire like I had. I wouldn’t let another child watch their parents be slaughtered. Stepping forward and yanking on Elijah’s arm, we stood toe to toe as my breathing stilled, tensing for an argument. “We’re not leaving them behind to be slaughtered.”
To my utter shock, Elijah’s green eyes scanned my face before a crack of empathy shone through. Heaving a sigh, he turned back to face Tristan. “This is a fucking death wish for us all, but fine. We’ll take you and your family as well if we can manage to get to the boat.”
Between changing his mind about drinking Kyella’s blood, and now this… I was wondering who the hell this version of Elijah was. It was just further proof of how much Kyella truly affected him, whether he was ready to admit it to himself or not.
A genuine smile pulled at Tristan’s lips. “Then let’s steal the Emperor’s prized possession, shall we?”
ChapterEight
Kyella
Despite it most likely being only minutes, it felt like Tristan was gone forever. A nervous energy that was impossible to ignore continuously expanded in my chest as I considered all the ways this escape could go awry—starting with being caught, to his insistence that we could trust the three alluring Lords that could easily betray us. Sure I felt a connection with them, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have their own agenda. It didn’t mean they would help us. They were vampyres, after all.
Even if they did help, where would we escape to? Everywhere from the capital to the far-reaching lands of the empire was ruled by Malakai with an iron fist. There was nowhere we could hide that his power didn’t corrupt.
Swallowing down the panic in my throat, I stared at the heavy paned window that Tristan had opened. A cold breeze filled the room, billowing around my skin in a gentle caress. I had no idea what my guard’s plan was, which was probably part of the reason I felt so uneasy. I hadn’t had a chance to ask how we were going to go about escaping before he’d opened the window, looked down, then dipped out of the room, saying he would be back. I felt more and more on edge as time passed, wondering when this plan would collapse in on itself.
I couldn’t afford for this one to go wrong. There were too many lives on the line.
Anxiety festered in my mind. I was placing a lot of hope and trust in Tristan. I only knew the small tidbits he had confided, but in the grand scheme of things, he was still a stranger.
A nervous tremble worked its way through my body, my head spinning with a bout of dizziness. I hadn’t recovered yet from the blood I’d been drained of at the party—not in the least—but the cold air was at least keeping my eyes open, the uncomfortable briskness acting as a shock to the system.
What if Tristan never came back?What if I had imagined all of this?
No. He would be back, and we would leave. I just needed to be patient. Something I should’ve been skilled at by this point.
