“Yeah.”
He gripped the ruined pieces of my sleeve and tore it away. With deft fingers, he bandaged as much of the injury as he could before tying a knot.
“We have to keep moving,” Callan said.
“I have to go back.”
“What? No.”
“There’s someone I can’t leave behind.”
Callan’s eyes narrowed on me. “My sister is up there, Ellery… maybe. I have no idea where Luna is anymore. I haven’t seen her in a while. I’m hoping she got away. That’s what we agreed to when this started; we had a place to meet in case things went wrong, and hopefully, I’ll find her later, but you’re not going to find anyone back there.”
His words reminded me of Ryker’s before we separated earlier.“You have to leave, Ellery. As soon as you get the chance, go. I need to know you’ll escape as soon as you can.”
I’d told him I would, but I couldn’t lose him too. I had to know he was safe, and what if he was in trouble and I could help him?
What if going back gets him killed?
I was torn between my heart and brain as I stood uncertainly in the tunnel.
“We have to go,” Callan said. “They haven’t had time to do so yet, but the guards know about these tunnels, and they will come down here.”
I bit my bottom lip as I looked between Callan and the shadowed tunnel leading back the way we’d come. I’d promised Ryker I’d leave, and after everything that had happened between us, it was a promise I couldn’t break… even if leaving him behind tore me apart.
“If the servants see us together, I’ll be labeled a traitor,” I whispered.
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
I frowned as I focused my full attention on him. I’d resolved to leave, and I wouldn’t look back again. “Why not?”
“Who do you think organized the rebellion?”
“Allof them?”
“The few who weren’t trusted enough to be in on it were killed before the rebellion started.”
My eyebrows shot up at this admission and the ruthlessness behind it. “And how didyouget involved?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Ellery
He placedhis hand on the small of my back, urging me forward as he glanced nervously behind us. “My sister, Luna, works for the earl. She recommended me for the job tonight and brought me in on the plan to take down the king and his cronies.”
“And how did that plan work out?” I muttered bitterly.
“Not well. They got the king, duke, earl, and his family out of the ballroom far faster than we’d anticipated. I’m sure all of them are far from the castle and tucked away somewhere safe.”
“And you don’t know where Luna is?”
I dimly recalled the pretty blonde girl, who was a few years older than Callan, from the time she attended my mother’s school. She’d been old enough that we rarely interacted with each other.
“No,” Callan sighed. “I lost her soon after all this started, but hopefully, she’ll be at the meeting place.”
I pondered everything he’d revealed as we hurried along the stone corridor. Occasionally, a closed door was cut into the tunnel’s recesses. A single dim light illuminated the outside ofeach one; the solid door revealed no hint of what was on the other side.
“Where do these doors lead?” I asked.
