AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The doors to the visible vehicle flew open, and enforcers tumbled out, blowing open the doors to one of the warehouses. Explosions rocked the van, and flashes of light forced me to look away. Enforcers shouted orders at each other before Flint, Lex, and Jagger emerged from the cloaked vehicle. All of them were calm, even as fae dressed in ragged clothes came spilling out of the warehouse.
The windows on the warehouse across the street from the one down the block exploded open, and more screams came from inside. My stomach dropped. Were the Royals raiding this place? They’d done it to a small Forsaken Lunars hideout years ago, and a few fae had lost their lives. I doubted they’d calmed their methods in the time since.
“What’s happening?” I asked the enforcers who were still on either side of me. The noise was increasing, fae using spells against each other, flinging around bricks and scrap metal. We were still far enough to be out of the way, but with how the fight was going, our safe spot wouldn’t stay like that.
The driver threw the car into reverse and floored it, turning the van around so quickly that we nearly tipped over. He rounded the corner and kept going until we were out of the way.
“Come on, they need us,” the driver said, opening the door.
“What about the girl?” the enforcer to my left asked.
“What about her? She doesn’t have her magic.” The driver looked over his shoulder. “I will lock the door from the inside. They need as much help as they can get.”
The enforcers glanced at me before hopping out of the van, slamming the doors shut. I watched them run toward the melee until they disappeared around the corner.
I blinked, waiting for them to come back. They’d really left me here.
I tried the lock from the inside. It wasn’t charmed, at least from what I sensed, but I needed to work it to get it open. I’d picked thousands of locks, but not without my gear. I crawled up to the front seat to see if the driver had left any keys behind. Nothing was there.
The chaos crept closer, stirring my desperation. One window was cracked just enough for me to wiggle my fingers through. I shoved it down as hard as I could, taking several tries. The wider I opened it, the more shouting and noise I heard. I weaved my arm out of the window and opened the door from the outside, popping it open and stepping out.
Smoke stung my eyes and nose as I looked around. Just running felt like a bad plan, especially with whatever was going on nearby, but what other choice did I have?
I turned to make a run for it, but the pattering of bare feet on concrete stopped me. A cluster of at least six kids approached me, their eyes wild with panic. All of them were wearing cheap, threadbare clothes, and they looked like they hadn’t showered in over a week. My chest tightened. Who had let them get in that state?
“Wait! Lady!” the kid in the front, who I guessed was the oldest, said. “You’re with the Royals, right? You can help us?”
“I guess I technically am?” I frowned. “You’re getting help from the Royals?”
“Yeah.” A little girl no older than ten grabbed onto my wrist. “Please? We can’t go back there. They told us to find the white van.”
I didn’t know what to say. The Royals were helping these kids? Not hurting them? The Royals had enforcers to do the job for them, but they’d come personally to save the kids themselves?
The sudden reversal made my head spin, but I rested a hand on the van to bring myself back down to earth. The short time frame I had to escape was closing rapidly, but I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t help these kids to safety.
“Yeah, get in.” I threw open the doors to the van, and the kids scrambled inside. Once they were all in, I got in the first row of seats and shut the door.
I looked at all of them. Some of the youngest kids, who were around ten, were crying, with the older ones comforting them.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We got taken from our orphanage,” one teenager said, stroking a younger girl’s hair. “And they kept us there until the Royals saved us.”
“They? Who took you?” I tried to keep my voice gentle, even though my blood was almost boiling.
The orphanages I’d been in hadn’t been great, but the idea of just being snatched from there chilled me to the core.
The same teen shrugged. “We don’t know.”
The kids screamed when one of the enforcers came back, opening the driver's side door.
“It’s okay,” the enforcer said. “I’m taking you back to safety.”
The second enforcer got into the front passenger seat, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I just shrugged, and he didn’t ask questions. I was where I was supposed to be, and the kids were safe with me. We drove off toward the palace.
We arrived back at the palace to a crowd of enforcers and palace workers, who checked over each child. Jagger and Flint talked to a few of their enforcers, while Lex checked in with the children.
I leaned against the side of the van, waiting for an enforcer to take me back to my room. But to my surprise, Lex came up to me instead. He wasn’t injured, but his t-shirt was torn, and he smelled like soot.
