AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anyways,” Holly said, changing the subject, “don’t worry about anything outside of this room. You focus on your father. We’ll handle the rest of the Realm.”
Claire nodded, blowing out a breath. “I know you are all going to focus on finding the rest of Vanya and Roland’s supporters, but I have this… feeling… you should keep an eye out for the rest of the Fae Metallicum as well. Kallan and Kieran will be the only ones able to handle it, so I don’t want to ask Bethany and the others.”
Holly trusted Claire’s magic, so she nodded. “Of course.” She would do anything to take some of the load off Claire. Especially as her friend looked back at her father like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
CHAPTER2
Claire returned to her father’s side, and Holly stayed by the entrance, not wanting to get in the way. The pillars of Metallicum stretched from the floor to the ceiling, forming almost an arch over Prince Erick’s bed.
Metallicum was a rare Fae resource that only Energy-wielding Fae could safely handle. At least, that’s what Holly had gathered from snippets of conversation. There were two experts only a few steps away, but Holly stayed where she was. Now was not the time to satisfy her curiosity, but Claire was correct. Kallan and Kieran would be the only ones of their small, trusted group that could handle it. It was one more thing to handle in an ever-growing list in Holly’s brain.
“Are you okay?” Holly jumped slightly when a soft voice sounded just a pace away.
Synora’s forest-green eyes met her startled gaze. “Sorry.”
Synora’s lips quirked, and Holly fought not to blush. Her Elven mate was as gorgeous as she was deadly, and she moved with a silent grace that had made Holly jump more than once over the last week.
Holly almost forgot what Synora had asked her, but her brain caught up quickly. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Synora’s eyes narrowed slightly as if she didn’t quite believe her, but Holly was saved by the sound of pounding footsteps coming down the tunnel and into the cavern. With a speed that had Holly blinking, Synora spun around and gently pushed Holly behind her.
Bethany appeared at the cavern entrance, her wild golden hair blowing behind her. “There’s been a prisoner escape!”
“There’s been a what?” Kallan growled as he pushed off the wall. A growl should not have been that attractive, but Holly’s stomach flipped, and she mentally scolded herself. Now was not the time.
“A prisoner escape. From the Capital’s dungeons,” Bethany panted, still out of breath.
Thundering footsteps echoed down the tunnel again, and Synora backed up, protectively pressing Holly into the wall. Synora relaxed slightly when Cody and Zack burst into the cavern, and Holly was able to take a breath once Synora’s natural woodsy scent left her nostrils.
“What’s going on?” Everett demanded, his green eyes piercing Cody and Zack.
“There was a mass prisoner escape from the Capital dungeons,” Cody repeated. “Most of the prisoners we captured during the battle—all confirmed supporters of Vanya, Maxios, and Roland—vanished in the wind.”
“It’s looking like an inside job,” Zack said grimly, pressing his glasses up his nose.
An inside job? Holly’s eyes widened. They knew they hadn’t gotten all the supporters at the battle, but for someone to act this quickly and be this organized meant Roland and Vanya’s reach was further than they knew. And to have conducted this massive escape effort without a trace… There was another powerful player on the board here.
“Who all was in there again?” Desmond scrubbed a hand over his face. Her cousin and his Triad brothers had been so focused on Claire the last week that they hadn’t been informed of many of the details after the battle. Instead, Holly, Bethany, and the others had handled everything, with help from her Uncle Frederick and Bethany, Cody, and Malcolm’s parents.
“A wide variety of power levels,” Zack said, scanning a sheet of paper that she bet had the detailed list on it.
Zack had taken to documenting each of the prisoners and keeping meticulous records of how they handled everything. Some day, people would learn about this in their history classes, he had told Holly one night. “I want to make sure it’s done right so there’s no question to Claire’s decisions.” While her best friend hadn’t come out and said she would rule yet, there had been whispers and rumblings over the last week that she was the most likely candidate for the role. People had lost faith in electing a Council, and it seemed that a monarchy was looking more and more likely.
“The good news is it was only half of the prisoners. Some of them were grunt soldiers with low-to-mid power levels. Some of those soldiers were only there because they were honor bound by their clan leaders to Vanya and Roland. We have quite a few midlevel witches and wizards, half of Maxios’s clan, and several high-powered individuals.”
Everett summed up. “The bad news is it’s not anyone that we want running around a fragile Realm right now, and a whole list of suspects that could have helped them escape.”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Zack confirmed, rolling up the sheet of paper. “We’re going to need to move quickly.”
Everyone in the room looked to Kallan and Malcolm, the unofficial leaders of the group. Malcolm looked at Kallan. “This is your show. We don’t know enough about what’s happening here,” he said, referencing the time they spent with Claire while she was recovering.
Kallan nodded. “I think the main priorities have shifted, but we can’t let anything drop. We still need to find the rest of the ingredients before these escaped prisoners can locate and use them. But finding them and whoever helped them escape is almost of higher importance.”
“We can find the prisoners,” Bethany said, motioning to Cody and Zack. “Zack’s got the records, and Cody and I can track them.”
“Why am I never asked to join your team?” Cody complained, but Kallan ignored him.
“That works,” Kallan said with a nod. “We will still work on finding the ingredients, but our new focus will be on figuring out who was the inside person. They have to be powerful and organized enough to make this many people disappear without a trace. Additionally, if we don’t find them and put them out of commission quickly, they’ll keep sabotaging our efforts to rebuild.”
