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Macey sprinted at him, knocking him to the ground. He squealed in protest. She flipped him over and wrapped her elbow around his throat, securing her arm with her other hand and pulling tight. She’d rather pummel this scum, but she couldn’t risk him getting away if he knew how to fight.
“Don’t move or I’ll break your neck,” she threatened. She was dying to see who was under the mask, but she didn’t dare loosen her grip until backup arrived.
“Help,” he squeaked out.
Footsteps pounded toward them, followed by the appearance of four castle guards. Macey released the guy from the chokehold, jumped to her feet, and ripped him up. Sirens wailed through the night air. She hoped Tristan got the medical help he needed.
“Miss Macey?” Jacob, a guard she recognized, said. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. This is the man who tried to kill Prince Tristan.”
“Tried?” The guy scoffed. “He’s dead!”
The guards surrounded him and ripped his black mask off. He couldn’t have been more than twenty and he looked far too familiar, though she’d only seen him on surveillance tapes.
“Jobe?” she guessed.
“I killed that cocky, pompous jerk so Lisa will finally know I’m better than him and agree to marry me.”
“Luckily for you,” she told him, “the crown prince is alive.”
“No!” He started sobbing. “Lisa thinks she loves him.”
Jacob and the other guards looked at Macey. The guy was insane. He’d probably started the notes when Lisa had dumped him. She must’ve told him then that she loved Tristan. All of this over a romance. That thought stung. Had she messed things up over the romance she felt with Ray? Neither of them had been with Tristan to protect them because they’d been too busy kissing.
“Throw him in a cell. Tell him to get comfortable there.” Macey tried to sound like a confident royal should. Was Tristan okay? Was Ray?
Jacob nodded.
“Wait.” Macey held up a hand. “You wrote the notes threatening the crown prince after Lisa dumped you, right?”
“Yes. I hate him, so I started threatening him and setting up my plan to murder him.” He spat on the ground.
The kid was too young and dumb to realize he was digging his own grave. She doubted he was smart enough to pull off the queen’s murder but she’d let Jensen interrogate him about it.
She nodded to Jacob. They hauled him off.
“Macey,” Ray’s voice called down to her.
She looked up. Ray was on the balcony. She couldn’t make out his expression in the dark.
“You’re okay?” he asked.
“Fine. I caught the guy. It was Jobe. He wrote the notes and tried to kill T because he was jealous. Is T okay?”
“He’s burned. Badly. The medics are getting ready to transfer him.”
“I’ll meet you out front.”
He nodded and turned away.
Macey’s gut churned with worry over Tristan. She hurried around the castle, running into more guards. One of them walked with her and explained that another boy had climbed the castle hill as a distraction. They’d caught him. Jobe had made it past their cameras using a gecko glove to climb, sneaking in the open window, and shoving a bomb under Tristan’s bed, probably thinking he was asleep. They’d seen from their cameras that luckily Tristan hadn’t been in bed but in the hallway, watching her and Ray. He’d walked back just in time to have the bomb hurt him but not kill him.
She made it to the front entry in time to see medics loading Tristan into a Blackhawk medevac chopper, Ray and his dad at his side.
“Macey.” King Nolan hurried back toward them and called to be heard over the chopper, “Will you bring Kiera?”
Kiera was on the steps, clinging to Lisa and sobbing uncontrollably.
