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There were no animals in here, thank god—just pounds of money, which meant there was a ton of paper for the fire to burn. Lucius was strung up on an awful-looking contraption. His chest was bare, with ribbons of flesh chewed all over his skin from the whip. My eyes focused on the blood as it dripped to the ground, and my anger turned to a red haze.
The man in front of him wouldn’t see me coming. Grabbing the whip from his hands and wrapping it into a noose around his neck, I pulled, watching Lucius’s eyes as I did. Quickly, the man went limp under my grip.
Lucius’s wild eyes found mine. I tried to smile at him as I released his binds from the machine that held him up, leading him to the exit doors.
Smoke was so thick now that it was hard even to see him, even though he was right next to me. However, the world around us was shaded with shades of black and orange.
“Who are you?” he said to me.
“I don’t know,” I said in truth, finally finding the doors to the barn and smashing them open with our bodies.
“Awe,” I heard from the forest area surrounding the barn. “How cute. Looks like the princess saves the prince.”
I glared at the man, my anger turning my veins to ice.
“Too bad we need to kill you,” he mused, making a face that said he didn’t actually care.
“Too bad you think you actually can,” I replied, searching for more of them in the shadows.
There wasn’t—just bodies that looked shredded up by an animal. Lucius had fought. He had fought, and they must have threatened me because, otherwise, they would all be dead. The haze cleared the further we moved away from the barn. I could make out the speaker now. It was my shady police chief.
Was Quinn in on this? Was his body amongst these men?
I couldn’t think like that.
I had to get out and get Lucius to safety. Chief Doger paced around a field, an insanity set in his brown eyes.
“You’re a crafty one, Ella,” he said, facing me. “I never knew you were the killer all this time.”
I decided not to mention that I didn’t either because what would be the point?
“You wouldn’t notice something right underneath your nose the whole time because your face is too far shoved up your ass! You are no Alyosha—leader of the Bratva,” Lucius growled, his voice low.
“I failed the king. I did,” Doger said with a sad sigh. “You see, he wanted me to find the princess. I found a princess! Just not thee princess.”
Lucius and I exchanged a look because the man was speaking in mad circles.
“I was to be the king’s guard. I was to get the castle,” he whined, stomping his foot like a child.
Carefully, Lucius and I walked forward, slowly making our way toward the mad chief.
“He said I’m weak, you know,” he wailed. “Said he wasn’t gracing me with his presence!”
Lucius had something in his hands. A small object. An apple? He gave him a look, and he winked at me when we were finally a few inches from the crazed man.
“Oh mighty lord, you were wronged!” Lucius said, his head bowing and his torn-up body wincing. Following suit, I bowed as well. “You should have the castle.”
We looked into the eyes of a very drugged-up male. I wasn’t sure what he was on, but observing it was terrifying. There was a familiarity to his actions that I couldn’t shake.
“Yes…” the man moaned, tears streaming from his reddened eyes, his hands wobbly with a vile filled with something in his grip.
“I should be the king!”
Lucius nodded, walking up to the man and patting him on the back. He reached around and snatched the vile from the chief’s hand. His ‘sleight of hand act’ worked.
Flashing me another look and a wink, Lucius continued the charade. “Ah, but you are the king.”
Chief Doger’s drugged eyes locked on me, his yellow teeth grinning with unformed, tainted thoughts waiting to be spoken.
