“Devlan, I know what I have to do.” I run my hand along his cheek. “Duty first, right?”
He presses his lips into a firm line. “Right.” Then he rests his forehead on mine and says under his breath, “Let’s go.”
In a heartbeat, we leave the Rebels behind. They are to face off with Sebastian’s army while two teams infiltrate the castle. Silas has joined Fallon as her acting second in command, while Xander works whatever strategy he has from the inside. Devlan and I are team number two. The teams will come in from opposite sides, giving us a better chance that someone will make it to the secret chamber. Hadley and Cecily are back at Mordred, being our eyes.
A glimpse of Sebastian’s bright, golden eyes flickers in my mind, and I pause. Shaking my head, I press on. I can’t doubt the mission now. I risked everything last time, when I believed in him, when I thought the good inside him would overpower Hart’s corruption. But the monster he’s so quickly become only proves we’ve yet to see the worst of his reign.
Sebastian has to be taken out.
If we succeed, there will be no king, no ruler, no dictator. Only, some form of government is needed, or else we’ll be no better than the lawless cannibals earlier governments left in the wake of their destruction.
All this can be settled once we rid the kingdom of its tyrant. Right now, I’m merely praying I make it to see such a debate take place.
As Devlan and I round the field, cloaked behind trees and brush, I seek glimpses of the army of knights to my right. They’re standing so still, like statues. I find that odd, considering they’ve seen the Rebels coming over the wall. They should be readying themselves for the fight.
I look behind me. The Rebels emerge from the treeline. They are lining up in attack formation, but the army holds still.
I halt.
What are they waiting for?
Devlan turns around, his face drawn. “Zara,” he whispers. “What are you—” His words are cut short as his eyes follow mine.
Dread barbs my chest. Squinting, I peer at the knights, trying to see past their helmets and raised visors. The back line is closest to us, and I strain to get a better look. They’re the last row to go into battle and they, too, stand at perfect attention. Only, they’re not all men.
There are women and children, also. Their skin is pallid. Their eyes are sunken, hollowed and lost. This is not an army waiting for the command to go to war. These are people being controlled—waiting to be steered to their deaths.
The Taken.
In the middle of the last row is the face of the man I will never forget, no matter how changed. The reason why I’m here.
My father.
Without a thought, I shift direction and head for the field.
Somewhere behind me I hear Devlan calling my name, but it’s a distant, muted sound. A whoosh rushes in my ears. My heart pounds against my veins as I move through the lines of armored Taken. My head jerks back and forth, my eyes flicking over their still bodies, as I wait for one of them to raise a weapon. But their eyes are unseeing.
Maneuvering through the stiff bodies, I weave my way toward my father. I stop a couple of feet in front of him, my breath panting out in painful bursts from my lungs. “Father?”
Cries sound behind me, and I whip around to see the army of Rebels charging toward the knights.
“No!”
They can’t fight them. This has to be stopped. I spin around. “Father—wake up!” I step toward him and am stopped when his line raises their swords.
A low hum fills the air, then their swords extend with a metallic clank. A blue light snaps with an electric current at the tip of my father’s sword. I look down his staggered line, at the other swords buzzing with white-blue fury.
Stepping around my father’s sword, I grasp his arms and shake him. “Wake up!” But his eyes remain lost. The shouts of the Rebels are getting closer, and the Taken raise their feet and stomp down hard with a thunderous boom that echoes through the field.
They march.
I’m knocked to the side as my father moves forward with the armor-clad army.
I hear the clash of bodies at the front of the line before I see it. The bodies merge together on the field and the battle rages.
Devlan grabs my hand, pulls me out, and then wraps his arms around me. His breathing is labored, as if it’s everything he can do to hold me while stopping himself from joining the fray and searching for his parents.
I melt against him, my body trembling. “He’s here,” I whimper, but my voice is lost in the chaos. “That sick bastard brought him here.”
Once we’re on the sidelines, Devlan takes deep breaths. “He’s having us fight against our own families.” He reaches into his vest and pulls out his communicator. “Fallon,” he shouts into the device. There’s no response. “Fallon!”
His voice is just distant noise as my mind churns, processing the madness behind this scheme. If the Rebels win, Sebastian has lost nothing. His knights will still stand strong, enforcing Karm’s order. And once the Taken deplete our numbers, the knights will move in to take out the rest. It doesn’t matter how many Sebastian loses, he’ll simply replace the Taken with more citizens.
But if we win…
How will we go on, knowing what we’ve done? That we’ve killed our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers? And if the Rebels realize it during the fight, confusion and panic will surely make them drop their weapons. If my father attacked me, I couldn’t kill him. No matter what he did, I could not.
“Fallon, call them back. Now!” Devlan’s panicked voice brings me back. He bangs the communicator against his hand. “Shit—” He turns toward me. “Our frequency has been deactivated inside Court.”
“We have to stop them!”
He scrubs his hand down his face. “I know, Zara. We’re going to.”
Turning toward the field, I watch as the Taken cleave their swords through the air, the low hum bouncing off the wooded area. Their weapons glow…they glow. A blast fires from the tips, sending beams blazing across the field.
“What the hell…?” Devlan says.
I suck air into my lungs. “Hart,” I say, as if it’s answer enough. And it is. He was the lead scientist of a department that focused on warfare. All this time, he’s had weapons that far outmatch the primitive swords his knights carry, that outmatch even the V-Batons.
Rage burns through me. He’s had the means to fight those Outside all this time, yet chose to enslave people so he could build a kingdom for himself.
“We can’t stop them right now.” Devlan’s shoulders tense as he grips his sword hilt. “We have to get to Excalibur.”
I’m torn between running back onto the field and dragging my father away by force—whether he slices me open with his powerful sword or not—and finding Sebastian and ripping his heart out. I bury my head in my hands for a moment until blasts from the field cause me to jerk and look up.
Cries from the Rebels sound over the battlefield. A violent shudder rocks my body, and Devlan’s hand grabs mine. He forces me to leave.
FORTY
As we reach the lower levels of the castle, Devlan swings his arm out. “Wait.” He turns his head, scanning the perimeter. “Something’s off.”
“Yes, Devlan,” I grind out. “Everything is off. Sebastian has us fighting against innocent people. Against our families.” I fight back the fiery tears that want to fall. “We have to make Sebastian free them—release them from the mind control before they slaughter—”
“We will.” Devlan turns on me and grips my arms. “We will, Zara,” he says more forcefully. “But where are the knights?”
I look around the inner hall, trying to think past the scene on the battlefield. He’s right. The knights should be here, guarding the castle and readying reinforcements to go into battle.
“They might be out ridding the realm of monsters.” I search his face, pale and creased with apprehension. My hopeful words feel false even to me. “But Sebastia
n is not concerned for the citizens’ safety when he’s called his enemy to his door.”
“No,” Devlan says, turning and scanning the castle. “He’s not concerned about that at all.”
“What are you two waiting for?” someone says from behind us.
I turn, sword raised.
“Whoa. And here I thought we were friends.” A small smile quirks Xander’s lips.
“Xander.” Devlan steps up to him. “Where have you been?”
“Our fearless leader is a bad influence on me.” Xander holds out a handful of empty vials. Then his eyes turn serious as he looks over the field. “What’s happening? Where’s Fallon?”
How has Xander been here and not known about the Taken? Devlan asks before I can. “Don’t you know?”
Xander’s face pinches with anxiety. “Know what? I’ve been locked up.”
“Why?” Devlan asks.
“I blew my cover…it’s a long story. I only just escaped in time to—” Xander shakes his head. “Where’s Fallon?!”
“Here,” Fallon calls. She and Silas run toward us from the opposite wing. Throwing her arms around Xander, she says, “I should’ve ordered you to stay put.”
His hands rub her arms, relief washing over his face.
Fallon pulls away, taking the vials from his hand. “Did it work?”
“Yes. And it was no easy feat. I had to spike the drinking water. But I learned from the best.” He winks at her. “They’re asleep on the front castle grounds, dreaming of fine maidens.”
I’m obviously missing some secret between them, but there’s no time to question it. I step up to them. “Did what work?”
“Xander drugged the knights,” Fallon says. “It’s part of the reason he came back.” She glances at him, and something unsaid passes between them. “But I’m sorry, Zara. I had no idea about—” She breaks off.
Xander moves toward the open arch and watches the white-blue currents bloom over the field. “The Taken.”
Fallon nods, her eyes cast at the ground. “Hadley and Cecily alerted me only moments before the Rebels attacked, but it was too late. The Outside monitors were set on a loop, to look like the Taken were in Morgana. Our transmission died as Silas and I got inside Court. I couldn’t stop the battle once the Taken engaged us.”
“We can only make Sebastian order them to stand down at this point.” Devlan glances over my shoulder. “If we even have enough time to save them.”
I see my father’s pale face in my mind. “Let’s find His Highness,” I say, and turn to leave. Only Xander’s words halt my retreat.
“The Force is guarding Sebastian,” he says. “They’re waiting for us.”
Devlan draws his sword. “Then let’s not keep them waiting much longer.”
Fallon and Xander both ready their weapons, and I grip the hilt of my sword tighter, wishing I had my father’s dagger. I glance once more at the battlefield. Rebels are losing their lives, some probably at the hands of the people they love. The bloodshed must end. I’ll get my father’s dagger back. And my father.
The four of us head deeper into the castle, and before we reach the main hall, the fight is upon us. Knights of the Force attack from all sides. I turn and lock swords with one as he comes from behind me.
Adrenaline spikes my blood, and a scream rips from my throat as my sword meets his, forcing him backward. Another knight takes up a position at his side, and I retreat.
“Here.” Devlan tosses me a dagger. I catch it just in time to block another blow from the second knight.
Devlan downs a knight and moves to my side. We’re surrounded, but one of us has to get to Sebastian and end the battle before too many are lost.
“Devlan. Go,” I shout.
His expression is torn as he looks between the hallway leading to the secret lift and me, fighting the two knights.
“Duty first.” I force as much conviction into my unsteady voice as possible.
He plunges his sword into a knight’s chest, then nods at me once before racing down the corridor. I release a relieved breath but don’t have time to imagine him finally facing Sebastian—and not throwing the fight—as one of the knights clips my shoulder.
Dammit. Are they all trained to strike there?
My shoulder blazes with pain. Infuriated, I knock his sword to the side, forcing him to expose his center, and run him through. The other knight sees an opening while I’m occupied and aims for my arm. I twist my sword, still in the first knight’s chest, and block the blow. Then I yank my sword free and attack him full on.
I’ve seen this knight before. I remember him from my betrothal ceremony and from the tournament. For a moment, I wonder if his family is out on the battlefield—if he’s been given a choice in his actions. But as his blade nearly clips me, I force all distracting thoughts aside.
Right now, he’s my enemy, and only one of us will walk away. I swing and sever the hand holding his sword. He drops to his knees. A cry tears from his mouth. I turn away, ready to leave him and go help my allies, but he picks up his sword with the other hand and slashes my thigh.
I crumple to the ground. As I press my hand over the wound, he stands. Before he can deliver another blow, I roll, throw my dagger at him, and grab my sword. He dodges my dagger and stumbles back before coming at me again. I duck as he swipes at my head and then raise up, impaling him in the stomach. He folds, and I shakily get to my feet. I bring my sword up and slice him across the neck. Thick red blood drips to the floor. He smears it along the stone as he lands.
I study the puddle.
“Zara.” Fallon’s voice jolts me out of my daze.
I whip my head toward her. She slashes a knight across the chest, and he drops to the floor. “Go with Devlan. We’ve got this. Stop the Taken.”
My chest rises as I take in a steadying breath. I nod, then shuffle over to the slain knight. I tear off a piece of his uniform and use it to pick up his hand. As I limp down the corridor, I’m not sure if she really feels Devlan needs my help, or if she wants me out of the way. I’m having a difficult time walking, never mind fighting.
I decide I don’t care. Devlan is up there with his sworn enemy. So far, Sebastian has proven to be just as sadistic, if not more so, than the man who raised him. I don’t know what other sick tricks might await us if we don’t end him soon.
Holding my sword ready, I head down the corridor toward the secret lift. The severed hand drips red along the hallway as I go.
FORTY-ONE
When the metal doors of the lift open, I hesitate a moment before stepping into the transparent room. Devlan didn’t need a way to gain access to the chamber. Sebastian wanted him here.
“Zara—” Devlan shouts.
I exit the lift and rush into the room. Devlan is blocking blows from two knights at once. I start toward his side, but he jerks his head toward the end of the glass chamber. “Sebastian is down there.” He lunges at a knight in crimson, knocking the knight’s sword to the side. “He’s controlling the Taken from Excalibur.” He grunts. “I can’t get in.”
I understand what I must do, but it’s difficult to leave him here to fight. They’re not just members of the Force. These knights were King Hart’s personal guards. They are ruthless.
Devlan swipes at the guard advancing on me, drawing his attention. I slink past, then stagger down through the glass maze. Sebastian has locked himself in the control room, overseeing the fight with the Rebels personally. His actions prove this has gone beyond revenge for him.
I limp toward the end of the chamber, trying to block out the sounds of distress coming from Devlan. As I reach the control room, I pray the knight’s hand will give me access, and that I will not waver, even for a second.
I extend my arm—and the door slides open before I press the hand to the interface.
Sebastian’s golden eyes meet mine. His lips curl into a cruel smile.
I drop the hand to the floor and raise my sword. “Command the Taken to stand down.” I hold his
disarming glare. “Now.”
My eyes sweep over him. Tucked into his black belt is my father’s dagger. My chest blooms with renewed anger. Sebastian pulls his hand from behind his back and strikes my sword with his arming sword.
I wobble, then shift my weight onto my good leg, gaining balance against his attack. He blocks my strike easily. “I had no idea you knew the art of swordplay,” he says. “To think we had so much in common, Zara.” He strikes my sword again, pushing me backward into a retreat. “We could have been dueling instead of taking boring walks.”
Grunting, I come at him and slash. He keeps one hand behind his back as he blocks each of my attacks, mocking me. His form says I’m no threat to him. And I’m not sure I am.
His blade slides against mine. “I think I’ll enjoy this even more than facing off with Devlan. Though I wish we had more privacy.” He cuts his eyes toward the front of the chamber. “We do have unfinished business.”
“You’re sick. I’ll never be with you.” I block his blow as it comes at my chest.
He mock-sighs. “That’s the thing, my love.” His sword grazes my injured leg, and I stumble back. “You’re not going to have a choice.” He leers, raising his sword as I hold a defensive stance. “My father perfected the Virus serum before his death. There’s no waiting for it to mutate. I can have complete control over anyone at any time.”
I shake my head, clearing my vision of loose strands of hair, then step into his attack, sending him backpedalling. “Have you always been this mad?” I shift my weight, relieving the pressure on my leg, and knock his sword down. I lunge, delivering a fierce strike to his arm. “Or did my rejection send you over the edge?”
His eyes blaze a fierce, liquid gold. He lowers his sword and glares. “I admit that I’ve desired you for a long time, and that your games made claiming you all the more amusing.” He grins. “But after I went to the trouble of having your father removed, I wasn’t going to allow Devlan to have you.”
All weapons are forgotten. I drop my guard. My mouth falls open. “You sent my father Outside.”
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