She was jumped and looked up. “You don’t scare me.”
I laughed. It truly did amuse me and I walked around the pool towards her. “I should. I know who you are, Kalu Assassin.”
She wasn’t threatened like I had hoped while she grabbed a towel and got out, moving closer to the exit Darius left through. “And so does the King.”
“Does he now?” She lies.
“Yes. He’s giving us four days to leave. You can’t do anything to us.”
I smiled and continued to get closer. “But the King is gone. There’s no one here to save you now. It was a mistake to let Darius leave your side.”
I waved my hand before she could have said anything else or thought to act herself and the guards came up behind her. They pulled her hands behind her back and tied a rag around her mouth.
“At dawn you shall be sent to your well-deserved death and I shall see to it that those who brought you here die as well, granting me my true rights.”
“You’ll regret this.”
“I think not.” I signaled to the guards again and a sack was put over her head so she couldn’t see where they were taking her.
The night was about to get better—for me.
Chapter 42
Darius
Okay. Okay. Okay.
I had changed up in my room and was pacing the floor, telling myself that it was going to be okay but was it really? Everything was changing and changing quickly. I knew that leaving with her would lead to this eventually happening but I didn’t want it to be yet. I wasn’t ready and I don’t know why. Of course I cared about her. I had to tell her. That was it. I had to tell her the truth. She had to know my worry.
As soon as I decided it, I went back down to the bathhouse, ready to spill my innermost secret but something was wrong. She was gone.
“Ruby?” I looked around and found her silk robe she would have put on still on the floor. I picked it up and knew that she wouldn’t have left it behind. She wouldn’t risk walking around the palace naked, exposing herself. I was now getting worried and quickly left to find help.
Skipping many stairs on the way up, my heart was racing in my chest. Worry for what might have happened to her worried me more than I’ve ever been. I went straight to Zayden’s door, knocking on it repeatedly hoping they were in. My nerves were shot and I couldn’t hold still while I waited.
Adele opened it and sighed. “What do you want, Darius? You know it’s not time yet, right?”
“Have you seen Ruby?” I got right to the point.
“No. I thought she’d be with you.”
“I just left her alone for a second and now she’s gone.”
“You left her alone?! Where?”
“The bathhouse.”
“Why didn’t you use this one?”
“That doesn’t matter now. I just went back there but she wasn’t there.”
“Oh, no. Then someone must have seen her mark. This always happens to her!”
I was over the edge; gone with worry.
“What’s going on?” Zayden asked, finally coming to the door.
“Someone discovered Ruby.” Adele said.
“What?!”
“I can’t find her!” I replied in a panicked voice. “Lamar. He probably knows. They’ve taken her!”
“All right, just calm down. They couldn’t have gone far. We’ll find her. Get ready and get the others. I think it’s time to leave a little sooner than we planned.”
Adele turned back in Zayden’s room with a nod and started gathering her own things. “Darius, get her stuff out of your room and bring it with you.”
I nodded and did what I was told. I wanted to find her more than anyone and felt bad about leaving her in the first place. It was my fault.
I went back to my room and got Ruby’s things together as quickly as I could and got myself ready too, grabbing my sword. I was ready to use it on anyone that got in the way and went back to Zayden’s room. “Ready.”
He nodded and looked to Adele. “I want you to make it quick. We’ll free Ruby and you just get out of here.”
Adele didn’t reply. Not even a nod.
We hurried out of the room and began the attempt to find Ruby.
“This is my fault.” I muttered, walking stiff at Zayden’s side with my eyes down on the floor in front of me.
“How is this your fault?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Could I guess?”
“I bet you could.”
“You had sex with her?”
I sighed and felt bad about the answer. “Yes.”
“And you’re alive? Good. If that’s not the work of Fate, I don’t know what is.”
“I didn’t plan to at first. It just kind of happened but I never should have left her alone.”
“It’s all right. We’ll get her back.”
I could have only hoped that he was right and no matter what came of this, it would always be my fault.
Chapter 43
Adele
You worry about Ruby while I leave? No. I knew that I couldn’t just leave without Ruby following and I personally planned to make sure she was freed.
I left Zayden’s room when I was completely ready and went to Troy’s door, knocking on it rapidly for them to hurry up and answer rather than take their time.
Troy came to it just dressed in his pants it and seemed a bit tired. “Adele? What is it?”
“Sorry to interrupt but Ruby is in trouble.” I walked right in passed him without an invite. “We have to go now.” Jaylyn got up out of bed and started to get dressed without asking any questions. Good. “Take everything you brought, Jaylyn. We’re not coming back.”
They shared a look but she started to gather her things without a word. Troy went to his closet and quickly got dressed, grabbing his sword. “All right. Let’s go.”
Jaylyn and I nodded and we hurried out the door.
“Why does this always happen to her?” Jaylyn muttered.
I sighed with the truth. “She’s so obvious.”
“This happens a lot?” Troy asked.
“You’d be surprised but it’s usually not this bad and we always get her back before she did something else horribly wrong.”
Troy laughed.
“Troy, where would they take her?” Jaylyn asked.
“Well, if they found out that she was a Kaluian, that would be to the penitentiary.”
“In house?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“Lead the way.”
He walked in front of us while strapping his sword to his waist and led us down to the penitentiary that was located directly under the palace grounds. This is where we would fight to get her back.
Chapter 44
Zayden
I had reached the entrance of the penitentiary with Darius and walked down the stairs. Once we reached the bottom, we noticed it was a little quiet. We looked at each other and started to head farther in towards the cells.
We didn’t run into anyone. It was completely empty. No guards and most cells seemed to be empty as well. We walked around, looking in each one to search for Ruby, hoping she was here. We even split up to get it done faster but I was the one to find her.
“Darius! Over here!”
He raced around corners towards my voice. “Did you find her?!” I was stopped, looking in a cell and Darius stepped up next to me. I already felt for him. He took a panicked breath when he saw her inside. “Ruby!”
The sight saddened him and he tried to keep it from showing but I could tell. Ruby was chained naked to the wall with blood running down her body and a towel was soaked in blood in front of her. Her arms were strung up above her and she was motionless with her head hung down.
I put my hand on Darius’s shoulder when I saw the pain in his quiet reaction. “Is she—”
“No.” I said, looking at Ruby with solid black eyes, feeling her heart still beating. “She’s alive.”
“We have to get
her out. She needs help.” Darius gave the steel door a quick shake but they didn’t budge. “The keys.”
“Shh!” I quickly turned my head from the direction we came. “Someone’s coming.”
I took Darius’s arm and tried pulling away but he wouldn’t have it. “No! I’m not leaving her again!”
“She’ll be all right. We needed to do this quietly.”
Darius got one last look at Ruby before he let me pull him off. We went around the nearest corner and stood as quietly as possible while footsteps were getting louder.
“See if she’ll say anything yet.”
I heard the sound of keys rattling and someone had unlocked the door. I turned my eyes black again just to get a better idea of what was happening and it seemed there was four of them and they all stepped inside.
Darius looked worried but I shook my head to him and made sure he stayed put while we listened to what was happening.
“Rise and shine, sweetheart.” A guard said, rattling the chains. “Feeling a bit more compliant yet?”
Ruby didn’t respond.
“Drop her.”
Two of the guards stepped closer and released the tension in the chains. Ruby fell hard to the floor with a crying pain, making Darius take a step forward. I quickly grabbed him with a demanding whisper. “Not yet!”
He remained tense but Ruby’s cries slowly started to morph into a laugh. Even I was confused and listened harder.
“What, you think there’s something funny?”
“Yeah, I do.” Ruby’s voice was weak but her amusement obvious as she started to pick herself up slowly from the floor. “There’s no need to tell you anything because you’re all going to die.”
“No one is going to save you.”
“I meant by me!”
“Oh shit!”
Instant fear set in the souls of even the strongest soldiers and I knew exactly what they were looking at. They all pulled out their swords as a reaction to seeing her red eyes.
This is when we moved. I rushed around the corner and slammed the door to the cell shut so they were all locked inside. “Do it!”
At that moment, we felt the wind and Ruby used her strength and pulled the chains that held her right out of the wall, freeing her hands. It was amazing to watch but she didn’t stop there. She intended to kill every one of them and I was going to let her.
She swung one of the chains still attached to her wrist and it wrapped around one of the guard’s necks. He didn’t have time to react before she pulled it towards her, snapping it easily. She let him go as she blocked a sword swing with the other chain and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up off the ground. She simply squeezed, popping it like a bubble. His blood went everywhere, giving her body a more painted cover.
The other two guards left were terrified as they looked upon her. I could feel them shaking when she turned to them, dropping the dead guard and licking one of her blood covered fingers while her eyes remained red. They were both hesitant to go after her and I think she could see it.
She smiled evilly and slipped her blood covered hand out of its shackle and whipped it around a guard’s wrist then attached the other end to the wall. She whipped the chain she still had attached to her around his other wrist. He got wide eyes and she jerked it back. The extreme sudden tension with her strength caused him to rip apart. He screamed with the loss of his arm and Ruby took the last chain off her, throwing it at his head with a force that silenced his cries for good.
Now there was only one left.
She approached him and he stood nervous but still. Ruby stepped right in close to him and looked him over while her eyes were still red then grabbed his head with both of her hands like she was going to kiss him. Instead, a breeze came stronger around us and his life was being drained. She had her eyes on him the whole time while his heart beat slowed down and his eyes started to close.
He fell dead to the floor and Ruby stood there for a moment, looking down at his body and felt a weakness of her own. Her eyes started to shut with a slow breath and she fell next to him.
“Ruby!” Darius rushed to get the door open and went in to her. He got down to her and held her in his arms.
“Muscles, what took you so long?”
Darius hugged her quickly, holding her head to his chest. “I’m sorry. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Here.” I said, holding out her cloak to Darius. “Cover her up and we’ll go.” Darius took it from me and draped it around Ruby’s shoulders, closing it in front of her while he lifted her up in his arms. “Good. Now come on. The others left already. We have to catch up.”
“No.”
“What?” Darius looked down at Ruby in his arms.
“They would never leave without me no matter what they might have said.”
My eyes flashed solid black and I turned my head. “Shh!” I took Darius’s arm and pulled them around the corner to get out of sight.
Two guards walked down and approached the cell with the dead bodies. “What the—”
“Oh, no! She escaped! Quick! We can’t let them leave the city!”
They both rushed out of there and I looked back at Ruby and Darius. “Now we have to go.”
“We need to get to Jaylyn. She’s going to need her to make it out of here.”
I nodded and carefully looked around the corner. It was clear and we started to head back. We turned another corner quickly and saw the others just arriving.
My first reaction was not happy. “What are you doing here? I told you to just go!”
“We never leave anyone behind.” Adele said.
Jaylyn gasped when she saw Ruby in Darius’s arms. “What happened?”
“She’s a little banged up but she’ll be all right.” I said. “Most of that is from draining someone’s life.”
“I can help her.”
“As much as I agree, it’ll have to wait.” Darius replied. “They already have soldiers out in the city looking for you. It can’t be done here. We have to get her to a safer place.”
“Then let’s go.” Adele said as she turned first.
We went up the stairs, back into the palace and walked through, heading for the exit without anyone seeing us along the way.
“Find a safe dark place to heal her then take to the roofs.” I whispered.
Darius and Troy nodded and I started hearing guards coming through the distant halls.
“Zayden?” Adele stopped and looked worried.
“Go! There’s no time! They’ll take you the safest way. Don’t wait for me.”
“No.” Adele was shaking her head and reaching for me so I wouldn’t leave. “You can’t leave me again.”
“It’ll be all right. Just go.”
I gave her a quick kiss one last time and hurried through the main hall away from the door. I didn’t want to leave her yet but there was still something I had to do before leaving. I never planned to be chased out of the city. We were going to be leaving on our own in just a couple hours but things changed quickly and I wasn’t ready. This wasn’t good-bye.
Chapter 45
Adele
I could only stare. I didn’t know what he was doing or why it was necessary.
“Come on.” Troy said. He took my arm and started easing me away. “He’ll catch up.”
It was hard for me to pull my eyes from Zayden’s direction and a tear fell when I finally had to. It was dangerous now and we had to get out. I just had to believe that I would see him in a minute.
We were taken out towards the palace gate but we didn’t even make it out it before we were met by Kathryn wearing dark clothes instead of her usual white uniform.
“Kathryn!” I was surprised to see her and wiped the tear from my face. “What is it?”
I knew there had to be something wrong or she wouldn’t be out here dressed like that.
“Come with me quickly!” She turned and no one seemed to know what was going on but I at least knew that I trusted he
r and started to follow, hoping everyone else would follow me.
She led us carefully down a few streets while soldiers were marching around and we came up to a house, Troy stopping us with a deep breath. “Wait a second! No way!”
I was curious to know of his outburst. It was like he knew who lived here.
“You want to save them, don’t you?” Kathryn asked.
“Of course I do.”
“Then suck up your pride!” Kathryn turned and knocked on the door.
A woman with straight brown hair and hazel eyes came to it quickly. “Kathryn, good. You’ve come.”
“Julianna, thank you. Everyone in quickly.” We followed behind her and Troy was last to step through the door a bit more slowly and unwilling than us. He closed it behind him and Julianna quickly went to it, locking the locks.
She shared a look with Troy as she backed away and only made the mystery of who she is grow.
“Can someone tell us what the fuck is going on?” Darius asked.
“Get her healed and dressed quickly.” Kathryn said.
Darius sat down on the couch with Ruby still in his arms and Jaylyn went to him. “It’s okay. I can do this quick so we can all go.”
He nodded and looked up towards Kathryn as Ruby was being healed. “What are you doing here?”
Kathryn was standing over a table and uncovered it, revealing dozens of weapons. I reacted quietly to the surprise while she tried to explain while equipping herself with several like she was going to help us. “I’m going to take the Kalu Assassins to the southern gates and lead them around the military base so they have a clear break to the west while you two go help Zayden.”
“What are you talking about?” Troy asked. “How can we agree to this plan?”
“You have no choice. Zayden needs you right now. The girls will be fine. That I can promise.”
“Who are you?” Darius asked.
Kathryn looked across the table at Julianna and turned towards us. “I’m someone you should listen to. There’s no more time! You must go! He can’t do this alone!”
Deciding Skies (Fate's Intent Book 2) Page 22