I didn’t have that to rely on now. If Henrick was still out there, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Which meant Gemma’s life depended on me—and only me. And I certainly wasn’t going to let her down if I could help it.
“I have visual on the target,” one of the guardsmen said into a communication device as he sped toward me.
Gemma, still behind me, trembled even more. She had lived in that cage just as I had, and she didn’t have any desire to go back. Which was just fine by me, because the only way that was going to happen was over my dead body.
“Listen to me,” I said to Gemma without taking my eyes off the guard. “I’m going to count to three, and then I want you to run.”
“No,” she said, grabbing ahold of my back tightly. “I’m not leaving you!”
“Yes, you are,” I said firmly. “You’re getting out of here. You’re going to survive this.” I swallowed hard as the power pulsed through me. “When I get to three, I want you to run as fast as you can over the far hill. There’s a farmhouse at the bottom of it. Don’t stop until you get there. Do you hear me, Gemma? No matter what you might hear, you do not stop!”
“Razz, you can’t—”
“I can’t let you die is what I can’t do,” I said. “No arguing, Gemma. Do what I say.”
I felt her head nod against my back.
“Okay,” I said as the heat of her tears dripped onto my shoulder. “One.”
I tensed up, letting the bright blue energy coat my entire body. “Two.”
I extended my arms, letting the cold crackle around them.
“Three!”
Gemma darted away from me, and I blasted those sonofabitches with everything I had. It must have worked as a distraction, because none of the three went after my sister. They probably hadn’t been able to see past the spears, chunks, and boulders of ice rushing toward them.
I rained cold vengeance on Brula’s people, unleashing every bit of pent-up anger I had kept buried deep inside since the instant I’d found out about what happened to my parents. With muted joy, I watched as the ice reduced their bikes to rubble, sending them crashing to my feet.
Walking toward them, I felt something horribly liberating spark in my chest.
This power, it was destructive. It was dangerous.
And I loved it.
I settled in front of the incapacitated men, feeling ice and anger well up to a boiling point in my chest.
“That’s enough,” a familiar voice said over the noise.
I jerked my gaze up to see Prince Park standing in front of me. He was wearing royal armor, blazoned with the ‘R’ of the regent, though his face was bare and free of the visor the rest of the guardsmen wore.
My jaw tightened when I looked at him. Was this truly how things were going to end?
He had been so enigmatic back in the center, even going so far as to save me on my first day there. Each time we’d met, he’d dropped hints about how to better keep myself safe. And now he was just going to snuff me out like an errant flame in the wind and run my sister down?
It seemed almost ludicrous. Yet, here we were.
“Step back from my men, Razz,” he said, his voice flat as he walked toward me.
I threw my hands up in front of me. A warning. “Stay where you are, Prince Park.”
I had expended a lot of energy, but there was still enough in me to do some damage to Prince Park. I could feel that much.
“You’re not going to hurt me,” he said. His eyes stayed trained on mine as he marched toward me as if he knew something about me that I didn’t even know myself. “You’re not capable of it.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” I said, grinding my shoe against the ground. “I took these guardsmen down. I did the same thing back in the center. You could be next.”
“They were faceless men and women,” Prince Park said evenly. “They have no meaning to you. They are nameless figures with no families, no pasts, no presents. But I’m more than that to you—aren’t I? You know my name. You’ve seen my face. You’re looking at me right now and recalling every memory we shared back at the center. And that’s why you could never hurt me.”
A bright flash of something sped through my field of vision. It collided with Prince Park, knocking him away and sending him sprawling across the ground.
“I’ve seen your face, too,” the fiery blur said. “And honestly, I’m not that impressed.”
Henrick stood in Park’s place. He had blasted into him, using that wonderful magic that had freed us from the center.
“You’re okay,” I breathed, looking up at him.
A smile spread slowly across his face. “I am,” he said. “But I’ll be better when we’re all together. Where’s your—”
A blast of red energy shot into Henrick’s back. It knocked him to the ground, sending blood spurting from the point of impact.
“Henrick,” I said, lunging down to meet him.
With his face in my hands, I looked up.
“Oh…oh no,” I muttered as I took in the horrible sight before me.
There were guardsmen—at least fifty of them—settling over us like a swarm. Too many to even think about taking on. Our only chance would be escape, and with Henrick incapacitated, that wasn’t an option.
My mind went to Gemma. Hopefully, I had given her enough time, but I feared that even if she had made it, they might still find her. What else could I do? We didn’t have time to do anything more than we had.
I closed my eyes tightly. With Henrick’s head still in my hands, I made my peace with meeting the maker.
Maybe, as the songs said, he would be kind. Perhaps he would even be just.
Call it a dying girl’s last wish.
Seconds passed, but no death came.
I opened my eyes to find the guardsmen trapped in a bright white web of energy. It was the same web I’d seen back in the alley the night all of this started—the same energy I had mistakenly attributed to the Beacon.
But when I looked over, I saw that the magic was originating from Prince Park.
His hands moved wildly as he formed the webbing, trapping the last of the guardsmen in it. He was fighting them. He was taking them out—his own men. But why?
I stood, placing an unconscious Henrick’s head gently on the ground.
Having finished up with the guardsmen, Prince Park looked over to me.
“You…” I stammered. “You’re…”
“A traitor? Not on my mother’s side? The Beacon himself?” He arched a scuffed eyebrow at me. “All of those things are true, Razz. And, unless I’m mistaken, your unconscious friend there asked me to come.”
Chapter 19
When Henrick didn’t wake right away, I panicked. I couldn’t very well take him to a medic—or anywhere else, for that matter.
Thankfully, several of the guardsmen who had come with Prince Park to presumably flatten me and bring my sister in turned out to be in his pocket—an internal center-centric rebellion as it were. And, luckily enough, one of them also happened to know her way around a patient.
So after they brought Gemma back to me and we calmed her down, I watched as a young woman tended to Henrick’s wounds. She assured me he would be fine. And she was right. But by the time he woke up, I wasn’t sure anyone else in the room would be fine.
He bolted upright in the bed, scanning the room until his gaze landed on Prince Park. “You!” he said, as if the word alone were an accusation. “What have you done with Razz?”
He was getting up now. The woman at his bedside seemed to want him to sit back down.
I crossed the room into his line of sight and put out my hands. “Relax, Henrick. He’s going to help us. He’s the Beacon.”
“No.” Henrick shook his head and clenched his jaw. “No, I don’t believe it.”
Prince Park set down his roasted pheasant and pushed aside the plate of corn to rest his forearms on the old wooden table we’d been using for meals.
“You
don’t have to believe anything,” he said. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
I took a deep breath myself, then sat on the bed next to Henrick and wrapped my arms around one of his, hoping the light embrace would soothe him. Or at least prevent him from flying out of the bed and trying to take a shot at Prince Park.
Henrick scoffed, glaring down at me with a twisted expression. “Tell me you don’t actually buy any of this.” Henrick’s face reddened, and his body tensed. “Do you really think the Beacon—the man who’s become the spirit of the Rebellion—is actually the prince of the entire sector?”
“If she’s smart, that’s exactly what she thinks,” Prince Park said, gazing lazily over at Henrick. A smirk played at his lips.
“I wasn’t talking to you, you waste of space,” Henrick yelled. He yanked away from me. “You’re too smart for this, Razz.”
I clenched my teeth to stop myself from going off on him. That wasn’t going to get us anywhere. “That waste of space saved your life. And if you think I’m smart, Henrick, then I would hope you would trust my judgment on this. Unless you don’t actually think that. Then there’s nothing I can do to convince you, and I’ll stop wasting my breath.”
“Listen to yourself.” Henrick stood now and moved to the far wall in the room, placing himself equal distance from Prince Park and myself. He crossed his arms. “He saved me? If I recall, I wouldn’t have needed saving if not for what he did!”
“What I did,” Prince Park said, strolling to the other side of the table so that his body was in full view, “is what I had to do. My mother wants you very badly. And what she wants, she tends to get.”
“So you brought her to our doorstep?” Henrick asked.
“Your doorstep wasn’t hidden nearly well enough,” Prince Park snapped. “That’s why you were found. The fact that it was me who found you was just a matter of good luck on your part and strategic planning on mine.”
“A strategy?” Henrick echoed, narrowing his eyes. “Did this strategy include hitting me in the head?
The grin on Prince Park’s face widened. “Oh, yes, of course. I love to waste my time waiting for unconscious people to wake up. Especially when I’m short on time. You sure figured me out quick, huh?”
Henrick scowled, but before he could respond, Prince Park was speaking again.
“I’ve been working with specific pieces of a resistance,” he said. “A real resistance—not the primary school nonsense you’ve been dabbling with. It’s been a few years now. I’ve been looking for a way out, something to get me out of the center and allow me to fully commit to my identity as the Beacon.” His gaze drifted toward me. “Unfortunately, there were a few risks that had to be taken along the way. Like coming here. Sorry about that.”
Oh, no. No, he was not saying what I thought he was saying.
I crossed the room before I knew what I was doing and shot a burst of cold from my hand into Prince Park’s foot.
He jumped back. “Hey! Careful!”
“You’re telling me to be careful? After telling me you risked my sister’s life as part of your game?” I curled my hands into fists, trying to keep calm until I knew for sure. Until I heard him confirm the conclusion he’d just led me to.
“Not some game,” he said, raising his hands defensively. “A resistance.”
“I swear, if I hear you say that one more time—”
“If you would just listen, you might understand.” He jumped back behind the table, putting a barrier between us before he continued. “It’s not like I told them where you were. They figured that out on their own. But I knew Mother didn’t want to leave the extraction to just anyone, so I figured I could get in on this and use it to make my escape.” He tilted his head and pursed his lips. “Also, I’d help get you guys to safety. Everybody wins.”
“Yeah,” Henrick spat back distastefully. “I feel like a winner.”
“Hey,” I said, adding a little firmness to my voice to get his attention. “I’m not too thrilled either, but as he said, if he hadn’t come, someone else would have.”
“I heard him,” Henrick said, nearly growling. “I just don’t believe him.” He turned to me, his expression hard. “What if this is some ploy? What if this is all to get you to lower your guard so that Brula can swoop in and—”
“And what, Henrick?” I asked, splaying my hands in front of me. “He already had us. You were out. I was outnumbered. Gemma was on the run. If Prince Park wanted to bring us in, he’d have done it.”
“Park,” the prince said flatly.
“What?” I asked, looking over at him.
“It’s just Park. My mother is very likely under the assumption that I’m dead right now. If she ever comes into contact with the truth, she won’t be very happy with me. Either way, my days of being a prince are behind me.”
“How selfless of you,” Henrick said. “Giving away your golden diaper and all.” He indicated Park with a wave of his hand. “This bastard is a liar. He’s not the Beacon. The Beacon is…he’s better than that.”
“You give me too much credit,” Park said, raising his eyebrow. “I appreciate the hero worship and all, but, at the end of the day, I’m just a dude.”
“You’re a joke is what you are,” Henrick said. “Either you’re lying about being the Beacon, which—as far as I’m concerned—gives me every right to knock your teeth out through your ass. Or you’re not, which is an issue that’s entirely more depressing.”
“He saved me, Henrick,” I said, biting my bottom lip.
“I saved you,” he answered.
“You did. Back at the center,” I said. “And I’ll never forget that. But he saved me too—that night the fire ran Gemma and me out of my quarters. The energy signature, the Beacon’s net, he used it then, and he used it last night to save me again.”
I walked toward Henrick and placed my hand across his bicep. “I know this is hard for you to believe, and it may be even harder to accept, but he is the son of the regent—and he’s also the Beacon.”
Henrick shook his head again. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I get that,” Park said. There was finally a bit of compassion in his voice. “People look at me and they see a spoiled brat, somebody who lives off the teat of the sector. And there’s a reason for that.”
“Because it’s true?” Henrick asked, his eyebrows arching upward. But his tone had softened now, too. Maybe we were finally getting somewhere.
“On the surface, yes,” Park admitted. “But that’s what I need everyone to think.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “You don’t pull down a dynasty from the inside by being sloppy, and you don’t live long enough to do anything if Mother gets even the slightest hint that you’re anything but completely loyal. It’s just easier to pretend to be a lazy, soulless waste of space. It stops anyone from taking me too seriously.”
Park blinked hard and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “You have no reason to believe me, other than the fact you’re still alive when you could be dead. But the truth is that I’m on your side. I always have been. And Gemma—”
“We can’t let them get her,” I said, panic returning to my voice at just the mere mention of her name. Her safety was the only thing that mattered. “Your mother can use somebody else. I know that might sound horrible, but I mean, there are people who actually want to be her vessel. She could at least pick a willing sacrifice.”
“Except that she can’t,” Park said, sighing loudly. “She’s been trying for years now. Why else do you think she let herself get so aged? The bodies have stopped taking. Mother has sacrificed girl after girl to try to find a working vessel. I don’t know why she thinks your sister will be different, but she does. That’s why she wants her so badly; that’s why she’s desperate. Because, as far as Mother knows, Gemma is the only person in the entire sector who can ensure that she continues to live.”
I found myself sitting, but I didn’t remember telling my body to do so. I looked from Henr
ick to Park and back again. “She’s never going to stop, is she?”
“We’ll make her stop,” Henrick said.
“And how are we going to do that?” I asked, tears pooling in my eyes. “She’s immortal, Henrick.”
“She’s not immortal,” Park said. “In fact, she’s very sick. The body she’s in now is weak. She’s started a cough that will undoubtedly mean the end of her current vessel. All we have to do is keep her from finding Gemma long enough for her to die along with the body she occupies now. It’s simple, effective, and downright easy.”
“Maybe not as easy as you think,” Gemma’s voice said from behind me.
Oh no, how much of this had she heard?
I spun to face her, trying to hold back the tears as I studied her face. “Gemma, you’re supposed to be sleeping.”
“And you’re supposed to be honest with me,” she said. “When were you going to tell me about the task force?”
“The what?” I asked.
A communicator on Park’s belt went off, and he excused himself to answer it.
“What task force?” Henrick repeated, asking Gemma.
“This one,” she said, lifting a printed sheet of parchment in her hand. “One of Prince Park’s people found it bound to one of the trees outside.” She rolled her eyes. “He said no one saw him leave the house, but who knows if he’s right.”
The ‘house’ had been reduced to a steaming hovel surrounded by a burned farm. The fact that the barn—where we were now standing—had survived was a small miracle I hadn’t overlooked.
Henrick beat me to the paper, taking it from Gemma’s hand and reading over it.
“What?” I asked, bristling at the way his jaw tensed up.
“Brula has lost her mind. She must think her son is dead.”
“She what?”
Henrick held the paper up, not that I could read it from where I stood. “That’s my guess…because she’s branding us as murderers. All of us. She used our names, said our photos are available on the center’s database, and swears to bring us in using any force necessary.” He looked up at me. “She even offered a sizable reward.” Henrick crumpled the paper in his hand. “We can’t stay here.”
Under: an Adult Dystopian Paranormal Romance: Sector 5 (The Othala Witch Collection) Page 14