“I’m afraid you can’t do that.” His expression was smug, and his eyes filled with something like delight.
Was he enjoying this moment?
“Why not? If my father is dead, then I’m in charge until the election,” she said.
Stoddard calmly walked farther into the room, tracing his bony finger on top of an ornate wood table. “Technically, the High Rulers are in charge. Not you.”
Myka moved toward the door. “Then let’s get the High Rulers here immediately to vote on it.”
He stepped in front of her. The delight in his eyes faded into something cold. “Not so fast. First, you need to tell me where the weapons are.”
Myka threw her shoulders back. She hated Stoddard. Her cute little hatred toward Drake was nothing compared to what she felt for this man. He had lied about her character, shown no remorse that she had been kidnapped, and didn’t care in the slightest that her father was dead.
Her angry eyes tore into him. “If I did know, you would be the last person I would disclose the location to. You lying, selfish creep!”
Stoddard’s eyes bulged. “What does Adler’s perfect little Princess Mykaleen think she’s going to do with Daddy’s weapons?”
Her face hardened. “Destroy them.”
“You ungrateful little brat!” he seethed. “How could you destroy everything your father worked for?” His face ticked with anger. “Adler made those weapons for you. So you could rule as a strong queen.”
“Weapons don’t make someone strong.”
“Oh, Myka, you are so naive. You’re just proving how much of a fool your father was by trusting you with them.”
She’d come a long way from the girl she was a few weeks ago. That girl had been naive and ignorant, but that’s not who she was anymore. She was stronger than she looked. Drake had helped her see that.
“I’m not so naive that I would hand the weapons over to you.” She returned his stare with a smug expression of her own. “What do you need them for anyway?”
His face turned sweet. “I’m here to serve Tolsten, to keep our kingdom safe.”
Myka scoffed. “I don’t believe you. I heard you talking with Doctor Von. You’re planning something.”
The corner of his mouth raised up. “What could I possibly plan? Like your father always said, I came from a simple background, so what could simple-minded Stoddard ever do?”
“Whatever it is, I won’t let you go through with it. My father wouldn’t give you the weapons, and neither will I. Once the High Rulers get through with you, you’ll be out on the street.” She moved to leave, but Stoddard grabbed her arm, swinging her back around to face him.
His fingers dug into her skin. “You think you’re so powerful, don’t you?”
“Let go of her!” Rommel said, stepping forward.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Stoddard reached for the gun that was strapped to the weapons belt on his waist and pointed it at Rommel. Joett let out a soft cry, and Myka’s heart stopped. His gray eyes turned back to her. “I’m not playing any more games. Tell me where the weapons are, or your friends die.”
Myka eyed them. Tears streamed down Joett’s face, and she clung to Rommel even tighter.
“Don’t do it, Myka,” Rommel said. “He’ll use them against everyone.”
Rommel was right. Myka didn’t know what Stoddard’s plan was or even his ultimate goal, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. But how could she stay strong when a gun was pointed at Rommel and Joett?
“Maybe my father wasn’t the bad guy,” she spat at him. “Maybe you were!”
Stoddard’s hand closed around her even harder. “Do you want to know something about your father?”
Myka tried yanking against his strength, but his grip was too tight.
“Your father is dead because of me. I killed him. I was sick of waiting around for him to die, so I smothered him with his own pillow.”
Anger filled Myka’s chest, and she swung her free arm up, slapping Stoddard across the face. “You won’t get away with this!”
If her slap had hurt him, he didn’t show it. He tilted his head slowly back to her. “I already have gotten away with it. There isn’t anything that can stop me now. Once you give me those weapons, I will go from kingdom to kingdom blowing everything up until I get control. And do you want to know the best part? I won’t even need to waste missiles in New Hope or Albion. I’ve got a secret weapon that will bring both of those kings to their knees.”
Myka breathed heavy. “I’ll tell the High Rulers everything you said, and you’ll be hanged for your crimes against the king and the Council of Essentials.”
“Oh, princess, you won’t be alive to tell anyone.” Then Stoddard fired his gun, hitting Joett in the chest. Rommel screamed and tried to catch her as her limp body fell to the ground.
“No!” Myka’s hand darted out as if she could save her.
“Joett!” Rommel yelled. “Joett!”
Blood spilled out of her like a fountain, and Myka watched in horror as Rommel bent over her body, plugging his hand into the wound in her chest.
“How could you?” Myka shrieked, hitting Stoddard on the chest with her fist. Tears gushed out of her as she watched Rommel rock back and forth with Joett’s body in between his arms.
“Why?” Myka sobbed. “Why are you so cruel?”
Stoddard’s lips curled into a devilish smile. “I killed your father, I killed your friend,” he scoffed. “It’s surprising that I wasn’t the one who killed your mother. Jarvis did that one.”
Myka shook her head. Skunkman had killed her mother?
Stoddard’s expression melted to fake pity. “Oh, did you not know about that? Jarvis stabbed your mother in the chest before her carriage even made it to the front gates of Tolsten House. But I can’t take credit for that.” Stoddard shrugged. “That was your father’s idea. She was stupid to think that she could warn the Council about the weapons. You’re just as foolish.”
Her mother was dead.
That’s why she’d never come back for her.
Her father had her killed.
Myka brought her hands up to her ears, trying to block out Stoddard’s ruthlessness and Rommel’s wails, but it didn’t work. She closed her eyes, wishing she could go back, wishing she’d never brought Rommel and Joett to Tolsten House with her.
The door to the living room swung open, and three guards rushed inside.
“Is everything all right, Commander?”
“No!” Myka shouted through her tears. “The commander shot her!” She pointed to Joett’s lifeless body. “Seize him!”
Stoddard shook his head at his men. “The princess needs to be taken down to the prisoner holding cells. She has committed treason against Tolsten, just like her father. She was consorting with the king about the illegal weapons and is hiding the location.”
“What?” Myka’s mouth dropped. “He’s lying!”
The guards came to her side and grabbed her from Stoddard.
“See, what you didn’t know,” Stoddard said, “is that the High Rulers already met together. They’ve already learned about you and your father’s secret weapons. They think you’re the bad guy.”
Myka’s heart dropped. This couldn’t be happening.
Stoddard stepped forward, getting right in front of Myka’s face. “There’s no way you can beat me. I’ll get those weapons from you one way or another.” He glanced over his shoulder at Rommel. “Take the man, too,” Stoddard said, motioning to Rommel’s crying body. “He’s the engineer. We might need him later.”
The other guards pulled Rommel off of Joett’s body. He did his best to push them away, getting blood all over the guards’ clothes.
Myka tried to reach for Joett, but the guards pulled her back. She didn’t deserve to die like that. She didn’t deserve to be left alone.
“Tomorrow, we’ll start torturing you until you tell me where the weapons are,” Stoddard said.
“I’ll never tell
you,” she screamed as they dragged her out of the room.
“Then you’ll die,” he said behind her.
As long as the weapons died with her. That was all Myka cared about now.
30
Myka
Myka and Rommel were led down a narrow stone staircase to the basement of Tolsten House. Rommel’s whimpers behind her ripped her heart to shreds.
“I’m so sorry, Rommel,” she said, trying to turn over her shoulder as the guards pushed her forward.
“Joett’s gone,” he wailed. “She’s gone.” His shoulders slumped in, and his body shook as the absence of his wife took over his entire soul.
“It’s all my fault,” she sobbed, as she turned back to look at the steps in front of her. Why had she thought that her plan would work? She’d been stupid, thinking that she could waltz into Tolsten House and start demanding things and people would listen. Her ill-conceived plan had killed Joett and put her and Rommel in danger. She’d never forgive herself. The loss of Joett tore through her body. It was too much. How was she going to live in a world without Joett’s kind smile? Her heart had been beaten to black and blue, and Myka didn’t know how much more she could take.
“No, it’s my fault,” Rommel said, behind her. “This is what I get for designing those weapons all those years ago. If I had never created them, then Joett would still be alive.”
Myka’s tears dripped down her face, wetting her neck.
At the end of the stairs, the guard pushed her forward to a gray metal door with a small square window in the middle and knocked. Officer Bayler, an older guard with a bald head, peeked through the glass. His eyes widened when he saw Myka detained. The door opened.
“Your Highness,” Bayler bowed.
“She’s a prisoner now,” the guard holding her said.
Bayler furrowed his brows. “Why?”
“For treason. She’s hiding the weapons that the king made.” He shrugged. “Commander Stoddard’s orders.”
“He’s lying,” Myka said to both of the men. “It’s Commander Stoddard who wants to use the weapons. He killed the king. He told me! He smothered him with a pillow.”
“Sorry,” Bayler said, glancing at her. “I take my orders from the commander.”
“Even if he’s corrupt?”
The guard holding her ignored her. “Where do you want her?”
“Let’s put her in room four.” He looked at Rommel’s blood-stained clothes and sobbing body. “Whoa, is he hurt?”
“No, he’s fine,” Rommel’s guard said.
“I was going to say that we could have Doctor Von check in on him,” Bayler said. “He’s already in room one.”
Why was Doctor Von down in the prison cells?
A long hall stretched out in front of them with doors on both sides. Each door had the same square window in the front of it. As they walked past, the door to the first room opened, and a woman stepped out dressed in the same gray nurse’s outfit that Blanch had worn. Myka tilted her head, trying to see inside. Doctor Von stood over a bed, staring at a file. A cream blanket was spread across a body. The nurse’s eyes went wide when she saw them, and she quickly grabbed the handle, pulling the door shut behind her.
The moment went by so fast, Myka couldn’t be sure what she’d seen, but she thought the body looked like it belonged to a woman.
“Who’s that?” she asked, turning back to the nurse. “Who’s in there?”
The nurse gave a pointed look to the guards, but no one said anything. They kept walking until they were in front of room number four.
The bald guard unlocked the room, and they shoved her inside. There was a small metal cot, a drain on the cement floor, and a bucket that Myka assumed was for things that wouldn’t go down the drain. She didn’t even turn around to fight. She knew what to expect. They would shut the door and lock it. There was no way she could get out.
When Myka was a young girl, she used to read books from the Tolsten House library about princesses who were locked in towers or held hostage. The princess would always find a way to escape. In fact, those books had made escaping seem so easy. Where were all the guards watching the place? Or why was the key to the dungeon always an arm’s-length away? It wasn’t believable. Her imprisonment wouldn’t be like that. She’d already escaped once and wouldn’t be able to again.
Tomorrow Stoddard would start torturing her until he got what he wanted. Even if she crumbled and gave him the location of the weapons, he would still kill her. There was no way out of this mess. She wasn’t going to cry about it or complain. Instead, she was going to do the brave thing. She was going to die, and the location of the weapons would die with her. Maybe she hadn’t been a good princess of Tolsten before, but she would be now. Myka would prove, even if it was only to herself, that she was a great ruler—that she was a strong leader, capable of hard things, and better than her father. She would die proud of herself, and Joett’s death wouldn’t be for nothing.
31
Myka
The lights to Myka’s cell had been turned off a long time ago. She didn’t know how late it was or how much time had passed since the guards had thrown her inside. She wondered how Rommel was doing after witnessing his wife’s murder. She wondered about Doctor Von and what he was doing downstairs. Who was the patient he worked on? Her mind flashed back to the conversation she’d overheard between Doctor Von and Stoddard when they were talking about some secret weapon that was “stable.” Myka couldn’t put the pieces together. The only thing she could come up with was that perhaps Doctor Von had created some sort of robot-human that was going to walk around and take over the world. That didn’t seem likely, but at this point, Myka wasn’t ruling anything out.
The lock outside her door shifted, and she sat up. The door opened, and a dim flood of light from the hallway spilled into her room. The first thing she saw was Arco’s white hair.
Great. Was he back for round two of betrayal?
“Get up,” he said in a hushed tone. “We don’t have much time.”
Her eyebrows creased together, and she stared back at him with a blank face.
Arco looked down the hall, then back at her. “What are you doing?” he snapped at her. “We need to get out of here.”
“Are you breaking me out?” she asked.
He waved her to him. “Yes! Come on.”
Myka swung her legs over the side of the cot and rushed to him. “What about Rommel?”
“He’s next door,” Arco whispered as he quietly moved to the next room. She followed behind him as he unlocked Rommel’s door.
“Who’s helping you?” she asked Arco. There was a part of her that hoped Drake had come for her. That he was the one responsible for helping her escape.
“No one,” Arco shook his head. “I’m working alone.”
Disappointment stirred inside as he twisted the knob and pushed the metal door open.
“I’m getting you out of here,” he said to Rommel. “Let’s go.”
Rommel understood immediately and ran out, hugging Myka close.
“Is this Officer Arco?” Rommel asked as they tiptoed down the hall.
“Yeah,” Myka whispered back to him. She hadn’t realized that Rommel had never met Quaker Oats. “Who’s in room one?” she asked as they neared that door. “Should we get them out too?”
“We don’t have time, and besides, there’s a nurse in there.” Arco nodded toward the window. “Duck as we walk past.”
“Okay,” Myka said, hunching over until she was at the beginning of the hall. Officer Bayler, the guard from earlier, was passed out, leaning back in his chair, an empty bottle of alcohol resting on the table in front of him.
“Arco, what did you do?” Myka whispered.
Arco peeked out the window of the next door. “I put your father’s alcohol to good use.”
“How much did you give him?” Rommel asked.
“Enough.” Arco turned over his shoulder. “We have to hurry,” he said, opening the next do
or. “The shift change happens soon, and Stoddard will know.” He led them down a different hallway that ended with another metal door. “These stairs will lead outside.” He reached in his pocket and handed her a small hand light and a gun. “Go to the door in the west wall, where we usually escape from, and wait for me there.”
“Stoddard killed my father and he wants to use the weapons to take over the other kingdoms,” she said, wondering if Arco was up to speed on everything that had happened.
“I know,” Arco said. “Don’t worry. We won’t let that happen.”
Myka shook her head, placing her hand on his arm. “I have to go to the weapons location. I have to get rid of them before Stoddard uses them against everyone.”
“Get rid of them?” Arco’s eyebrows shot up.
Myka looked at Rommel, and he nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “We’re going to detonate them.”
“That’s too dangerous,” Arco replied.
“We have to. Stoddard won’t stop until he finds them, and we can’t have him using them against innocent people,” Myka said. “We have to do this. I have to do this.”
“You might not make it out,” Arco said.
Myka swallowed. She knew the risks. “I know.”
Arco pulled her into a hug. “Your mother would be so proud of you and the brave woman you’ve become.”
Would her father be too? In some weird way, she hoped he would.
Arco released the hug. “What do you need me to do?”
“You need to get everyone out of Tolsten House and have them run to the West Woods on the property,” Rommel said. “Everyone needs to get as far away from Tolsten House and the East Woods as they can.”
“How much time do I have?” Arco asked.
Rommel shrugged. “Thirty minutes or so.”
Arco nodded and opened the door to the dark staircase. “Good luck,” he said.
Myka offered a half-hearted smile.
She was going to need more than luck.
The Stolen Princess: A YA Dystopian Romance (Desolation Book 3) Page 27