by Jenn Vakey
Tainted Crown
Book three of the
Tainted World Series
Jenn Vakey
Tainted Crown
Copyright © 2019 by Jenn Vakey
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
https://www.facebook.com/jennvakeybooks/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ASIN B07QJ8H5Y2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Other Books by Jenn Vakey
Bonus Chapters – Loving Danger
CHAPTER ONE
RHYDIAN
Ringing filled my ears. I tried to shake my head to stop it, but something was holding it. Pinning me in place. It wasn't just my head. There was a heavy weight completely surrounding me.
It took several long moments for my surroundings to really register. I wasn't being held. I was on the ground and something was on top of me.
It didn't make sense. Nothing really did. Then it started to all come back.
We were in Eden. The Tainted had been found and rescued. Before I could get out with my team, the Sentry had found us, cornered us.
Lamont, Prestyn, and I had been pinned down in a house. Sentry had us surrounded. I had all but given up hope that we were going to make it out of there at all.
Then, despite having been reported as dead for the past six weeks, my brother's face filled every screen in Eden. Telling its people the truth. About my uncle and cousin. About the Tainted. And it had worked.
I never even considered going to the wall when the Sentry stood down and actually shielded us when we left the house. We were all getting out together. Leeya had stayed for me, and I wasn't leaving without her.
Then there was the fight. Dex and his Sentry. The bomb.
The explosion.
I coughed, the dust in the air making it even more real.
I pushed my hands down and twisted, trying to knock whatever had landed on me off. I rolled to the side, relieved when I was able to slip out from under it. No, not it.
Shit.
“Lamont,” I choked, rolling him onto his back. He was nothing but dead weight. His head lolled when I pushed my fingers to his neck. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. He was out, but alive. Injured because of me. Lamont had been behind me during the fighting. The only reason he would have been on top of me like that was if he had dove to cover me. To shield me.
The initial feeling of relief didn't last long. I looked out at the damaged scene around us. With the power still out and the dust in the air blocking much of the light from the street lamps, it was difficult to see much of anything.
“Leeya,” I called out, looking to where I had last seen her.
She wasn't there, but I did see my brother helping Dallin up. They were both injured, Gryffin with a trail of blood running down the side of his face and Dallin holding his arm, but she wasn't there.
“Where's Leeya?” I asked, my panic starting to become all consuming. I looked around desperately. Had the Sentry grabbed her? No. They had also been stunned by the blast, but the ones that were up were focused only on getting Dex out of there. “Leeya!”
Then I saw it. The screen that was at the front of the broadcast station. Everything that had happened out here was playing on it. That's why she had insisted that we get him talking. Everything he had confessed to was now being broadcast to the entire city.
And the bomb. I watched Leeya on the screen, terrified of what I was going to see. I couldn't move. It was like my body wasn't even responding. All I could do was watch the world explode. Watch my girl thrown like a doll.
Seeing where she went was enough to snap me out of it. I turned and ran toward her. I had just reached it when Dallin was at my side, both of us dropping down to our knees next to the pile of debris.
Then I saw her. Or the part of her that wasn't buried.
“Leeya!” I yelled again, grabbing the pieces of the building that lay on top of her.
Though it didn't take us long at all to get the pieces off that covered the upper part of her body, it felt like an eternity. Growing even longer with every second she didn't move. Didn't react.
Then she was there, eyes closed when we pulled the last piece away.
Not moving.
“Come on,” I gasped out, my fingers finding her neck at the same time that I pushed the hair from her face. Even her brown hair wasn't able to hide the blood that was there. There was so much blood. On her head, her neck. But she was alive.
“We need to move,” I said, pushing my arms under her and lifting her up. It was dangerous to move her without knowing the severity of the damage, but not as much as waiting to get her treated here. We had to get out of Eden.
Dallin looked about as I felt when he stood himself and went back to my brother's side. Gryffin was helping Lamont to his feet, but not without providing a lot of support. His eyes were on me. Asking without asking.
I couldn't answer. I couldn't even think about it. We might be able to get her out of the city, but then what? Could I even get her back to Alkwin in time?
“Where's her bag?” I asked, looking to Dallin as he helped Gryffin with Lamont. I wasn't a Healer, but I knew enough. Hopefully enough to at least get her to Noella.
“She sent it with her team,” he croaked.
And my heart sank.
But there wasn't time to think of another option. The Sentry were starting to rally. We had to move.
Holding her to me, I turned and we started running back toward the exit. Dex’s confession might buy us some help down the road, but there was too much confusion right now. All we really were in this moment were the Tainted people against a scared city.
But we weren't.
We had only made it a few rows of houses in when people started to take notice. Some just stood there watching, yelling to their friends that they could see the princes. Others acted different entirely.
“Wait!” a woman yelled, pushing through the crowd so she could converge with us. She was older, mid-forties. A white jumpsuit. She was a Healer. “Here,” she said, moving alongside us, not attempting to get us to slow. In her hand was a bag. Without waiting for anyone to reach for it, she shoved it into Dallin’s free arm. “It's the supplies I keep in my house for emergencies.”
Supplies. Healer supplies.
“Thank you,” Gryffin said quickly when I was too shocked to respond.
She just nodded, then slowed and let us keep moving on.
And she wasn't the only one to come out to meet us. I wasn't even sure how they knew which way we were traveling. Word must have been spreading, people telling everyone they could. It probably made it easier with us moving in a straight line. My only concern now was getting out as quickly as possible.
Another man gave us a bag of waters and a pain patch he said he kept tucked away in case there was ever a need.
It was shocking, incredible really. Ordinary people, not Tainted. And they didn't care. They just wanted to help.
I really wished Leeya could see it. She did this.
Then there were the others. Some came by themselves, others as whole families. Most with nothing more than a small bag with whatever rations they could grab on the way out. Eden’s Tainted.
We kept moving, even as I had them show their abilities. My focus might have been on Leeya, but I couldn't leave them behind. I also couldn't risk the people in Alkwin by not taking some precautions. Until we were out of the city, it would be enough.
Our little party had grown to nearly twenty by the time we neared the wall. I knew there would be more to come. People realizing that Eden was going to be dangerous for their kind. Knowing, now that the truth was out about Tainted existing at all, the government was going to go on a witch hunt. At least as long as Dex held the throne.
We didn't really run into the first sign of trouble until we rounded the last turn that put us at the exit. I had half expected to see Prestyn there. Maybe Harun waiting for us. I had not anticipated two dozen Sentry.
I stopped so abruptly that I almost lost my balance. My grip on Leeya tightened. I couldn't fight with her in my arms, but I would die before I let them take her from me. Behind me I could feel the rest of the group that had joined us. But they didn't flee. I guess being behind Gryffin and me sounded better than trying to run for it.
And for a heart stopping few seconds, our groups just stood there staring each other down.
“Prince Gryffin,” a voice broke the silence. One I was surprised I recognized, although I couldn't place it. “Prince Evran.”
From the middle of the group of Sentry stepped out none other than Kavon Trombly. Not only had he held the Sentry back when they first cornered us, but he had personally led the group that shielded us when we got out of the house.
“Trombly,” I said with a curt nod. I didn't move closer. He might have helped before, but I wasn't assuming anything.
Then I saw Harun walk out beside him. It was shocking, but it gave me the push I needed to start advancing. For an older man, Harun was remarkably good at staying hidden. He wouldn’t have exposed himself to these Sentry unless he believed them to be on our side. It was good enough for me.
“We will stay here to prevent any of Dex’s men from going after you for as long as we can,” Trombly stated. Around him I saw Sentry both nodding and bowing to us. A sight I never thought I'd see.
Looking at this, these people who were willingly going against the government that was still in place, I knew what we had really done here tonight. It was more than just getting our people out.
We had just started a war.
“We also have four hovercrafts waiting for you on the path,” another Sentry added.
I looked down to Leeya in my arms. Hovercrafts were one piece of Eden technology we had never been able to get. It was also the one thing they could have given us that gave us the best chance of getting Leeya the help she needed. With two injured people in tow, it would have taken the better part of a day to get to Alkwin. A hovercraft could get us there in a matter of hours.
“What do we do about Tainted people wanting out?” Trombly asked.
I looked up and met his eye. I didn't want to waste time standing here, but this needed to be done.
“Make them show their abilities,” I said, nodding to Harun. He knew the drill here. “Give them directions and tell them to wait at the archway. We will have people out every morning to collect them.” Then I looked back at Trombly. “Do you know what happened to the woman whose house we were in?”
He nodded himself. “She came out shortly after you left. We escorted her here and saw that she got out.”
I wasn't sure how they had convinced the woman to admit she was Tainted given everything that was going on, but it was something I couldn't waste time on. The only thing that was important was that she was out. Now we needed to do the same.
“Thank you,” I said, looking over the group. “All of you.”
As we passed through and moved toward the wall, I watched as they each gave a bow. The kind you would give royalty. I had been doing everything I could to leave that part of myself behind after I escaped Eden, but I couldn't have been happier for it now.
Sure enough, the hovercrafts were waiting and ready when we reached the path. Unsurprisingly, so was Prestyn.
“What happened?” he asked, moving quickly toward us when we approached. He led us to the closest hovercraft and helped Dallin and Gryffin to get Lamont on. He had come to enough to move on his own two feet, but he was still fairly out of it.
“Later,” I said, climbing in myself and lowering Leeya down. I still didn't let her go, keeping her half on my lap as I took the bag from Dallin and pulled it open. “We need to get her back.”
“I'll drive one of the others,” Dallin offered, even though I knew he had no desire to leave Leeya's side. They were mainly Sentry vehicles, though, or people with higher stations. It wasn't guaranteed many people would know how to handle them.
“Take the one with the fewest people,” I told him. “Grab Lillith when you see her.”
He looked down to Leeya and gave a tight nod.
Gryffin got Lamont situated and stepped up to the controls. We didn't wait for the others to get ready. I knew Prestyn and Dallin would take care of it. As soon as the last couple spots were taken on ours, we were off.
“Just follow the path until you find an archway,” I told him, not looking ahead at where we were going. “Watch out for people on the path. We should pass at least two groups going in that direction.”
There wasn't a scanner in the bag, so I wasn't exactly sure what Leeya needed. I attached both blood and saline patches to her. While I knew there was a good chance she had broken something, I held off on both the bone pill and pain patch. I wouldn't be doing her any favors if the bones weren't aligned correctly before they started to mend. I also didn't know if giving her a pain patch would do more harm than good. For that reason alone, I was glad she was still unconscious. It would have killed me to watch her in pain.
Helpless. That was how I felt. And heart crushing guilt.
“How’s she doing?” Lamont choked out.
I looked over and saw him holding his ribs as he pushed to sit up. He was clearly still in a lot of pain, but more coherent than before. Enough that I was fairly certain he’d be okay.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Part of a building fell on her. I don’t really know what I should do at this point. We need to get her to Noella.”
Lamont nodded. Not loosening my grip on her, I reached into the bag and pulled out a pain patch to hand to him. He tried to wave it away, but it only took one determined look before he relented. I wasn’t the person anyone would want to argue with right now.
It was dark, but the moon was providing enough light for the people on the path to see. The hovercrafts were also equipped with headlights. I trusted my brother to get us where we needed to be.
So I didn’t really pay much attention to what was going on around us until I felt us start to slow. When I looked ahead, I saw a crowd blocking the path. Our people. Both the members of Alkwin and Hafan were standing in formation across the path, the people who had been rescued behind them. Stopping the threat.
“Pull to the side as much as you can,” I said. I started to call Lamont over to hold
Leeya up for me, but he was out again. So I shifted her as carefully as I could and stood. “Stop there,” I said, pointing ahead when I saw the face I was looking for. “The guy with the short brown hair in Sentry black.”
“Auggie,” Gryffin said and nodded. I looked over, wondering how he’d found the time to remember anyone’s name during the rescue. The question must have been written all over my face, because he smirked. “I thought he and Leeya were going to get into it when she told him she was staying behind. I was actually surprised when he backed down. Are people really that afraid of her?”