Page 7 of Siege of Blood and Betrayal

“Now where were we?” the woman says. “Right, we were talking about you living long enough to see Scotland again.”

“Leave my daughter’s name out of yer feckin’ mouth.” He pulls at his wrist restraints and lifts his lip in a sneer. “I’ll never help ye and we both ken it. And if ye don’t ken it, yer even more stupid than ye are incapable.”

“Incapable, am I?” I tear my gaze away from my father to focus on the woman and rage clouds my vision. She’s holding Francesco’s head by the hair, dangling it in front of my father like a trophy. “I think it’syouwho is incapable. Aren’t you the man tasked to keep the former king alive?”

The sound of voices warbles in my ears and I’m filled with a furious rush of panic.I can’t breathe.Francesco is dead. Da is bound to Francesco… their life forces are connected.

If the king is dead…

I fight the instinct to storm in, screaming at them. I want to cut them down where they stand… to snap their necks and burn their bodies before they can regenerate. If my legs weren’t rubber and I could stand, I would.

But despite my rage and the need to get to my father before he’s lost to me, my neural impulses aren’t responding.

My father is dead.

It just hasn’t taken hold yet.

My hands tremble as I pull out my phone and text him,

I’m here, Da. Give me the signal and I’m at your side.

I hit send and swallow hard against the lump forming at the base of my throat.

Slouched as he is, no one seems to notice as his attention slides to the screen of his tactical watch.

“No!” His cry comes out hard and panicked.

The woman gives him an annoyed look. “No? No, you won’t help me gain access to the vault? Or no, you can’t believe I killed your precious Fondatori King?”

He recovers from his outburst and takes a couple of deep breaths. “Ye killed Francesco, so I’m a dead man already. As long as ye don’t have the dagger and ye don’t have the prince, yer a queen of nothin’ but a shit show.”

His words are directed at her, but he’s speaking to me.

“Don’t be so sure. I have ways of making even the strongest, most principled men talk.” She leans in close and stares directly into his eyes. If she’s attempting to compel him, she’s not very well informed.

He chuckles again. “Even fer an outlier, yer stupid. I’m the Sacred Squire to a Fondatori King. I’ll not fall prey to pathetic parlor tricks.”

The woman pushes away from him, looking homicidal. “Then we’re back to torture. Youwillhelp me gain control of this city.”

He laughs again. “Are ye naïve enough to believe that?”

“I believe it because it’s true. It’s only a matter of time before my reign is secured.” She paces away and then wheels around and comes back at him. “What if I told you we know where the boy and the dagger are and will take possession of both within the hour?”

My stomach drops and my Taco Bell makes an aggressive attempt at escaping my stomach.

“I’d say yer a liar and yer bad at it to boot.”

Her gaze narrows and then she glances back to one of the roid-droid gorillas with her. “You’re up, Andre.”

Da pegs the guy with a smart-assed smile. “Have at it, big man. Ye’ll not get anywhere near Zane or the dagger. Whoever ye’ve got on the inside will never be as good as the ones I trained.Zane will live and rule and he and his squire will burn yer wannabe fanger seethe to the ground.”

The brute backhands my father to the face and the force of the strike knocks the chair to the side. I press my hand over my mouth to catch my sob.

Da crashes onto his shoulder on the floor. His unfocused gaze stares into the mirror and I bend to the side so he’s looking at me. He can’t see me, but he knows I’m here. “Go on then. It won’t be long. I lived my life like a warrior. It’s time fer the next generation to do the same.”

I text him again:

No, Da. We’ll take them and secure Zane together.

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