Page 16 of Princess

We eventually heard back from Landan about our offer.His message had been short and to the point.His people weren’t coming, and they wouldn’t send their children either.I liked the man, but I didn’t agree with him.He said he would reconsider if things got worse, or if we received intelligence that a large-scale takeover was imminent.For now, his people were well-protected, and the Shadow Warriors stationed among them were on high alert.

Marinah had spent most of the previous evening discussing how to handle the people arriving from the other outposts.I could see in her eyes that staying away was hard, but she knew the less information we gave President Barnes about our child, the better.

The outposts were sending four people total.We couldn’t trust a single one of them.

I understood their desire to remain independent, but we didn’t control Landan; we simply helped protect him and the outposts he’d aligned with.The ones who made foolhardy choices cost lives, and this wasn’t the first time, but it might be the most horrific.

Unleashing newly created hellhounds to slaughter innocent children burned inside me like a blast furnace.

They said we were the monsters.

They were wrong.

We had spent months crafting the citadel as a multipurpose façade, carefully designing it to reveal only a limited picture of our resources.But Knet had changed everything.

His betrayal was almost impossible to fathom, and whenever I thought about it, rage burned deep.He had been one of my Shadow Warriors.A man I trusted.

He gave our secrets to President Barnes out of jealousy, and for that he would die.It would be a slow, painful death, and even that wasn’t good enough for him.Marinah wanted the pleasure of killing him herself, but I wasn’t sure I could hold back if I got to him first.I didn’t think any of our guards could.

His death was imminent, and when it came, one of us would receive the gift of ending his miserable life.

In the meantime, Marinah made sweeping changes to our security.

Our strongholds on the southern end of the island had been altered, and anything that could be moved had been relocated.This included setting up some of the tunnels with explosives and not using them to hide our people.The changes were almost complete, but until they were finished, we weren’t fully protected.

And that meant we were still vulnerable.Knet’s knowledge of our security measures could be our downfall.

Losing Labyrinth hadn’t just been painful; it had been a blow to our defenses too.

Beyond the loss of a friend, he had been vital to our operations.He was a man of many talents.Nokita was good with anything mechanical, but if Labyrinth needed to take over for him, he could.Same went for helping Axel in medical.Labyrinth couldn’t perform complex surgery, but he could keep a man alive until help came.He had many talents, and I’d taken advantage of all of them.Now he was gone.

Marinah had to choose someone to take his place, even though it would be nearly impossible to find someone as good.She’d been dragging her feet because she was still struggling with his loss.

I needed to push her on it again.

And she wouldn’t like it.

I turned a corner just as Beck came around from the opposite direction.We nearly collided.

“The plane is on schedule,” he said.“They’ll arrive within the hour.”

“I’ll find Marinah and let her know,” I replied.

Beck gave a sharp nod before spinning on his heel and heading back the way he came.

I found my mate in the practice gym with Ruth and Togg?

That stopped me.I thought she had reassigned Togg to the southern part of the island.

“I’ll leave the plans to both of you,” Marinah said when she saw me.She turned to Ruth.“Togg is in charge.If he says you’re endangering anyone, I’ll pull the plug on this.Understood?”

“Yes, understood,” Ruth nodded eagerly.

Had the hellion misled Marinah again?The child could turn on a dime.One minute she agreed to something, and the next, she was endangering the people around her.Marinah had more trust in her than I was willing to give.

And Togg?

I had thought his punishment was over.But if she had stuck him with Ruth, that meant he had done something else.

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