Page 75 of Splintered Shadow
“All work and no play will make you go gray,” Sarah said.
Kenth laughed, the unexpected noise filling the cabin. “You must vex the prince.”
“He enjoys it.”
“Yes, and I imagine he growls, too.”
A laugh, mortified and amused, bubbled up in her. It was wrong to laugh. So many people had been hurt less than a day ago. People had died. Hell, Kenth had been injured. She still wore her bloody uniform.
“I’m sorry we left you,” Sarah said. “Yesterday.”
“You have apologized once for an event that was not your fault.”
“You needed help, and we left you bleeding on the floor.” Sarah didn’t know how to make her guilt plainer. If she had done something, anything, people in the audience wouldn’t have died. Robert wouldn’t have died. If she had known his headache wasn’t an ordinary headache, if she had insisted they go to the hospital, then he might have lived.
She failed him.
“The bullet that hit me was coated with a paralytic. You lack the physical strength to move my body,” she said, her tone harsh. “Are you a medic? Did you have the antidote in your pocket?” She did not pause for Sarah to answer. “Then there is nothing you could have done. Prince Vekele removed himself and you from the situation, as was protocol. I would have given you that direct order if I had been able to speak. Do not concern yourself with this, Your Highness.”
It took a minute for Kenth’s words to sink in and recognize the title. “Please, call me Sarah,” she said.
“Monitor the screens, Sarah. I need to know if anyone leaves the palace.”
Reaching around Ghost, Sarah tapped the screen, switching between feeds around the palace. The cameras captured external areas, delivery zones, a lot in front of a warehouse or depot, and another lot. Empty. Empty. Empty.
A group of people hurried across a lot toward a spaceship. Armed guards surrounded two people. Sarah recognized the aunt, Cassana, at the back of the group. She didn’t look pleased.
“I’ve got something,” Sarah said, swinging the screen toward Kenth.
Kenth took one look at the screen and started barking orders.
Sarah knew why. On the screen, the king had his hand tied with a ribbon to the woman at his side.
Chapter Sixteen
Vekele
“How did they evade us?”Vekele threw the broken shackles that once bound Cassana across the room. On the screen, footage of Baris marching onto a ship played on repeat. What good did replaying the footage do? It told him all he needed to know. His brother bound himself to Joie Starshade, for some unfathomable reason.
Pitch launched herself from his shoulder, but not before digging her talons into his mantle hard enough to feel. Perched high on a beam, she squawked at his outburst.
Spoiled hatchlingcame through their bond.
He regretted his tantrum. Such actions changed nothing and only tarnished his reputation. Still, he did not worry about his reputation. He worried for his brother’s life.
“I only have four eyes,” Kenth said.
“Six. You had six eyes on your task, and you failed,” he snapped.
“Thanks for including me. So happy to be part of the team,” Sarah muttered.
Kenth’s jaw clenched. Her eyes blazed with fury, but she remained silent. Good. Vekele was not in the mood to hear excuses about how her orders were to monitor and coordinate. One person—two if he counted his mate—could not prevent an armed escort from smuggling Baris out of the palace.
Truthfully, he should have aborted the mission the moment he found the palace deserted.
No. Not while the tracker embedded in Baris’ thumb indicated he was in the palace.
After discovering the severed thumb, it was placed in a preservation container in the hopes that it could be reattached. The odds of that being successful were not favorable.
