“Did I crush you?” he asked her, and she could barely make out the words.
“You are crushing me,” she told him, her tone completely lacking bite. She swallowed and pressed her other hand against his chest more lightly. “Thank you.”
It didn’t seem like he could attempt talking a second time, and she felt him nod. When he went to lift himself again, she held perfectly still.
She could practically hear Trystan grinding his teeth, gearing himself up for the clear pain that would come with moving. Sure enough, he let out a low growl as he shifted, attempting to regain his footing but failing at the last second.
She reached for him as he toppled, unable to hold even part of him up despite clinging to his arm. She watched as Ruckus motioned for the five nearby Tellers to assist him, one of whom was Trystan’s right-hand man, Brightan. They lifted him, and his head lolled. He’d passed out.
“Delaney.” Ruckus’s hands moved all over her, testing her for breaks. “Tell me again you’re all right. You weren’t hurt?”
“No,” she said aloud, “Trystan took the bullet.”
“We don’t have bullets,” he whispered to her, pressing his cheek against hers. His body surrounded her, gentler than the Zane had been. “They’re called zees. They are fire-pressurized rounds, small, no bigger than a pea from your planet. They’re easier to aim, and to pass through a crowd to successfully hit a target. We scanned everyone for weapons at the doors, but three shooters must have slipped through.”
“Three?” She pulled back to frown at him. When he motioned over her shoulder with his chin, she turned to see the Basileus stooped over his wife.
There was blood trickling from her leg, but aside from that she seemed okay. She was gritting her teeth, her blond curls somehow still in a perfect array around her oval-shaped face. She caught Delaney’s eye and actually tried to force a comforting smile.
For some reason, it actually worked. She’d yet to have a real conversation with the Basilissa, but in that moment, it didn’t feel like it. It felt more like they understood each other, that the queen was assuring her of much more than just her own bill of health.
Or she was reading into it way too much. Which was also a likely possibility.
“They didn’t just target you,” Ruckus told her when a group of Tellers came to help escort the Basilissa and Basileus away, presumably to get the Basilissa medical attention. “They went after the entire royal family. If you hadn’t reached for me, we probably wouldn’t have noticed in time.”
“What?” She hadn’t done anything but freeze.
“You signaled the telepathic connection,” he explained. “I felt the pressure on my neck and turned when you didn’t immediately say anything to me. The shooter aiming for the Basilissa was on the balcony above you, and I spotted him. I was able to contact my men and have them take him out at the last second. The other shooter got spooked and tried to flee without even attempting a shot at the Basileus after that.”
She’d thought of Ruckus when she’d seen the gun aimed at her, but she hadn’t realized she’d opened a connection. Thank goodness she had.
“So much for them not risking killing off their leaders, huh?” she griped, feeling sick to her stomach as she began to descend from her adrenaline high.
“There’s no way these were Vakar,” Ruckus disagreed. “We must have been mistaken. The Tars must not be made up of equal parts Kint and Vakar. If they’ve even really got Vakar involved at all.”
“What do you mean?” She shook her head. “Lura was definitely one of yours, and she definitely tried to kill me. Plus, her whole spiel about how I’d ruin you guys? She was Tar, without a doubt. Admitted to it, even.”
“Yes,” he said, and nodded, “but what if she’d been fed that spiel? What if that was something she and a few others were told by the Kints in order to get them to work with them? It wouldn’t be hard. Lura was young, easily manipulated. And those soldiers who you fended off in the bunkers? We checked them; their identities were fake. They joined the Vakar army under false pretenses about a year ago. That’s around the time we discovered the new weapon in the Kints’ arsenal.”
“You think they were planted?”
“I know so.”
She had to admit that sounded pretty legitimate to her. It put the pieces snugly together, that was for sure, and after everything, it was sort of nice to have bits fitting. Except there wasn’t any proof to back his theory, and she didn’t know how to go about getting any. There was also the issue of the massive assassination attempt that had just taken place.
Had the Tars gotten sick of always missing her as their mark? Had they decided to cover all their bases and take out the whole family instead? With Magnus, Tilda, and Olena Ond out of the picture, there’d be no one Uprisen to take the crown.
Who would get control then?
CHAPTER 21
“I’ve got to make sure the rest of the castle is secure,” Ruckus told her, hand at the small of her back as he urged her down the hall. “Pettus is going to stay with you.”
They’d exited the ballroom, but everything after the moment Trystan had passed out and her quick talk with Ruckus about the Tars was one big blur in her mind. She’d thought all those other occasions had been close calls, yet this … If the Zane hadn’t thrown himself into the line of fire, she’d be dead right now. No questions about it.
His blood was still drying on her dress, a huge burgundy stain at the center of her chest. She needed to change immediately.
With a sick twist in her gut, she realized where they were headed, and stopped in her tracks. The image of Lura with the hole in her back filled her mind, and bile rose up the back of her throat.
“I can’t,” she whispered, hating the frantic note in her voice but unable to do anything about it. “I can’t go back to that room. Not after what happened.”
Ruckus glanced between her and Olena’s bedroom door at the center of the hall. Then he shifted on his feet, bringing his body closer to hers. He reached for her hand, gripping it tightly. “Delaney. Look at me.”
“I don’t want to go back there.” She met his gaze. “I’m not going back there.”
“All right.” He smoothed the hair away from her forehead. “I’ll take you to the science wing. Pettus will bring you a change of clothes. And something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
He began pulling her down the opposite direction from Olena’s rooms, and she fell into step with him. The relief she felt at not having to deal with Lura’s death this afternoon on top of what had just taken place in the ballroom was overwhelming. “You need to get me out of here.”
“I know, Delaney.”
“No, you don’t—”
He paused, cutting her off. “I’m doing everything I can. I swear it.”
“Why do you think Trystan saved my life?” she blurted, instantly regretting doing so.