“She’s not dressed in black because I like the color.”
He nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. “Good. Now I have a speech to give. Join me.”
I followed him back to the party, but as we passed the entrance, I noticed Z arguing with security. He had the man’s shirt in his fists and lifted him off the ground just as we passed. Z’s hair was standing on end like he’d tried to pull it from the roots. He even still wore his jeans and t-shirt.
When Z saw me approach, he shoved the guard away. Time was running out, so I cut to the chase. “Did you find something?”
“Where is she?” He looked around frantically, and his skin went pale.
“She’s with Lucas.” I caught the relief in his eyes as some of his color returned to his skin.
“What did you find?”
“She didn’t do it. She couldn’t have done it.”
“What—”
The music suddenly cut, plunging the party into silence, and stealing my attention.
Fuck. The speech.
“Later,” I said to Z and gestured for him to follow me. We made our way to the top of the stairs where my grandfather presided over his guests. I stood by his side like the dutiful grandson. Even though I was the Knight, I paid grandfather respect as my elder and was willing to let him take the lead when I didn’t need to.
“Many of you are Knights, and many of you are friends,” Grandfather began. “Nonetheless, we are all here to celebrate the year which marks two hundred years of prosperity. My grandson, as you know, has taken his rightful place as The Bandit and The Knight, but I am thankful to still be alive to deliver this speech…”
I drowned my grandfather out and searched the crowd for Mian and Lucas. I couldn’t see them anywhere even though everyone in attendance had gathered in the foyer and on the stairs for the speech.
That feeling in my stomach intensified, but the hairs on my skin stood up when I tuned into my grandfather’s next words.
“I hope even after my death, the next two hundred years are as successful as the first, and that responsibility starts with my grandson who recognizes that family ,” his gaze met mine, “will always mean sacrifice.”
I heard the gunshot and recognized the satisfaction in my grandfather’s gaze.
I was already running by the time the screams started.
Chapter Forty
Everything’s different now.
MIAN
I stared at the hole in the man’s head while his face froze from death just before he dropped to the floor.
He tried to shoot me.
He would have shot me.
Lucas rushed forward and picked me up from the floor. I couldn’t believe he just saved me. “What just happened?”
“He was going to kill you, so I stopped him,” he answered gruffly. He looked down at me as he walked swiftly for the door of the room I’d been dragged into. “You got a problem with that?”
“Why did you save me?”
“It didn’t feel right to let you die.”
“It didn’t feel right?” He grunted his response. Lucas saving me didn’t make sense. The moment I looked into Alon’s eyes, I could feel my mother surrounding me. Her arms pulled me in as she welcomed me home.
I knew then that Angel planned my death that night.
Without Caylen, I might have accepted death, but I remembered Angel’s promise regarding my son’s fate. I couldn’t give up and leave him to his mercy. I’d hoped the bathroom would allow me time and space to plot an escape. But then Lucas was beaten, I was dragged away, and a gun was pointed at my head.
And then I was saved.
By Lucas.
He ran with me still in his arms. The closer we made it back to the party, the more vivid the screams became, and I realized they weren’t in my head. The gunshot must have frightened the guests, and I wondered if Alon would blame me for ruining his celebration.
Then again, those men had attacked Lucas, which meant the attack couldn’t have been Angel’s doing…
Without warning, I was roughly pulled from Lucas’s arms. I was wary of everyone, and so I fought even when I realized the arms I had been pulled into belonged to Angel. My gaze swept over his uncovered face. With the mask gone, his anger was palpable. But it was the fear I saw that made me stop fighting him.
What reason would Angel have to be afraid?
“Are you hurt?” he demanded. His voice was so hoarse and thick that if I wasn’t so in tune with him, I wouldn’t have understood him.
“You sent that man to kill me,” I accused. Even though I suspected Angel’s intention, a part of me had believed he would never actually go through with it. A part of me believed he was still the boy who made me fight my battles.
“No, Sprite. I didn’t.”
“Why should I believe you?” His heart was beating fast. I could feel it under my palm.