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Shots were fired just outside, startling her.She left the hut, scanning the area. Her people were getting the fires under control as they made an assembly line of water buckets, but smoke was still floating heavily in the air.
She caught a glimpse of the gate and saw it had been blown open on one side and men were sneaking in.
How could this have happened? The peace treaty—she agreed to it, why would Stone Haven... Unless the general had gone rogue? Had he taken matters into his own hands and gone against Thomas Beck’s orders? Is that why he needed the Others?
Eva’s fists tightened at her sides. She would make him pay for this.
As she had thoughts of revenge, a hand gripped her shoulder. She crouched and spun her leg, knocking the person’s knees out. The man fell with a thud onto his back.
“Ugh. Thanks, Eva!”
Recognition hit her hard. “Luke! I’m sorry.” She held her hand out to him. “Get up, we have work to do.”
He took her hand, and she hauled him to his feet. “Get as many as you can to safety. I need to find my father and tell him it’s General Rush. We need a plan—orders.”
John stood behind Luke, a gun trained in his hand as he protected his brother’s back. “I saw your father, he was near the weapons supply hut, by Tucker’s—”
She brushed past them. “Thank you, stay safe.”
The snow was falling steadily now, the chilled breeze bringing the smell of sulfur and wood smoke to her nose. She winced at the stench. Had they used that to blow the gate?
She flew up one flight of stairs, noticing snow had started to accumulate on them, and took the slick steps two at a time, then turned down the bridge that brought her to Tucker’s place.
His door was ajar, a blood smear coating the molding and drops of the crimson liquid dotting the floor. She clenched her jaw as her hand tightened around the handle of her knife defensively. She took a deep breath and kicked the door open to see Tucker lying on the floor, his right hand cupping his throat as his blood seeped through his fingers. No!
When she knelt next to him, he weakly raised his hand to take hers. She gripped it tightly as his wide eyes pleaded with her.
His face paled as a brutal noise left his lips. “Took... your father.”
A heaviness filled her chest, and her eyes clouded over. The metallic smell of his life leaving his body filled the small room. “Where, Tucker? Where did they take him?”
He coughed, and blood dripped down the corner of his mouth. His voice was hoarse as he whispered, “Save him.”
Then his body jerked, and his head rocked back onto the wood flooring, his eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling as his last breath left his body.
“No! Tucker!” Tears streamed down her face, but she wiped them away and gently placed his hands over his chest. Blood coated her fingers, and she gasped at the sight. No, not Tucker.
She scrubbed her hands down her jacket, trying to rid her fingers of the death that now coated her skin.
She rose and let out a roar of frustration. Focus, Eva. Where would they take him?
Eva knew the general to be an arrogant man. He would look for a place where a lot of people could gather and see him—so he could humiliate her father before killing him.
No, she wouldn’t let that happen.
She strode out of the hut. People were rushing past her as she climbed the next flight of stairs. Fear caused gooseflesh to rise on her arms. She couldn’t lose him too.
Fear would not stop her—it couldn’t.
As she placed one foot in front of the other, she eased over the threshold of the hall. Her knife felt heavy in her hand as she moved into the room.
Only moments ago, this place had been the epitome of peace and beauty. Now, it held the stench of unwashed bodies and the ugly face of General Rush as he held a blade at her father’s throat in the middle of the stage. Three feral men stood around the hall, guns pointed at her people, but her heart stopped when her gaze fell to one man. No guns were pointed at him—that could only mean one thing.
Lava-hot rage filled her chest where her heart should have been as her eyes locked on him.
“Does your betrayal know no bounds, Derek?”
He stepped forward, a sneer on his face. “I told you, Eva, you were going to have a change of heart.”
