Page 6

The cold barrel of the shotgun grows warm in my hands as I sit still in the darkness. Unable to move, holdin' my breath. Until finally, I exhale long and hard, like I just came up for air in a swimmin' pool.

The world makes no sense to me right now.

I can't even come to terms with what is happening. Marcus, a man I kissed, a man I slept with at least a dozen times, has kidnapped a child.

I don't know why that blows my mind. He did, after all, kidnap me too. Tied me to a bed, cleaned me, for fuck’s sake. He⁠—

No, Savannah. Don't go there.

It's not the same thing, it's not the same thing, it's not the same thing…

I say it over and over in my mind. Tryin' to convince myself that he wouldn't dare. He wouldn't dare violate her.

Not Legion's baby sister.

But… there's a rational voice, talkin' in my head, explainin' how… he did that to you, Savannah.

You. The Ashby Princess.

Mercy is nobody to him. She is nothin' but a piece on the game board.

I pull out my phone, open the message with the picture of Mercy and Marcus in the academy barn, and stare at it. Marcus has his arm draped over Mercy's shoulder, a cool smile on his face. Like it's a photo op for his campaign.

Mercy is beamin'. Filled to the brim with joy.

The front door slams closed downstairs as voices filter in from outside. I get up, carryin' the shotgun. The room is dark, but the lights from outside are bright enough so I don't trip as I walk over to the window.

I catch just the barest glimpse of Legion walkin' out of view, heading down towards Cash's office next to the barn.

The voices belong to the staff, who are goin' home for the night.

It suddenly hits me that I'm here by myself.

Whatever Cash and Legion have planned, I doubt Wyatt is in on it. But I don't even know where Wyatt sleeps at night, certainly not in this house, so he's most likely not here.

I'm alone.

Part of me wants to throw this window open and call the staff back…

But I don't.

They have families and problems of their own.

The last thing they want is to be forced to babysit a princess during a war they've got no stakes in.

So I just watch them as they get into their cars and drive away. Down the long driveway, back to their own homes, their own land, their own lives.

The silence sets in. A deep void of nothin' but the ticking of the grandfather clock that has lived in the foyer my entire life. It chimes, suddenly. Striking the hour. A sound I don't even hear anymore, that's how common it is. That's how long it's been here in my life.

I count the chimes. Six o'clock. It's dark as pitch outside. Because even though fall is late, the night comes right on time.

Maybe I should go down to Cash's office.

Surely, Legion didn't expect me to stay here all by myself, alone. The staff was busy cleanin' up when we came in ten minutes ago. He probably didn't understand that they'd be leavin' any minute.

He'd want me to⁠—

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I nearly come out of my skin. The shotgun jerks in my hands and I have to grab the forestock with both palms just to keep from droppin' it on the hardwood floor like some amateur who's never held a firearm in her life.