Royal On The Run (unedited)

Chapter Forty-One

Deacon

My sister was in enemy hands. The one thing that Sebastian and I had sworn we'd never allow to happen. We'd both failed her. She trusted us and we'd failed her.

My anger was swallowing me whole. How could we have let this happen? How did Anthony just come in and steal her away.

Because Sebastian had down exactly what I had done. Tried to divide and conquer and it ended up backfiring on us, leaving Naomi for the taking.

"What do I have to do to help get her back?"

All eyes had turned to me. I had gone off to the side while they deliberated, thinking about what had to be done to get Naomi back. Now that I had thought for a minute, coming up with nothing, I was ready to reconvene and come up with a plan.

None of them said anything so I crossed my arms against the bitter cold, leveling a look at them. "You already said you needed me to help get her. Now you're staying silent. What do I need to do?"

Sebastian, Natalie and Blake shared a look before Natalie pushed past the two men flanking her. "We need your brain, Deac, not you yourself. You're smarter than hell when it comes to engineering. You can help get Naomi by helping us come up with something that will distract and end Anthony."

"Something that will end Anthony, eh?" I nodded, thinking once more. "What kind of trap are you thinking? I've got a few ideas."

Sebastian mirrored me and crossed his own arms. "Tell us each idea and we'll go from there."

A shiver rang through me then. "Can we go somewhere warmer to plot out our revenge? Or better yet, can we go to the palace now and just get her back with a plan we make up as we go?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "That's the only idea you have isn't it? Make it up as we go?"

I hated that she knew me so well. Her gaze was piercing, so I nodded quickly to get her to look away from me. When she did, my body shook. I'd always told her she had some kind of magic to her, the ability to get anyone to admit to anything. She didn't believe me, but always had fun pinning people down with her gaze alone.

Blake leaned against a tree with his hands dangling at his sides as if the cold didn't bother him in the slightest. The man was nearly a robot, though when he looked at Natalie it was clear to see that he had human emotions. He eyed me carefully as if trying to see inside my head, understand my thought process.

"In all honesty," he started slowly. Sebastian and Natalie glanced over, though I still felt Nat's eyes on me from the back of her head. Blake went on. "Making it up as we go might be the best bet here. We don't know what's going on in there. I don't know what's changed since I left hours ago. Everything could have changed for all I know, especially when Anthony finds out that Natalie and I are both gone. He's not stupid, he'll know he was betrayed and will assemble a new arrangement of plans and guards."

"So we go with no plan." Sebastian stalked closer. "Is that seriously what were going with?"

Blake nodded, still staring at me. "If we stay here, or go somewhere warm to come up with a plan, that's longer that Anthony has Naomi. We don't know what he'll do with her or to her in the time it takes for us to come up with a plan and then go. Make it up as we go as the Prince said is the best option. It gets us to Naomi sooner."