Royal On The Run (unedited)

Chapter Forty-Four

Sebastian

We didn't have time to waste, so I didn't bother to see if Deacon was still following or not. With it being just him and me, with Natalie and Blake going the other way, we had to be more cautious.

Guilt trembled through me as I got closer to the palace. Guilt knowing that it was my fault that Anthony had managed to get Naomi. Guilt that if I'd listened to her, we wouldn't be in this position, we wouldn't have fallen right into his plan.

I hated him for more reasons than I could count. All of the reasons held betrayal within them. Betrayal for lying to me about him really being my father instead of my brother. Betrayal for playing a game that had resulted in too much death that violated the oath he'd sworn to the crown all those years ago.

I'd been quietly brooding long enough that Deacon had managed to catch up to me.

The snow had begun to settle after its long torment the night before.

Deacon came up to my side and together we stared at the palace. Examining it for the best point of entry. So far, it seemed neither of us had any idea though we both knew we had to act fast if we wanted to get Naomi back faster.

I knelt in the snow, peering out.

"Were there any other windows you fake welded?" I asked.

He knelt down next to me. "Naomi's was the only fake one. I knew she'd try riskier things if I did it for real. Everything else is real, I promise."

The top of the palace loomed ahead of us. A few guards roamed this side of the palace. I wondered if Natalie and Blake were able to fend off the ones they'd encountered. They were both capable, of that I had no doubt, but I was quickly learning not to underestimate the lengths Anthony was willing to go to win this war.

A window glinted in the rising sun. So bright I had to shield my eyes, and from next to me I saw Deacon doing the same. And it was then that an idea hit me.

I spun on him fast, a devious glint in my eye. "Are you good at climbing?"

He eyed me suspiciously. "Why do you ask?" He'd seen where I was looking. "What is up there?"

Deacon was deflecting. I huffed. "So, you can jump off a waterfall into freezing waters but climbing the side of a palace is when you get cold feet?"

He turned from me, eyeing the palace now. I saw the gears in his head whirring. Saw him thinking of different possibilities.

"I don't have gear for that. And I'm sure there's no supplies in that bag of yours. Also," he glanced at me once more, "you didn't tell me what's up there."

Now it was my turn to deflect the question. I'd seen it once before, when Anthony gave me a tour when I was younger. Ever since that one day, he hadn't allowed me back up there, said it wasn't important to my training to become a guard, so it was in my best interest to let it go and leave the big worries to him.

I shouldn't have left that worry to him. Maybe it was something I could've prevented. Maybe if it'd interfered then, the King and Queen would still be alive, and Naomi would still be the rebellious Princess instead of the Queen on the run for her life.