Cress

Chapter 51

         Kai  laughed, a rough sound   that bordered    on   hyperventilating. He 
        couldn't  tell if this  unexpected   turn   of   events   was   terrible,   very,   very 
       funny. "The  palace   security has been  compromised?   What exactly  does
      that mean?"
           "The  royal guard hasn't had time to document an  official   report,  Your
         Majesty," said Torin, "but we  do  know  that  all security  cameras  and  scanners,
         including     weapon    scanners,   have    malfunctioned.   Or     at     least   that
         your  guards  are unable to access their feeds at this time."
         "How long have they been down?"
                 "Almost eleven minutes."
                  Kai paced to the window. He caught sight of a groom  in  his reflection
              —a  white silk shirt split  by  a  red  sash  that  hung   from   his   shoulder. It
             made  him   think  of blood every time  he   saw  it. He'd  spent  the  past  hour
          pacing around his private  chambers and avoiding his reflection as much
          as possible.
  "Do you think Levana has anything to do with it?"
           "It  seems  out  of  character  for  her  to  do  anything  that  could upset today's
   ceremony."
                 Kai  strung his  fingers   through   his hair. Priya   would   have a fit  when
            she   saw   him,  after    those   specialty    stylists   had    spent   forty  minutes
            adjusting   every   last hair on his head.

             "Your Majesty, I might ask that you move away from the window."
         He turned around, surprised at the concern in Torin's voice. "Why?"
           "We   have   to   assume  that   this break   constitutes a    threat  to   your
  safety,  but  we can't guess where that threat might come from.
"You think someone's  going  to  try  and  assassinate  me  through a  window?
   On the fourteenth floor?"
"We don't know what to  think, but I don't   want to   take unnecessary
                  risks  until we  have  more information. The  captain   of  guard  should 
                 be  here  shortly. I'm sure he has a plan  in   place for  such   circumstances.
    We  maybe  forced  to  evacuate, or go into lockdown mode."
     Kai drew away from  the   window. Lockdown   mode? He  hadn't  known
                 such  a thing existed.
  "Are we canceling the ceremony?" he asked, hardly daring to hope.
        Torin  sighed. "Not   officially. Not   yet. That   course of action is a last
   resort.  Queen Levana and  her  court  have  been  confined  to   their quarters
                and,  of  necessary  will  be  escorted  to  a   remote  location   the ceremony  is
             temporarily   delayed, until we can ensure your safety  and  the  safety of
  the queen."
Kai  briefly  perched  on  the  edge  of  one  of  the   carved-wood chairs   but, 
   too anxious to sit bounced back  to his   feet   and  resumed  pacing. "She's
               going   to be furious. You might want to warn whoever has to break this
  news to her."
       "I suspect everyone is well aware."
    Kai  shook  his  head, baffled. For weeks  he'd lived  in   a    mental fog, 
                caught between misery and  apprehension,  fear  and  nerves  and  the constant
         desperate  hopes   that    lingered    in   his   head. Hope    that there was
  a  way  out.   Hope that   the    wedding   day would never come. Hope   that
             Princess  Selene  had   been   found   and that, somehow, she would change everything.
     And now—this.
      There   was no way   it    was    a coincidence.   Someone   had purposefully
                hacked the palace security system. Who was  capable  of  that?  And what
                did   they   want   to   do, simply  stop  the   ending? There  were  plenty  of  people
               in   the   world  who  didn't want this wedding to take place, after all.