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  Then a bag was shoved over her head, and everything went black.

  Chapter 14

  When she came to, she realized that barely any time had passed. She blinked, unsure if anything had actually happened. She knew better.

  The orchestra was still playing the same song as when she’d lost consciousness, and judging by the oohs and ahhs of the crowd Sarah was making her way down the aisle.

  But the good news stopped there.

  She and Devon were in a room that she’d never seen before. Tied to a chair, with a dozen palace guards pointing weapons at their chests. As if that wasn’t enough her fiancé was still unconscious, slumped lifelessly against the rope.

  “Devon,” Rae hissed, kicking him in the leg, “wake up!”

  He stirred, but didn’t open his eyes. Judging by the tiny drip of blood running down the side of his neck, he had been hit with the same paralytic as she was. A shot of sedative to the jugular.

  “Devon, come on!”

  “He can’t hear you.”

  A girlish voice rang out over the marbled halls, and Rae slowly raised her head. She didn’t need to see the girl to know exactly who she was. And she didn’t need the theatric clicking of the semi-automatic weapons pointed at her head to know the danger they were all in.

  “So you’re out to destroy the royal family now?” she asked through her teeth, lifting her eyes with a glare. “That’s the mayhem of the week?”

  Samantha smile and shook her head, swishing her skirt back and forth. Like Rae, she had dressed up for the occasion. And, like Rae, she had come prepared.

  It didn’t matter that Rae could tear through the bindings like they were made of butter…the guards would open fire before she made it two steps across the room. It didn’t even matter that there was a good chance she might actually dodge them…because a spray of gunfire at a royal wedding would be an international event. The kind that would threaten the very inked community she had tried so hard to protect.

  “No. I’ve got nothing against the royals. They actually seem really great.” Samantha sashayed forward, stroking one of the frozen guards under the chin as she waltzed past. “I’m only here because it was your mission as President of the Privy Council to protect them. To make sure that no possible harm could befall them on their big day.”

  As if on cue the doors burst open, and Philip and Sarah were led inside. Her veil was hanging haphazardly to the side, and their faces were white as a sheet. Their wide eyes swept the room for a moment, landing in terror on Rae.

  “What…” Philip stood tall and tried to be brave. “What’s going on here?”

  He was being held firm by two of his own valets. Men whose eyes had completely glassed over with that supernaturally persuasive spell. He tried once to pull himself free, only to be hit over the head by a ceramic vase wielded by a blank-faced housekeeper.

  “Philip!” Sarah shrieked. She threw herself towards him, held fast by a guard of her own. A man she happened to know very well. “Alfie,” she sobbed, straining with all her might to move his arms, “what are you doing? Please—please let go!”

  That’s the sight that Devon awoke to. A princess weeping in her wedding dress. He blinked in disorientation for a second, trying to get his bearings, before his eyes leveled on Samantha.

  “YOU!” he growled, tearing straight through the ropes on his chair.

  A dozen lethal weapons followed his every move.

  “Devon, don’t!” Rae cried.

  Samantha stepped carefully forward, her eyes glittering wickedly all the while. “I’d do what she says,” she warned, still swishing her skirt playfully. “You never know who I told them to fire upon. Could be your girlfriend. Could be the prince.”

  “Why are you doing this?” he demanded, reluctantly sinking back into his chair.

  A few paces past him, Sarah turned her tear-stained face to Rae. “I really did it, you know,” she whimpered. “I put that thing in my shoe.”

  Rae’s heart broke as she thought about the trusty inhibitors. The ones that were supposed to make sure that something like this never happened. “I know,” she said softly. “I know.”

  In the center of the room, Samantha was still answering Devon’s question. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m doing this because I want Rae to fail. A member of the royal family assassinated on her watch? With her right in the room?” She clucked her tongue disapprovingly. “I can’t imagine that’s going to go over very well with the rest of the Privy Council.”

  “But that’s not all that will happen,” Rae pressed quietly. “What you’re doing here, Samantha, there’s no way to explain it. No way to contain it. You’ll expose us all—”

  “And maybe that won’t be such a bad thing,” Samantha interrupted, gazing about the gold-encrusted room. “Have you ever thought that maybe we should be the ones living like this? That maybe we should be the ones calling the shots?”

  She was starting to sound like a lunatic father Rae happened to know. Rae glared at her. “You have no idea what you’re saying,” she snarled. “In case you’ve forgotten, the rest of the people on this planet outnumber us several hundred million to one. You can’t just—”

  “Oh…but I can.” Samantha snapped her fingers, and the men holding Philip dragged him to the middle of the room. “I can do whatever the hell I want.”

  “NO!” Sarah shrieked as a bellboy pointed a gun directly at the prince’s chest.

  Philip was still unconscious and had no idea he was just seconds away from death. His chest rose and fell peacefully as the barrel of the gun pressed into his tuxedo, just above his heart.

  Both Devon and Rae started shouting at the same time, leaping tentatively to their feet, although they were too petrified to do anything further. One wrong move and that man would pull the trigger, ending the line of succession right before their eyes. Even if they could get to him in time, tackle him out of the way, he wouldn’t survive the hail of bullets that was sure to follow.

  Neither would Sarah. Neither would Devon. Neither would Rae.

  Neither would the rest of the world they’d worked so hard to protect.

  “WAIT!” Rae cried out.

  In what felt like slow motion she slowly got to her feet, raising her hands in the air at the same time. She took one look at Devon’s terrified face beside her before turning to look Samantha dead-on. “Bring in Julian,” she said quietly.

  For a second, all movement in the room stopped. The guards froze, locked in their position, and even Sarah was confused enough to turn her head.

  “Julian?” Samantha repeated, looking like she was sure she’d heard wrong. “Why in the world would you deliberately tell me to put one of your closest friends in the crosshairs?” She glared. “You’re just like your father. I knew the truth about you would come out for everyone to see.”

  Why indeed? But now was no time to second-guess. There were bigger things at stake. “He can tell you,” Rae said in shaky voice, struggling to make it strong. “If this is really what you’ve decided to do, he can tell you what will happen once it’s done.”

  There was a moment of silence, but Rae could tell Samantha was considering. As cocky as the kid liked to act, she was playing with fire here. And she was doing it on an international stage.

  Not to mention, Rae was acutely familiar with the look of someone in over their head.

  A flicker of nerves tightened her face, the same nerves that had been plaguing Rae from the moment she woke up, and after a split-second she nodded. On cue, a host of guards disappeared through the open door.

  Then the room lapsed into silence, and all was frozen once more.

  “Rae, what are you doing?” Devon whispered, too quiet for anyone else to hear. Behind him, Sarah was openly weeping, staring at Philip and begging for the guards to let her go to him. Across the room, Samantha had started to pace worried circles into the floor. “Even if they get Jules in here, and even if he sees what you think he’s going to see, there’s no reason that Sa
mantha will believe him.”

  “Trust me,” Rae twisted at the knots behind the chair, “she’ll believe him.”

  For five minutes, they waited. Five long minutes as the rest of the world froze.

  Then, there was muted scuffle behind the door.

  “Let go!” a high-pitched voice screeched at the top of her lungs. One that broke Rae’s heart to hear. Of course, Molly hadn’t let Julian get carried off alone. “You idiots! LET GO!”

  There was a swish through the air, followed by a sharp impact. Then all was quiet.

  The door kicked open as Molly and Julian were dragged inside. Their clothes were torn and bloodied, as if they’d had to battle an entire army just to get there. And judging by how many guns were pointed directly in their faces, that entire army had decided to come with them.

  Without a word of warning they were thrown in the middle of the room, falling to their knees in the center of the deadly little circle.

  “Molls! Jules,” Rae gasped, unable to stop herself.

  It might have been her idea to bring them there, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t killing her to see it done. The circle of guards closed rank once more, and there was suddenly no escape.

  Julian recovered first, lifting a shaking hand to the back of his head before turning automatically to Molly. His eyes flashed white as he checked first on her safety, then that of her unborn child, before pushing slowly to his feet.

  “Samantha,” he breathed, staring around the room like someone waking up to find themselves in a nightmare. He rotated in a slow circle. Gazing first at the prince and princess before making his way to Rae and Devon. It was there that he paused, locking eyes with each of his friends for a split-second, before turning back to the person who’d put them there. “What is this about?” he asked quietly. “What’s going on here?”

  Samantha waltzed forward fearlessly, bolstered by her army of guns. “Our dear little Miss Kerrigan thought that I might be about to make a huge mistake. The kind that none of us would be able to come back from. She suggested that I bring you inside to look at the future and tell us what you see.” Her voice dropped to a mocking undertone. “Although, how she thinks you’ll be able to convince me is another question entirely…”

  Julian stiffened and shot a fleeting glance over his shoulder. Locking eyes with Rae.

  The psychic connection, she thought telepathically. The one that you used with me down in the basement with my dad. Use it again. Show her what you see.

  There was a sharp tightening of his shoulders, and his head jerked once to the side. To anyone watching, the gesture meant nothing. But to Rae, the message was clear as day.

  I know you haven’t been able to do it since then but, Jules, you have to try! Everything depends on it!

  …No pressure.

  She glimpsed his face only in profile. Saw the hard set to his mouth as he clenched his jaw. The sharp intake of breath as he made up his mind and took a step forward.

  “I can show you,” he said softly. “I can show you the future you’re choosing to make.”

  Samantha’s eyes narrowed sarcastically but, she, too, had been in the basement. She, too, had seen the extraordinary psychic connection with her own eyes.

  Curiosity won out over caution, and she took a step forward.

  “And what if I happen to like what I see?” she asked patronizingly, snapping her fingers for more guards. “What if this whole thing blows up in your face?”

  Five men stepped up threateningly behind him, and Julian stifled a sigh. “Then we’ll all be exactly where we were before,” he said quietly. “But one way or another, you have to know what you’re getting into. What promise the future brings.”

  Samantha’s smirk remained, but for a split-second she paused. It was a dangerous game to play chicken with a psychic. One even she had the sense to respect.

  Then her eyes flickered down to the royal seal on the wall. A ripple of fear shook her shoulders, and that look came back. The girl in over her head.

  A second later, she jutted up her chin and swept across the floor to grab Julian’s hand. “Fine, then. Do your little trick. It won’t change anything anyway.”

  The room held its breath as Julian silently took her hand in his own. His fingers twitched, and for a moment it looked like he was itching to wrap them around her neck. But, instead, he simply pulled in a deep breath and bowed his head. “Close your eyes,” he instructed quietly.

  Samantha did as she was told. But before she did, she let out one final command.

  “If anybody moves, anybody at all…” her eyes locked with Rae’s, “shoot them.”

  Then she closed her eyes, and the game was afoot.

  Come on, Julian. You can do this. You can do this, Rae chanted under her breath as every muscle in her body stood on end. On her other side Devon was doing the same thing, staring at his friend with wide, desperate eyes.

  For a moment, nothing happened. Julian and Samantha stood frozen in the middle of the room. It went on so long that she actually opened one eye to peek at him, but the look on his face was that of a man who couldn’t be disturbed.

  Every inch of his handsome face was drawn up in the fiercest concentration. A little line had creased down the center of his forehead, and when Samantha fidgeted restlessly he actually pulled her closer, weaving a gentle hand behind her head.

  That’s when it happened.

  Just like it had before. Just like they needed it again. Just in the nick of time.

  A soft glow of white light started radiating from the edges of Julian’s body, illuminating him like some fallen angel, starting in his eyes and travelling all the way down to the floor.

  His head snapped down to his chest, just as Samantha’s did.

  Giving Rae the only moment she was ever going to get.

  “NOW!”

  Like they’d rehearsed it, the three friends sprang into action. Rae conjured a wall of sheetrock out of nowhere, sliding it directly in front of Sarah as a spray of bullets dug their way inside. At the same time, Molly sent out a shockwave, while Devon—moving faster than he’d ever moved before—flew forward to tackle the prince. They hit the floor just as the guns began firing, embedding their bullets in the wall directly behind where the prince had once stood.

  “Rae!” Devon shouted, covering his head as he simultaneously covered the prince with his entire body, stretching out across the floor. “A little help!”

  She was ready.

  With Sarah momentarily protected, Rae switched into Camille’s power. A hybrid ability that allowed her to manipulate kinetic energy to a terrifying degree. An invisible shockwave exploded out of her fingers, knocking the guards to the floor without them ever seeing what was coming.

  Devon’s head whipped around as he pulled the prince to his feet, searching for the best possible exit, his face tightened in sudden alarm. “Behind you!”

  Without the fox ink, Rae hadn’t even heard them coming. A silver serving tray crashed out of nowhere and hit her directly upside the head, felling her to her knees in a daze. She heard the click of a gun behind her, the dark promise of the guard holding it…

  But the bullet never arrived.

  A literal wall of blue electric energy swept directly over her head, singeing the tops of her curls before crashing full force into the man standing behind her. He flew back with a cry of surprise as Molly Skye stalked forward, the tips of her fingers crackling with little sparks.

  “Are you okay?” she shouted to Rae, dodging a flying kick by dropping almost entirely to the floor. The second she pushed to her feet she sent out another shockwave, this time over her head to provide Devon some cover. “Rae, talk to me!”

  “I’m okay.” Rae leapt to her feet with a rush of energy, switching into Jennifer Jones’ powerful leopard—the strongest ink in her collection. “Molly, get Sarah out of here! Devon, take the prince!”

  Another wave of gunfire swept towards her but she outpaced it, running sideways along the wall
before dropping down behind Samantha, the only place they wouldn’t shoot.

  Molly raced off to do as she was told, dragging the princess safely out of sight, but Devon froze where he stood, staring between the prince and his fiancée.

  “You take Philip!” he countered. “Get yourself out of here!”

  He blurred through the air, singlehandedly dismantling an entire gun before the man holding it even had the chance to fire. On the other side of the room Rae was battling guards of her own, flying through the air with a spinning kick that would have made even her demented trainer proud. Taking out eight of them with a single move.

  “No time!” she shouted back. Upon seeing the look on his face, she added, “I’m pulling rank here, babe! Your president is ordering you to get the prince to safety.”

  A look of sheer rebellion darkened his face but, lying by his feet, Philip was already starting to stir.

  His eyes fluttered open and shut before locking in confusion on his rescuer. “…Devon?” he murmured, lifting a hand to the back of his head. “What happened? What’s going on?” A second later, his face tightened with panic. “Where’s Sarah?”

  At this point, Devon had no choice. As gunmen closed in from all sides, he threw the prince’s arm over his shoulder and literally kicked his way through a wall, racing them both out into the hall and to safety.

  Which just leaves one…

  Rae finished the rest of the guards quickly. Camille’s power had turned out to be highly effective, and only one or two shockwaves later the rest of the room was leveled to the floor.

  All except the one guard left standing. Whose gun pointed at the back of Julian’s neck.

  Rae came to a dead stop as she stared at him, wondering how to proceed. He seemed to be operating with a different set of orders as the others. His sole mission was the psychic.

  Every time she moved forward, he cocked the safety off his gun. Every time she stepped back, he put it back on again. The same thing happened with Samantha.

  It didn’t take long for the message to become clear.