My eyes widen. “That’s my baby!”
“Natalie,” Noah mumbles in shock. “Stay there.”
“No, give me back my baby,” I yell at his father.
“Don’t get any closer!” the man growls.
“Why?” I mutter.
“You two can’t be trusted,” he says, his hand shaking as he clenches the crossbow tight. “I know about your plans. I know all of it.”
Fear ripples through me, and my heart beats in my throat.
“Please don’t hurt her,” I beg. “Please.”
“You should’ve thought of that before you decided to murder the other patriarchs.”
Panic takes over.
“We didn’t do that,” Noah says. “Their wives did.”
“Bullshit!” he growls. “Tricia’s not a wife.”
“She’s a daughter, and she hated her father,” I say, trying to reason with him.
“Then what happened to Patrick, huh?” he asks. “Are you going to pretend he didn’t just disappear?”
I swallow hard. “He fell.” I grind my teeth. “Now give me back my baby, or I swear to God—”
“Or you’ll what?” he interjects. “Go to the president? He’s not on your side any longer. In fact, guards will be flooding this place soon as we speak. The whole temple is going on lockdown.”
Noah’s visibly concerned. “What?”
“Like you don’t know. You started this coup,” he spits. “Now get out and close the door behind you.”
“Please, she has nothing to do with this,” I beg. “If you give her back, we’ll leave you alone, I promise.”
“Stupid girl, you think I’m going to let you fools raise my only grandchild?” he barks. “I’ll raise her myself … after I get rid of the two of you.”
He points the crossbow at Noah and pushes off the safety. I squeal in terror as Noah quickly ducks away. I can’t look.
BANG!
What if he’s dead?
Oh God, oh God.
I force myself to open my eyes.
Noah’s wrestling his father, who is trying to grasp a new arrow from the table, and my baby is being held in just one arm.
“No!” I yell, and I quickly rush to them, ignoring the sharp pains in my belly. I punch his father in the back as hard as I can.
Noah grabs ahold of her and quickly shoves her into my arms. “Run!”
I don’t think twice before spinning on my heels and bolting out the door. For just a second, I glance over my shoulder to see Noah and his father fighting over the crossbow, and then I’m gone.
I can’t see what’s happening, but I know they’re fighting to the death and only one of them will win. All I can do is hope and pray it’ll be Noah and not his father because if that man survives, he’ll come after my baby.
I can’t let it happen.
Chapter 27
Natalie
As fast as I can, I rush down the stairs, past a pair of guards lying passed out on the floor, foaming at the mouth. The other matriarchs didn’t just poison their own husbands.
Then I spot Agatha with a cleaver in her hand and a bloodied guard right in front of her on the kitchen floor.
Our eyes connect for a mere second of mutual terror. She smiles … at me.
And she wipes her hands on her apron while tucking a vial of hemlock into her pocket. Then she turns around, as though she’s thinking of coming toward me.
I run.
She can’t be trusted. Not now, when I have my lifeline in my arms. My whole world, snatched away in mere seconds.
I almost lost her.
Just like I lost Emmy.
Tears fill my eyes, but I blink hard. No time to waste on crying. I have to save us both. She won’t survive if I don’t, so I have to keep going, no matter the cost. For Emmy.
Adrenaline fills my veins as I run through the hallway toward the auditorium. There are five bodies lying around the room, and blood spilled everywhere.
What the … hell?
I continue running while trying to ignore the stench. There’s only one other place I know I’ll be safe; Holly’s hut. So I rush to the doors and push the handle. I’m amazed it opens and that it wasn’t locked. Does that mean the temple is compromised? Did someone sneak out a key?
And where the hell are the president and my mother?
One foot outside, and I’m already stunned. People are fighting each other everywhere, men and women, going at each other with knives, pans, axes, anything they can find. Everyone seems to have lost their minds. It’s one giant massacre.
This isn’t what I wanted, what I told them to do … yet their own hatred and rage made them do it anyway.
I swallow away the lump in my throat and start running, trying to ignore the rabid fighting going on around me. I slip through unnoticed, hiding my baby in my robe in the hopes that no one will see her. I take the easy paths, avoiding the brawls as much as I can until I get to Holly’s hut.