“You bitch,” Cade snarled right next to me. “The fuck did we ever do to you to turn you into this fucking monster?”
She bristled. “Keep talking to me like that and I’ll go tell King Lucian all the filthy things I’m sure you’ve done with his daughter tonight. Under his roof, no less.”
I wanted to kill her. I wanted to scream at her, and tell her to go fuck herself, and to go roaring through the castle looking for Ilana.
But then, we were in the middle of a ballroom, and a king’s palace.
This was not the place, and we both knew it.
Cade grabbed my arm, yanking me with him as he turned and strode away. The both of us said nothing, the fury just boiling up inside of us until we stormed through a side door and out into a deserted hallway.
And that’s when we broke.
I roared, grinding my teeth so hard I wondered if they’d shatter as I grabbed my head in my hands. Cade screamed out profanities before taking a swing at a wall, almost hitting the stone too, before I jumped forward and stopped him.
We panted, both of our shoulders heaving as we fought for breath.
“We’re going to find her,” Cade hissed. “We have to.”
I nodded. “One thing first.”
I strode down the hallway towards a guard, who’d somehow maintained complete composure despite clearly having witnessed our outburst.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant?”
He nodded stiffly. “Your Highness?”
“There’s a distraught woman in there saying all sorts of bizarre things,” I sighed and shook my head. “I think she may be drunk, or on drugs.”
He frowned. “Sir, that’s not really—”
“In particular, some very concerning stuff about the King?”
His eyes darkened, and I fought back the grin.
Now I had his attention.
“Yeah,” I shook my head. “Something about “taking him out?”
The man’s eyes went wide, his hand flying to the radio at his side.
“I’m sure it’s nothing, I just wanted to let you know.”
“Absolutely,” he hissed. “King Lucian appreciates your keen ears, Your Highness.”
He spoke rapidly into his radio, his hand on the gun at his hip as he turned and ran down the hallway.
I turned to see Cade grinning at me.
“You’re a bastard.”
“Fuck her,” I spat. “I’ll do what I have to, and right now—”
“Right now we have to find Ilana,” he finished for me, his face grim.
A flash of green caught my eye, a flurry of green gown and red hair disappearing around a corner down the hallway the guard had just been standing watch over.
Cade caught the same thing, and we both ran after her.
“Princess Imogen!”
She froze, gasping slightly as she whirled towards us in surprise. “Prince Caspian, Prince Cade?” She blinked in surprise. “We meet again.”
“I need to find your sister.”
“We need to find your sister,” Cade said quietly.
She frowned before, suddenly, her eyes went wide.
“Oh my God.”
“It’s not what you think,” I growled.
“Well, it might be a little of what you think,” Cade muttered.
Princess Imogen’s face was bright red, her hand by her lips as her eyes darted between us.
“I— I have to go…”
“We only want...” I shook my head. “She’s everything, Princess. I know it might be hard for you to understand, and I don’t even know how to convey this to you without sounding sordid, but…” I took a deep breath.
“She completes us in a way I can’t even begin to—”
“Okay, okay.” She smiled softly, nodding “I think I do get it, actually.”
“It’s nothing scandalous,” Cade said quickly.
“She said otherwise.”
I frowned but Imogen grinned. “I think Ilana needs a little scandal in her life,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes as they darted between us. “Wow. Both of you, huh?”
“We love her,” Cade said softly. “More than anything in this world, we love her.”
Imogen bit her lip, nodding. “She’s—” She stopped, shaking her head and looking away, as if conflicted.
“Princess, please.”
She turned back, smiling kindly at us and nodding. “She’s in the gardens, I’m almost sure of it. She goes there to think a lot.”
“Thank you,” I growled as we whirled.
“Wait, you haven’t— I mean…”
I turned back to see her brow knitted as she looked down at her hands.
“You haven’t seen your friend Magnus, have you?”
“No, I—”
My eyes went wide.
Interesting.
“Should I point him in a direction if I do?” I grinned at her, watching her face turn pink.
“Oh, not, I— that’s quite alright,” she stammered.
“I never told you where to find Ilana, by the way.”
“Lips are sealed. And I never told you that deep down, Magnus is one of the best guys I know, and if you can get through all his bullshit, he’s the most loyal man I’ve ever met.”
She grinned, and I winked at her as we started to turn.
“Caspian? Cade?”
Both of us glanced back at her.
“Be good to her, I mean it.”
“We’ll never hurt her, I swear it,” Cade said quietly.
She nodded. “Don’t or I’ll kill you.”