Tainted Crown Read online

  I sighed, then shifted my attention ahead when the hovercraft stopped. With the lights in their faces, they couldn't really see. At least they didn’t just attack.

  “It’s me,” I called out. “There are three others right behind us. All ours.”

  “Rhydian?” Auggie asked, then stepped forward to move beside the craft. His gaze swept over our group, then turn to me. Of the six of us, two he didn’t know and the rest of us all showed the signs of battle. His worry was strong.

  “I need to get them back. Just keep moving your group toward the archway. As soon as we get to Alkwin, I’ll send the hovercrafts back to start picking people up.”

  He nodded without question and stepped back, then he waved for the rest of the group to do the same. As soon as there was a gap big enough, Gryffin had us moving again.

  I sat back down and pulled my girl back into my arms. Moving her had to be painful, but she didn’t so much as flinch. She was nothing more than dead weight in my arms.

  “Not like this, baby,” I whispered, my head resting on hers. “Our story doesn’t end like this. You’re too strong not to fight.”

  With the hovercraft, it only took us two hours to make it through the archway and drive straight into Alkwin. It helped that we didn’t have any people who weren’t Tainted, aside from Lamont, and he already had access through the wards.

  Orson and Stassa must have had the proximity alarms set, because we had just crossed through the training field when they both came running out. Surprisingly alert and ready to fight.

  “More coming in!” I yelled.

  Gryffin stopped the craft and helped me to pick Leeya up, then he reached down to collect Lamont. He was mostly conscious again, but he was still unsteady on his feet.

  “What the hell happened?” Orson asked, taking in the entire scene. His gaze moved quickly, categorizing all of the injuries the four of us had. He lingered longest on Leeya before finally shifting his attention to the two other people with us. One was still wearing his Distribution red, while the other was in regular clothes. He must have realized neither had been in the facility.

  “We started a war,” Gryffin answered. “There are three more of these coming in to drop off. My brother told your people they would be sent back out to start picking up the groups walking here.”

  “I’ll take it out,” Stassa said, then hopped on and moved to the controls. “I’ve always wanted to drive one of these things. Main path?”

  I nodded and it was all she needed before turning and starting back toward the archway.

  Orson’s eyes were on Leeya in my arms again. She was still out, having not even stirred once since we dug her out.

  “We’ll get them to the clinic,” I told him. “There are at least fifty or sixty new people coming in. Not just from the facility. I’ll get into the details later, but the Sentry holding the wall for us will be helping to get out anyone else who shows up. At least for tonight.”

  “Right,” Orson said, stepping back into his leader role. “I’ll have everyone gather in the dining hall when they come in. What do you need?”

  “A Healer,” I said. “Noella or someone coming in. Whoever can get in there fastest.”

  I didn’t wait for him to respond. I vaguely saw him moving toward the two startled people who had ridden with us as Gryffin and I hurried toward the clinic.

  Kicking the door open, I carried Leeya in and put her down on the bed in the main room. As I had done about every ten minutes on the trip here, I checked to make sure her pulse was still there before rushing toward the cabinet.

  “Here,” I said, pulling out two of the scanners. I tossed one to Gryffin, who had just helped Lamont into a chair against the wall. “I’m hoping you know how to use that.”

  “I can manage,” he said, which was a relief. I didn’t want to be dividing my time at all right now.

  Starting with her head, I ran the scanner over Leeya’s entire body. Every readout that came across the screen just made my insides twist more and more. I wasn’t a Healer, but even I knew this was well beyond what I could handle.

  “Cracked ribs,” Gryffin said, staring down at the scanner in his hand. “A concussion. Some cuts and bruises.”

  I was so numb as I nodded. Leeya had all of those too, and far more.

  Before I could even try to figure out what I could do to get her through the time needed for Noella to get back, the clinic door swung open again. Orson only filled the doorway for a moment before he stepped back and someone else walked in. Two other people. One that I knew.

  “Prince Evran,” she said. The woman who had sheltered us, whose name I still didn’t know. She looked relieved to see me herself, then looked down at the table. “That other man that was with you picked me up as I was walking. He said you needed a Healer.”

  I closed my eyes and let out a breath. Prestyn. I could kiss him right now.

  “She’s hurt badly,” I said, holding out the scanner. “Dex. He set off a bomb. She was thrown, then part of a building landed on her.”

  Orson made a choking sound, but he didn’t move in any further. The other woman who had come in, which I now realized was one of Stassa’s people, started to move to Lamont. No, Leeya was going to need them. Both of them.

  “I’ve got him,” I said, trying to sound as calm as I could. Trying to keep anyone from seeing how much I was falling apart on the inside. “We should have most of the equipment that’s in Eden. Our Healer also has a pill that helps to heal internal bruising if you need it.”

  I was pushed back as they both took their places at Leeya’s side. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was terrified that the moment I did something would happen. She would stop breathing. I would lose her forever. But she needed them.

  I moved back to the cabinet and pulled out the supplies for Lamont. He was at least awake enough to take the bone pill. There was a cut on the back of his head, which I did have to give some attention to. Not that it took long at all to close it up.

  Then Orson helped him up and took him back outside.

  “What can I do?” I asked, looking back to Leeya.

  They were pulling things out and getting ready. Gloves, patches… the laser scalpel.

  “Get out,” Stassa’s woman answered. “She’s going to need surgery, which means removing her clothes. You need to leave.”

  Surgery. Our technology was advanced to the point that it was rarely needed anymore. When it was, it wasn’t a good sign. I started to argue, to tell them that this woman was my fiancé. I had seen her without her clothes. But I couldn't. I couldn't even make a single word come out. All I could do was stand there and watch as they pulled the curtain closed that blocked the view from anyone coming in.

  “Come on,” Gryffin said, taking me by the arm. “Let them work.”

  Nodding, I let him pull me back outside. It was the middle of the night, but all of the lights around camp had been turned on. It was still quiet, though. At least for the most part. The first round of people had been dropped off. It would still take another two trips to get the rest of them. At least.

  My brother and I walked quietly toward the meeting hall. I felt bad for not really wanting to talk. For not embracing him and telling him how sorry I was about what happened all those years ago. But all I could think about was Leeya.

  Orson spotted us when we reached the doors to the hall. He had been talking to the dozen or so people who were seated in there now. The new arrivals who had come in with us. He said something to Lamont, who I could see sitting at the end of one of the tables, and started toward us.

  We stepped back into the night and waited. I didn’t really feel like dealing with questions from the people who had come in. Questions I was sure they would have about Eden’s lost princes.

  “How is she?” he asked abruptly when he found us. He stood tall, arms folded in front of him, but I could tell he was nearly as worried as I was. Like me, though, he was good at hiding it.

  “The scanner said internal inj
uries,” I said. “The kind that require surgery. How long until Noella gets here?”

  “Hallers don’t work in the caves,” he said, cracking his neck and looking around. “Cyril came in on one of the hovercrafts. He’d taken a shot at the facility, but they got him patched up on the trip. I sent him out to retrieve them. What happened in the city? I wasn’t expecting you back for another day. And definitely not like this.”

  I sighed, my head running through everything that had happened. Had it really only been one night? Five hours since we had gone through the wall? It didn’t seem possible.

  “We made it to the power station without issue,” I started. “The water plan went off beautifully. Then we were on our way back to the wall when a Sentry recognized some of our people. Prestyn, Jaythan, and I were cut off from the others. Lamont came back for us. We lost Jaythan, but I think he was the only one on my team.”

  I looked to my brother. I hadn’t gotten a report from Leeya. Not really. Nothing more than that she had gotten them to the wall before coming back for me.

  “As far as I know, that Cyril guy was the only one that came for us who was injured,” Gryffin stated. “We ran into trouble with panicking people exposing abilities on the way back, but I’m pretty sure Leeya said everyone was there before she sent them out.”

  “Then what the hell happened?”

  I had to bite my tongue. I wanted to yell, to take my panic and anger out on him. He was the one that decided it was better for us to be on different teams. Well, how better was it really?

  Gryffin looked over at me, but my eyes were on Orson. Trying to figure out if I could answer him without also punching him. He must have sensed something was going on, because he stepped in.

  “When we got back to the wall, Leeya was told that my brother hadn’t made it out,” he informed us. “She sent the others out, then we went back in to get him. She had the very clever idea to disrupt our cousin’s slander broadcast with one letting everyone within Eden know the truth. About Adler and Dex’s plot, our lack of deadness, and the truth about Tainted.”

  “Gryffin’s message got the Sentry to back down,” I added. I wanted him to know. To understand that we would never just leave and trust that the other would make it out. That, if we ever had to do something like this again, we were going to be together. “We went back to find them and make sure they made it to the wall. Found Dex and his Sentry attacking them with weapons that mimic our abilities. And that clever girl pulled out some magic and got his confession to us about everything sent out to the city. Then he threw a bomb at us.”

  Orson’s jaw tightened. It was more than just what Dex had done. He understood now. Even if he couldn't clearly see it, he could sense that I was holding him partially responsible for this. That if anything happened to her, if she didn’t survive this, I was never going to forgive him.

  “And the hovercrafts?”

  “The group of Sentry holding the wall for us,” I stated. “They’re only going to be letting Tainted out for as long as they can hold the position. They had the hovercrafts on the path for us.”

  He thought about it for a moment, his tension not leaving at all. “And they can be trusted? This wasn’t some ploy on Dex’s part?”

  “I don’t know, Orson,” I snapped, losing my patience with this whole thing. “Leeya was unconscious in my arms. It wasn’t like I could really ask her if they were telling the truth or not. What I do know is they let us and a group of about two dozen Tainted or family members out of the city instead of arresting us. Or killing us. They escorted that Healer that’s in there trying to save Leeya’s life from her home to the wall so she could get out.”

  There were so many things he wanted to say to me right then. I could see it. Calling me out for talking to him like that. It would have been one thing if we were alone, but we weren’t. Still, he kept his mouth shut.

  Good.

  “The hovercrafts move faster when there’s only a driver,” he said instead. “If the groups keep traveling, I expect everyone who left before you did to be here by dawn. Another group every two hours. We can send them back out on another pass if Harun reports more people left after you.”

  I nodded and he turned to walk away.

  “How long will it take your Healer to get back?” Gryffin asked.

  I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. This was a mess. So much was going on and all I really wanted to do was sit down and wait for news about Leeya. I didn’t want to have to step up and make sure I played my role for the camp. That everything was as orderly as possible.

  “If he left right away and it doesn’t take long to actually get the group moving, maybe forty-five minutes. Hopefully less.”

  “Hey,” a voice called out from behind us. My heart jumped, hope flooding through me. Even though I knew it was impossible, I still wasn’t able to keep from whipping around quickly to find the source. One that, although I was happy to see her, wasn’t the one that would have actually brought me joy. “You’re the pretty boy. Where’s my sister?”

  I stepped back to my brother’s side and watched Lillith walk out of the dining hall with Paxton. Although I was certain Orson wasn’t letting anyone actually walk around right now, I knew he couldn’t stop her. He probably wouldn’t even try.

  I had known they were identical twins. Leeya had told me the only difference was their hair. Still, seeing her standing there made my head hurt. It was like looking at Leeya, but it wasn’t. This wasn’t my girl.

  “Lillith,” I said, giving her a bow of the head. “It’s nice to actually see you. And to be able to talk without a middle person.”

  “Yeah, you too,” she said abruptly. She shared her sister’s patience apparently. “Where’s Leeya?”

  “She’s in the clinic,” I said, trying not to sound as worried as I really was. She had been through a lot. She didn’t need to worry. Not until we had answers. “Dex set off a bomb. She was hurt, and they’re fixing her up now.”

  She looked at me with the same heavy look her sister did. Though it hadn’t been mentioned, I wondered if she also had the ability to know when someone was lying. Not that I really was. I just wasn’t telling the complete truth.

  “So you’re my future sister-in-law,” Gryffin said, flashing Lillith his best smile.

  Lillith just looked confused. Her eyes moved from me to Gryffin. It wasn’t just the reference to marriage, I realized. She knew who he was. The same was apparently not true for me. When Paxton leaned in and whispered something to her, her eyes widened.

  “You’re the only person we told,” I said, looking to Gryffin. “We were waiting until after this was done.”

  “You’re marrying Leeya?” Lillith asked. “As in my Leeya? And I thought she said your name was Rhydian.” She looked back at Paxton and asked, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” I said, actually finding a little amusement in all of this. It helped with the pain, but not by much. “Come on. We can talk away from everyone else. You should also get your rooms before the rest of the new arrivals get here.”

  I turned, leading them to the dorm. Paxton was carrying three bags, so I reached down to take one for him. Though it hadn’t been said, I had guessed when we saw him at the wall that it was his plan to come back with us. I was glad for it. For both Lillith and Leeya’s sake.

  “There will be a meeting when everyone gets here to go over the rules and procedures for Alkwin,” I told them. I could just wait and let them hear it all then, but I didn’t mind the distraction. Anything that helped time move faster. “That was the dining hall where all of the meals are served. We eat as a community. Families stay in the houses across camp. There’s the school,” I said, pointing to the schoolhouse. “It’s actually something you’ll need to know, because it’s almost a full time job keeping our sister there when she’s supposed to be.”

  “Your sister’s here too?” Paxton asked.

  He didn’t say the rest. Alive.

  “Yes, although very few people actua
lly know about her,” I explained. “We changed her hair, and she came in with a family. Florrie,” I said, looking to Gryffin. He thought about it, trying to remember where he had heard the name, then smiled and nodded. “Lillith, you’ll have to play a part in that one actually. The story we’re using around camp is that Leeya used to babysit her in Eden. Her parents are gone, so her aunt and uncle brought her here with their son.”

  I turned to Lillith, but she appeared to be on information overload at this point. I couldn't blame her. It was a lot to take in.

  “You’ll be in the dorm with the rest of us,” I went on. “The only rules are not to touch other people’s things and don’t go into someone’s room without permission. There’s no curfew, but it’s an unspoken rule to keep voices lowered after dark.”