Wanton Wonderland by Eva Chase

Author:Eva Chase [Chase, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989096321
Publisher: Ink Spark Press
Published: 2019-02-20T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Lyssa

Theo grabbed my arm. “Let’s get out of here,” he said under his breath. “Fast. We have to warn the others.”

As I scrambled after him into the longer passage with the glowing stream, the trap door’s latch was already grating to the side. Shit. My heart thumped with a lurching beat. How could Dee have given us all up like that—even his own brother?

We broke into a run along the side of the stream. “What are we going to do?” I said to Theo.

His mouth had gone tight. “The measures I put in place will slow them down exactly as I intended. I just didn’t expect one of our own to be helping set them off. Damn it.”

Nausea coiled around my stomach. “What else do you think he might have told them? What if there are guards at all the exits?”

Theo shook his head. “I have to believe he still had some concern for us and the cause. The way he was talking up there—he’d have known that by pitching his voice that loud, anyone standing guard down below would hear it. And he knew there’d be a sentry at that entrance. He sold us out, but he purposely gave us a little warning. I don’t think he wants us dead. He just wanted a big enough bargaining chip to save his mother.”

It was hard to picture the happy-go-lucky guy I’d been getting to know scheming like that, but I hoped Theo was right. “Do you think the Queen will keep up her end of the deal she made with him?”

Theo’s lips curled into a grimace. “I wouldn’t count on it. Even if he’d served us all up on a platter, she’d probably enjoy laughing in his face and sending him off to be pearled with the rest of them. He’ll have admitted he was a Spade. That’s a death sentence right there. She’ll never trust him to stay in ‘her’ kingdom.”

Then we’d better make it my kingdom before it came to that. My breath ragged in my throat, I pushed my legs even harder.

A crashing sound echoed through the passage behind me. I startled, nearly tripping over my feet. Theo steadied me.

“That’s the main trap,” he said with grim satisfaction. “It’ll take them at least a few minutes to work their way through that.”

A sentry from one of the smaller secondary camps came into view up ahead. “Get everyone to move out!” I hollered to her. “Right away, take only what you have to. The guards have found the way into the River Down.” I paused for a second, searching my whirling thoughts for the right strategy. “Leave through the forest exit. We’ll regroup on the other side of the mushroom fields.” Please, let that be far enough.

Between our fight and flight yesterday and the stress my body had been through in the weeks before that, I couldn’t keep up the same pace as Theo for much longer. A burn nibbled at my legs and chest. He slowed as I did, but I nudged him onward.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.