Page 24 of A Monarch's Fall

“Directly to your left,” I stated.

He grimaced. No reply.

“What do you want?” Sasha demanded.

I saw her arm twitch and watched her gaze focus on the wall next to him. The whole estate was a weapon if she so wished it.

“We’ve been helping. We’re no friends of True North,” he answered confidently. “You’d all be dead now if it wasn’t for us,” he continued arrogantly.

“Is that right?” I asked.

He flinched.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant we’ve been helping.”

“The real question is why?” Efstratios interrupted.

The boy looked even more put off. The fingers of his right hand began pulling a frayed edge of his dark green jumper.

The stones above his head began to crumble, a small broken chunk landing before him and forcing him a step back.

“Careful, child,” Sasha warned, “Or the next,” she waved her hand and the wall beside him splintered outward, and the yelp of one of his fellows gave their position away, “might smash your skull.”

“We were here for the flower witch,” a female voice answered for the boy. He turned angrily, glaring at whoever had spoken behind the wall.

“For Percy?” I asked.

The boy turned his attention back to us, his hands raised.

“Do you want the Princess or what?” he asked. “We could have killed her,” he continued cockily.

He fell to his knees, before I could respond, his hands clutching at his chest.

“Where is she?” Sasha roared in anger, and I noticed that the small stone she had clutched in her hand was gone.

“Shit, what do we do now?” I heard the female's whispered voice.

“Run,” another answered.

“That would be a terrible decision,” Efstratios told them. “Show yourselves, and you might be granted mercy.”

A girl stumbled out from behind the wall, her hands raised.

“I’m sorry. He didn’t mean anything by it. Always trying to look brave. We never came here to hurt anyone. But we couldn’t let all the innocents here die at the hands of True North. We had to help,” she explained quickly.

“And the others,” Efstratios commanded.

She turned, her eyes desperate, and another woman and a man slowly stepped out from behind the wall, their hands raised.

One was missing. The dead boy had said he had four others with him.

“And Selene?” I asked.

“She’s fine. I mean, well, not fine, but we didn’t do anything to her; I swear. We just helped find somewhere to put her down until more help can be given,” she told us.

“Helped how?” Sasha asked now.

“We were sent for the Princess’s flower girl. To make sure True North didn’t get to her. We never anticipated such an attack from True North. Your guards were almost overwhelmed. We had the benefit of surprise, of high ground. We’ve been holding them off. Freeing the servants taken by them. Protecting the innocent,” she explained.