Page 114 of Burdened Bonds

“Fuck, she looks good,” Barone says with wondermentand I have to suppress every goddamn instinct in my body not to thump him in the face.

“Let’s go,” I say. The sooner this is over, the better.

I take Rhi by the upper arm and we set off, twice shrinking into the shadows to avoid the patrolling security forces. It takes us over an hour, but soon we’re in the suburbs of the city where the great houses lie and the great families reside; the side of town I’ve never belonged in. Some of the houses aren’t looking as grand as they did. Their gates toppled, their windows smashed and their doors kicked in. Others look just the same as they always have, as if nothing has changed at all.

The security focus becomes more plentiful the closer we approach the Kennedy residence and finally, with no other possible way through, we have no option but to present ourselves at a barrier.

As we step into the searchlights trained on the street, the line of guards sees us and they raise their hands, magic sizzling in the air threateningly. The lead officer commands us to stop.

“Who are you and what do you want?” he calls out. “There’s a curfew. It’s against the authorities’ rules to be out on the streets.”

“I am Professor Stone from the Arrow Hart Academy,” I tell him, raising my hands in surrender and hissing at Barone to do the same. He looks at me like I’m dumb but raises them halfheartedly to hover by his ears. “We have one of the magicals on the Lord Protector’s wanted list. We’ve come to hand them in.”

“Who?” the officer says.

I smirk at him. “I think that’s something we’d like to disclose to the Lord Protector himself.”

The officer steps forward, peering at our faces. “You canhand the prisoner to us. We’ll see she’s taken to the Lord Protector.”

“Errr, no,” I say, lowering my hands slightly and letting my own magic crackle in the air sinisterly. “We’ll be handing her over ourselves. This prisoner is worth a lot of money.”

“We’ll see you get your reward,” the officer says with obvious disgust.

“But the Lord Protector won’t get the additional information we have to disclose about the prisoner,” I say.

“You can tell us that too.”

Barone laughs.

“And if he has questions?” I say, my smirk solidifying. “Will you be able to answer them?”

The officer hesitates and the thoughts in his mind tell me he’s unsure. He doesn’t want to face the wrath of the Lord Protector.

“Is that a risk you’re prepared to take?” I say quietly.

“Fine,” he says, “but my guards will be accompanying you and if you try anything–”

“We just want our money, man,” Barone says, bored.

The guards march towards us and I step closer to Rhi’s side, gripping her arm, hoping Barone has enough sense in that befuddled brain of his to do the same. I don’t want anyone touching her but us.

“We need to search you for weapons before we take you any further,” the commander says, stopping right in front of us.

Rhi’s eyes flick to me. Renzo has his knife. A knife that once belonged to Rhi. There is no way he’ll hand it over and this is where everything could turn messy.

“You realize she’s a weapon, right?” I say quietly to him.

The man stares at Rhi and I can tell he doesn’t believe that for one minute. He’s underestimating her. Peoplealways do. We just have to hope Christopher Kennedy will do the same.

“I’m sure she is,” the man says flatly, “but we still need you to empty your pockets.” A soldier steps towards Renzo and I see him flinch.

Fuck!

I need to convince this man not to search us. I need him to change his mind.

I can read all the suspicious thoughts already spinning in his head. He’s read the situation. He knows one of us is armed, maybe both, and he’s not going to let us pass unless we hand over our weapons. I see those thoughts glistening in his head, the words clear to read, and then it hits me.

It’s not something I’ve ever tried to do before. Sure, I’ve been damn tempted, especially when I was younger and more foolhardy. But even then I wasn’t stupid enough to do something like that. Something that would have me carted away to the northern labor camps for life.