"Caine!" I bellowed his name with every last ounce of anger, frustration and power I had left. And still, my voice was drowned out by the rebels gathered around us. "Caine, you piece of shit!"

I could hear Kai trying to get past the crowd of rebels that had closed in behind me.

"Caine!" I yelled, my first hitting the door again. "If you want to torture someone, torture me!" I yelled. "We have unfinished business, you and I. If you're going to hurt someone, it ought to be me! No one here hates you the way I do. And there's no one here you'd rather hurt than me!"

At some point, Nadia's pained screams in the ballroom stopped and the crowd in the antechamber hushed, their attention moving to me. I slammed my fist against the door again. "Caine, you son of bitch, open the damn door and face me you coward!"

By the time I lifted my hand to knock a third time, Kai was there. His hand found my elbow, halting my knocking, and he turned me towards him. "What the hell are you doing?" He spoke loud enough that I knew Caine could hear him.

"Requesting an audience with your uncle," I said. My fist hit the door again, but before I could yell any more taunts at Caine, Kai was hauling me backward.

"Stop it," he said, raising his voice to be heard in the ballroom. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"What I do is none of your business!" I yanked out of his grasp.

I lifted a hand to bang on the door again, but Kai caught my wrist in his strong hand, holding it with a grip that was both strong and yet surprisingly gentle. "Don't goad him."

"Get away from me, Kai."

"You're going to give me a heart attack," he said, his voice quieter. "I'm going to live through this stupid fight and die at twenty-two from pure stress over you."

"Seems fair," I said to him.

He raised his voice, "We'll figure something else out."

"We won't," I hissed. With that, I turned back to the door and yelled: "My name is Monroe Benson and I am goddess-touched!"

The words echoed around the room, just as they had the first time I'd declared them all those months and months ago. Before I'd truly entered the Culling, before I'd been lured in by a rebellion, before I'd ever kissed a prince. And although so many things had changed in my life, this was one thing that had always remained. I could not run from it, could not fight it. I could no more change what I was than I could change the color of my blood or make myself taller.

It simply was.

Kai didn't try to stop me again as I bellowed, "I am goddess-touched and you will open this door and speak to me, Caine. Now!"

Silence reigned.

Kai's hand on my arm tightened. "Please." he whispered. "We can find another way. We don't need a distraction."

"They could be in the way of the rebels coming in through the garden doors," I breathed. "We have no eyes in there, no one to make sure they aren't caught in the blast. With Cohen and Nadia in there, we only have one chance at this. He'll kill them as soon as he sees us coming."

His throat bobbed. "He'll kill you as soon as he sees us coming. Monroe, you didn't see him, the rage he was in when he realized you were gone. When he realized you'd escaped—he was...he wants you dead as badly as you want him dead."

"I won't give him the chance," I whispered. "I promise I won't, Kai."

His eyes were shining and I thought he truly might cry. "I'm begging you to reconsider."

"Cohen and Nadia are in there."

As if to punctuate my words, Nadia's scream split the air again. I turned towards the door again, prepared to burn it down, but Kai held me firm.

"You chose me last time," I said. "This time, you should choose your brother."

A muscle in his jaw ticked. "You're...You're—"

"Right?"

"Infuriating."

"Infuriatingly right."

Before he could say anything else to me, I turned towards the door and shoved my body into it. The collision of wood against my shoulder ached like hell, but it made a noise loud enough to silence both the ballroom and the antechamber beyond.

In the quiet that followed, I stepped back from the door and spoke.

"Their lives for mine." I swallowed, ignoring the way Kai stared at me, the way his throat bobbed as he fought what he wanted to do, what he wanted to say. I don't think he'd ever regretted my returning more than he did in that instance.

I was doing exactly what he'd hoped to prevent. But he didn't try to stop me again. He would play his part, but only to a point. He was done stealing my choices.

I turned and found Tavin standing a few feet away from me. I held out my handgun to him, knowing that I wouldn't be able to take the weapon inside and would likely be frisked as soon as I got inside.

As the weapon left my hands, I spoke to Caine, my voice the only sound beyond the muffled fighting in the distance of the palace. "You want me more than you want them. Cohen and Nadia are nothing to you."

There was the echo of footsteps and a dragging sound on the other side of the door. Then Caine's voice echoed through the wood, just inches from where I stood. A chill raced up my spine at the sound. I'd forgotten just how much I hated him—the way that noise, that soft, slithering voice crept through my nightmares as prevalent as Viera or Larkin or Tessa ever could be.

"Ah, Miss Benson," he said. "My darling girl, how I have missed your voice." There was a whimpering sound then and I realized that he must have taken Nadia along with him. He shushed her, like he was soothing a frightened child. "Hush now, the adults are speaking."

"Let them go. We'll open the doors and you can have me instead. We both know I'm a better hostage."

Caine laughed. "Oh, Miss Benson. How bold of you to assume. Do you truly believe that Britta Warwick would put your life above that of her brother?"

That was part of the plan I hadn't mentioned to Kai. The part that I knew he wouldn't like. The part that I knew would buy us the most time. Because Britta didn't put my life above Cohen's. But there was one person who did put my life above his. And there was one person who Caine would want to hurt more than anyone else, one person he would want to bring to his knees now that he was cornered.

"You aren't trying to hurt Britta, are you?" I said, already knowing the answer.

Caine wasn't getting out of this, not without being imprisoned or killed. Like Kai had said, his back was against the wall and cornered animals bite. If he wanted to sink his teeth into someone, it wasn't Nadia or Cohen. It wasn't Britta or even me.

It was Kai.

Caine was quiet for a long moment, only Nadia's quiet whimpers filling the space between us. With each broken sound, the urge to burn down the door and get to my friend grew stronger. But my ability was low burning now, embers rather than flame. I felt that same bone, trembling cold creeping in. If I pushed myself too far, I'd collapse. And there wasn't time.

I needed to hold on to my power, reel it in and try to grow it. If push came to shove, I wasn't sure I'd be able to protect myself with fire alone. Not that I'd be honest about that to anyone. I reached down and brushed the back of my hand against Kai's. It was a betrayal, what I was doing. Maybe it wasn't the same as what he'd done to me, but it was still vile. It was still a lie.

I was still putting everything on the line.

Kai threaded his fingers through mine.

"We aren't finished with each other yet," I said to Caine, my voice lacking the anger it had held only moments ago. Goddess, I was bone tired.

The feel of his hands on me, sliding over my skin, pushing the skirt of my dress up my bare thigh..."Let Cohen and Nadia go and you can have me."

"Two lives for the price of one?" Caine said. "Come now, Miss Benson, even you must know that isn't a fair trade."

I opened my mouth to speak, but any words I might have said were cut off my Nadia's scream. She was so close. Just beyond the door.

My own scream cracked in my throat as I darted forward, my hand pressing to the door. Heat and fire burned against the wood. "Stop! Stop, Caine! Please! Please, please, please. Stop it!"

Silence. I could hear Nadia crying. A black, scalding handprint steamed where my palm had pressed to the wood. I knew what I needed to say next. The trade I needed to make, me for Nadia and Kai for Cohen. He'd hate me. He'd be so hurt—not because he was afraid of his uncle, but because he knew we'd be playing into Caine's hands. But it was necessary.

As Jax stepped into my peripheral and gave me a second thumbs up, nodding to a hallway to my left. Our men were ready in the garden. We just needed to bide our time. Distract him. Draw him out. Get Cohen and Nadia to Safety.

I cleared my throat. "Me for Nadia. And a king fo—!"

"A king for a prince!" The words came directly from my right. I turned to find Kai staring at me, his eyes shining with unshielded dread as he repeated, "Uncle, will you trade a king for a prince?"

"A king for a prince...?" Caine repeated. He laughed, almost in surprise at the offer. I heard him step back from the door. "You will enter this room with Miss Benson?"

"Yes," Kai said to Caine, then he lowered his voice so only I'd hear him and whispered, "I'd enter hell alongside you."

I squeezed his hand.

"Your forces will retreat and they will lower their weapons."

The air came from my lungs in a sharp exhale. I glance over to Kai, who was already passing his gun to another rebel. I reached out and took hold of his wrist. "I'm so sorry, I thought if I told you what I was really planning that you wouldn't let me—"

"I know. It's okay. I'm not letting you face him alone." Kai's voice was soft enough that I didn't believe Caine could hear him. "There's no better exchange. My brother for me and your sister for you. If it gets them out of this in one piece...It will be worth it."

My sister.

I nodded.

Jax still lingered by the hallway door. With a nod to the remaining rebels, the rest of the watching forces seemed to retreat. Jaxon waved them down the hall towards the garden, mouthing to those in command to form groups. He gave signals and motioned his men forward. All of it happening too quickly for me to track.

While everyone else moved back, Heidi moved forward. She whispered, "You sure about this Benson? The runners say there is a line of guards standing in front of the doors to the gardens. Most of the glass seems to be already shattered. The palace is a wreck. Everything is sort of in shambles. Which works to our advantage since there doesn't seem to be an entrance into the gardens from inside the palace other than the doors from the actual ballroom. But one the runners went outside and found a spot in the garden wall that was weak. They've managed to break through. They're already feeding people through there. If all goes to plan and we have a clear shot, we won't need but a few minutes. We'll have guns trained on him."

"If something goes wrong and you can't get to us or there's a stalemate or something. The rebels said there were still explosives—" I swallowed down the lump in my throat. "You should set them. On the door. On anything you can around the ballroom."

She blinked at me. "No."

Kai's hand threaded through mine, warm and sure. "Monroe can shield me from the fire. She knows how."

Heidi grab Kai from the front of his shirt and jerked him sideways, pulling him away from the door and Caine. His hand was still in mine, so we stumbled sideways together, nearly tripping over each other as Heidi pulled us to a stop and hissed, "It won't just be fire, you idiots. The ceiling could collapse or—"

"The offer to trade won't stay open forever!" Caine yelled. "I've grown to enjoy the sound of your little friend screaming. Maybe I'll keep her?"

I let go of Kai's hand and moved towards the doors of the ballroom, but Heidi caught me by the shoulders and hugged me to her. "You're the dumbest bitch I've ever know and I swear if you get yourself killed I'll—I'll—" I held her to me, ignoring the tears tightening her voice. "You can't die."

I hugged her back. "Get Nadia and Cohen to safety. Have the healers start working on them. Kai and I can take care of ourselves."

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes with her back of her hand. "Like hell you can."

I pulled back from her, my brows lifting. "Are you crying?"

She wiped hastily at her face and stepped back from me. "No! I'm a nightmare. We don't...I can't..." She swiveled and jabbed a finger at Kai's chest. "If you let her do some sort of self-sacrificing bullshit I swear to the goddess I will—"

"Too late, she already is," he said, his eyes locked on the closed ballroom doors.

"But if you let her succeed," Heidi said through gritted teeth, "I'll find you and I'll make you wish you were dead."

He only nodded, resigned.

She turned back to me. "What's your plan? We set the explosives off and you, what?"

I didn't have a plan outside of getting my friends away from Caine. That was it. That was all I wanted. I'd deal with everything else...well, later. If there was a later.

"Let's just get this over with," Kai said, resigned to the fact that we were winging this.

Before I could call out to Caine, Kai reached forward and cupped my cheek with his hand, pulling my mouth to his. He kissed me, his mouth moving against mine with a force I knew would likely bruise. And I didn't care, I kissed him back, fighting off the urge to tell him to run, to tell him to stay here and away from Caine.

But I kept all of that inside.

When he finally pulled away, he didn't look at me again. Instead, he lifted a hand and knocked on the doors to the ballroom. "Our forces have retreated. We'll make the trade now. Nadia and Cohen for Monroe and me."

"Our forces?" Caine echoed. "Oh, how quickly you change sides, nephew."

Kai's jaw tightened. "You will open these doors and send Cohen and Nadia through."

"And what will stop you from grabbing them and retreating? What will stop you from shooting me when those doors open?"

"You will have to trust us," Kai said.

"No. No, I won't," Caine said. "You see, I have something you want. You wouldn't be making the trade otherwise."

Jax paused next to us, his hand finding my elbow as he leaned close to my ear. "We're readying our men. I'm leaving three healers here for Nadia and Cohen. There is a small retinue of soldiers at your back too. Draw it out. Toy with him. Keep him talking." I nodded. Jax slapped Kai on the back with a little too much force as he walked by and then he was gone, leaving us in the antechamber.

Beyond the doors, Caine was still talking. Enjoying the sound of his own voice.

"If he won't send them out, we'll go in." Kai said to me. "Like you said, it's better for us to be in there with Nadia and Cohen when Jax and rebels get into the ballroom. We have a general idea of what's going to happen. If we can in and get close to them when the attack happens, that would be best."

I nodde and spoke to Caine, "Our forces have retreated. Our soldiers will not shoot, not if there is a risk of hitting us or one of the hostages." I swallowed and glanced at Kai, but he didn't seem like he disagreed with what I'd said so I continued. "Once we are inside, you will send the hostages out and the doors will shut again. Britta has given orders not to harm Kai. Our soldiers are under strict orders not to shoot him." Untrue, but whatever. "You will be safe from her forces just so long as you have him in your control."

"And what of you, Miss Benson?" Caine called, his voice filled with an oily sort of intent. "What will stop me from using you?"

Not killing, not hurting. Using.

Nothing. The answer is nothing.

In fact, there was nothing stopping him from shooting us all as soon as the doors opened.

"What are you willing to do to keep your friends safe? Hm? Will you strip—"

"That's enough," Kai growled, his voice vibrating with barely restrained anger. "You either want the trade or you don't."

Minutes. Jaxon needed minutes.

"What if I give you the prince and keep both of the pretty marked girls...?"

Bile rose in my throat. "Open the door, Caine. Now, before we resend the entire offer and blow the damn palace to bits."

"Brave words for such a frightened little girl." But even as he spoke, I heard the shuffle of boots on the other side of the door, Nadia's whimper as she was dragged somewhere, and the click of the lock. Before the door opened fully, Caine said, "You will walk inside and, once I see you are unarmed, I will send the two hostages out."

Neither of us said anything. Despite all of our posturing, Caine truly did have the upper hand. We wanted Cohen and Nadia safe, which wasn't a priority to him. It really wasn't even a priority to our soldiers. Jax wanted to take Caine hostage if possible, that was his motive for this, but he'd kill him if necessary. Same for Kai.

With a groan the doors to the ballroom opened up. The massive room was lined with armed soldiers. Sunlight streamed in through the tall glass windows to our left, high empty balconies looming above them. Caine stood in the middle of the room, Nadia pressed to the front of his body, a knife digging into her neck. Tears mingles with the dirt and blood on her face, the front of her shirt was cut nearly in half—the pale cloth of her undershirt peaking through.

She shook her head as I made to step through the doors. "Don't," it was a quiet word, broken and terror riddled. She swallowed, Caine's knife digging into her flesh and making her wince as she said, "Leave, now. Right now."

Cohen stood a few feet away, his hands cuffed in front of him, his body bracketed in by Caine's soldiers. Neither of them was anywhere near the exit. Neither of them looked like they were prepared to walk out of this room. Instead, Cohen looked resolved.

As if he'd known this was how things would inevitably end for us.

And I knew too. There had probably only ever been one way for this to go.

Caine must have given a signal because all around us, his soldiers lifted their weapons, aiming at Kai and me. I flinched, but barely had time to react before Kai had swung me sideways, shoving me back towards the still open ballroom doors. One of Caine's soldiers standing at the door moved just as quickly, shoving me from behind, keeping me inside the room.

I tripped on the man's legs and my own, falling forward and onto my knees. Bone cracked against marble tile. A boot collided with the side of my face a pain exploded from my temple. I cried out in pain and doubled over, just barely managing to block the second hit with a raised arm.

Then I was being dragged up and away from the door. Somewhere near me, Kai was yelling. Indignant. He was fighting back, the soldiers around us scattering as he elbow and kicked, maneuvering out of their grasp time and time again.

Even weaponless, he was a force. He knew what weaknesses to exploit, and clearly Caine's desire to keep his nephew alive was one of those weaknesses. At no point did the soldiers shoot.

Not as Kai wrestled a gun away from one of his men and staggered backward, further into the ballroom. Not as I was pulled up onto my knees by a hand around my neck, a gun pressed into my temple. Not as Kai turned his stolen gun on his uncle. Not as the doors to the ballroom slammed shut, locking us inside with Caine and his men.

🔥🔥🔥

Welp.

See ya on Tuesday. 💃

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