CHAPTER 4 (XAVIER’S POV)

“What?”

“Yes, my King,” the guard cried. “We need to get you to safety now.”

My uncle turned to face another guard standing at the door

“Call for backup at once,” he said. “I want a thousand guards manning the walls of this palace. If any harm comes upon my nephew or his mate, count yourselves dead.”

“Yes, my King,” the guard nodded and disappeared around the corner.

“And you, come show me where the intruders are,” my uncle thundered.

I watched as they marched out of the throne room and immediately they were out of sight, I ran to meet Harrison who was still on the floor.

“Harry?” I tried to get him to sit up but he pushed my hand away. “Arr, you okay Harry?”

“Don’t touch me!” he hissed. “You almost killed me, you fucking animal!”

“You know I had to make it look real,” I frowned. “I’m really sorry. I’ve got to get you out of here now before he realizes there’s no invasion.”

“How would we get out of here with a thousand guards manning the walls?” Harrison sighed. “And your new girlfriend staring at us as we fell from the sky.”

I quickly remembered that Anna was still there and I spun around to see her staring intently at us.

“She’s with my uncle,” I whispered in his ears.

“I’m not with your uncle,” Anna replied.

I stared at her, shocked. How could she have heard that?

“And I’m not with you either,” she added, coming closer to me. “You and your uncle are the reason my people suffer.”

I frowned. I definitely wasn’t expecting my betrothed to be accusing me.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Dude, you’re seriously not doing this with her!” Harrison cried. “She’s stalling with this conversation, buying your uncle time, and before you know it, he’ll be back and I’ll be fucking dead!”

His words registered in my brain immediately and I realized her evil plans at once. Of course, she was working with my uncle. How could I be so stupid to even want to believe that she actually had a problem with my uncle?

“I know you would tell him that I released the prisoner when he comes back,” I scoffed. “It doesn’t matter anyways. He can’t touch me.”

“I have no business with you and your theatrics,” she shrugged. “Just watch your back, Prince Xavier. Watch it.”

She turned around and started out of the throne room and I was left wondering what her true intentions were. She definitely didn’t like me, and apparently, she hated my uncle as much.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about her safety already,” Harrison grunted and smacked me on my head.

“Those guards would harass her out there,” I said as I marched out of the throne room. “I need her to be fine, so I can know her plan and take her down myself.”

I pushed the door of the throne room open and I heard the sound of a metal weapon crash to the floor. Under the dim light of the hallway, I was able to make out her figure as she walked towards the exit and also, the silhouette of five guards that lay disarmed and semi-paralyzed on the floor.

“Come on, I know a secret passageway,” I said to Harrison once I had gotten in back. “I would find Anna later. There’s something about her.”

“There’s something about her eh?” Harrison mocked.

“Not that,” I frowned. “Have you forgotten I was the one who rejected her?”

“You know, that leaves me wondering,” Harrison said. “Why exactly did you reject that beauty?”

I pushed him across the room till we got to the spot where I knew the tunnel was. I had built it with the help of some friends a few years ago and it led directly from the palace to our secret hideout where we had our meetings.

“She took down five guards,” I said once we had gotten in. “How is that possible Harry?”

“How the fuck would I know dude?” Harrison grunted. “Let's get out of here first. We can think about all that later.”

I sighed and continued crawling down the tunnel. Harrison was right behind me, humming away unconcernedly and after a few minutes of crawling on all fours, we got to the base. At our secret hideout, we usually had the base of the tunnel covered with a metallic rim and hidden by a fine mat of carpet grass and coral leaves. No one had been able to uncover our little tunnel in years, but as I was soon to find out, our luck had finally run out.

I pushed at the base expecting the metal covering to pop open but it remained stuck. It was probably rusted and needed a little more force. I pushed again but it still didn’t budge.

“It’s not moving,” I said. “We’re stuck here.”

“Maybe one of us is there. Let’s call for help,” Harrison suggested.

I shook my head in the negative. “That’s too risky. They would all be busy coordinating the staged invasion, and moreover, my Uncle’s guards would be everywhere now. What if one of them opens this thing and finds us here?”

“Come on,” Harrison grunted. “You have a wild imagination. No guard would be in the middle of an abandoned barn when there is news of our enemies breaching the city walls.

“Don’t do this, Harry…” I started.

“Help!” he cried, ignoring me. “I can’t have you attempt to kill me twice in one day.”

Just then, we heard the familiar sound of the metal rim. It popped open a second later and a hand reached in to grab us.

“Told you,” Harrison winked at me.

He grabbed the hand and the person pulled him out of the dark tunnel.

I paused for a second in anticipation of Harrison's warning and as expected, I heard his scream the next second.

“It’s a trap Xavier!” he cried. “It's…”

I waited, listening but his warning didn’t come anymore.

“Harry?”

The next second, his limp body fell through the opening and down on me. Blood was flowing freely from a cut on his neck.

“Harry!” I cried, holding him. “I’ll get you treatment. Hang in there.”

He coughed, spluttering black blood from his mouth all over me and his eyes twitched.

“Harrison,” I called one last time. He did not hear me, however. His eyes were stationary already. He was dead.

I allowed him to drop to the floor and I watched as he dissolved into dust. I felt the tears well up in my eyes and this time, I couldn’t hold them in. I cried for my friend in the dark tunnel. His only offense was trying to help me recover what was rightfully mine, but he had died like a rogue.

I wiped my tears and stood up from the floor. I was going to avenge Harrison, even if it was with the last drop of blood in my body. It was either my uncle, Lartes, or his accomplice, Anna. All I needed to do was to start finding clues.

And this time, I knew where I was going to start my search from.