"Aria," Lex said from behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She turned to face him. To her surprise, he pulled her towards him and hugged her.
"Find Grace," he whispered. "Get her out of here."
"I will," she whispered back, "I-I'm so sorry."
He pulled back so that he could look at her. "I wish...I wish I would have met you sooner," he said, not caring if the people around them heard.
"I'll get you out of this. I promise, Lex," she whispered.
He nodded.
"Lex, I-I-"
"Let's go," one of the guards said, pushing Aria to the side and grabbing Lex's good arm. The other guard grabbed his other side, and he winced in pain.
They didn't wait a second before dragging him away.
"Stay down there, guard him," Warren ordered.
Aria's I love you died in her throat as she watched them take him out of the room.
Chapter 38
She shook her head, trying to compose her thoughts. I'll tell him. I'll tell him when all of this is over.
She couldn't think about what if. She had to find Grace. She turned to go, but Katy grabbed her arm.
"Where are you going?"
"I have to find my friends," Aria said, yanking her arm out of Katy's grasp. As happy as she was to see her mother, she couldn't believe what circumstances had brought them back together. How her mother could be part of something like this.
"Aria, I just got you back..."
"I have to find my friends," Aria repeated, meeting her mother's teary gaze with a stern look.
"Am I free to leave? Or do you want to lock me in the dungeon as well?" she asked, turning to face Warren.
"Of course not, Aria. I'd appreciate it if you found your friends and brought them down here. I'm organizing my guards to go door to door in a few minutes."
"Why?"
"So that we can send all the others out," he said.
"There are many more of them than there are of you," Aria said, narrowing her eyes.
"That may be so. But we've taken all the entrances. And we have the guns. None of them will get in. And I've told my men to tell them that as long as they leave quietly, we'll let them live."
"How very noble of you," Aria said. After that, she turned away, walking out of the throne room.
When she was finally out of their sight, she took a deep breath and started running. She didn't know how much time she had, but she had to find Grace. She had to make sure that she was okay. It was what Lex had wanted.
Aria ran to Grace's quarters.
When she saw that the doors were already open, her stomach dropped.
She went inside anyway, but she knew what she'd find; nothing.
Grace was gone.
She started running again. She had to find her friends.
She ran through the palace, the cold air making it hard for her to breathe. She decided to head to Mara's room first.
When she turned the last corner, she stopped short, noticing a group of people at the end of the hall.
"Aria," Mara yelled, "What the hell is going on? We heard shooting!"
Brent, Isla, Martinez, and Peter were all with her.
"They've-they've taken the palace," Aria huffed. She was out of breath.
"Who?" Martinez asked.
"Your people," a voice behind Aria said.
Aria turned, and the others did the same. Grace stood at the end of the hall, sword in hand.
"Where's my brother?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Grace," Aria said, "We have to get you out of here."
"Where is he?"
"He's alive," Aria said, "They've taken him, but he's alive. They're going to make all of you leave. They killed most of the guards. We have to get you out of here."
Grace turned to walk away.
"Grace," Aria yelled, running towards the girl. The group behind her followed. "Didn't you hear what I said? We have to get you out of here! We don't have much time!"
"I'm not going anywhere without my brother," Grace said.
"It's what he wanted. He told me to get you out of here," Aria yelled. They were losing time; someone could show up at any minute.
"Shut up," Grace said, "This is all your fault!"
"What?" Aria asked.
"He told you! He told you about who they were and what they'd done! And still, you pushed him! Pushed him to find them, and he did! And now they've come here and taken our home. I heard what their leader said, Aria. 'This land is ours now'?"
"No Grace..I-I didn't-"
Grace put her hand on her sword.
"Grace, please," Mara said, moving to stand beside Aria. "Aria didn't do this. We-we had no idea..."
"Yes, you did. All of you knew, but you were too blind to see it. And now I've lost-I've lost my home, my people. My brother," Grace said, her voice breaking at the end of the sentence. She shook her head. "He-he's my family. He's all I have."
"I know that," Mara said, "We know that. But you won't be of any use to him right now. We need to get you out of here."
"I'm not going anywhere without my brother," Grace repeated.
"Fine," Aria said. She had an idea. "But at least let us hide you, for now. Just until things calm down enough for us to think of a plan, okay?"
"Grace, come on..." Mara said, pleading.
"Okay," Grace finally said.
"We can hide her in our room," Peter said, nodding at Brent.
"Take her there. Wait until the guards come by so that they know it's your room. And then lock the door and meet us in the throne room," Aria said.
She wasn't sure how she was even standing upright. She felt tired and weak. And her head had begun to throb where Edwards had hit her. And she couldn't stop thinking about what could be happening to Lex, to the people in this palace at this very moment.
Brent and Peter nodded and led Grace away. Aria, Isla, Mara, and Martinez made their way back to the throne room.
On the way there, they reencountered the guards and stated their identities. Aria couldn't even look at
