“Yes.” I jumped off him and snatched up all of my clothes. “But we can’t tell anyone. It’s our secret.” I pulled my clothes on and rushed over to help him put his shirt on. It was like dealing with someone who’d had a few too many tequila shots. Blessedly, he wasn’t likely to puke.
My heart was slamming now. I patted his cheeks hard, trying to clear his eyes. I shouldn’t have let things go so far. I had to get him out of here. But the guards would not be okay with this. I looked up at the ceiling. What the heck was I going to do?
I backed away from where Navis sat sloppily on the edge of the bed.
“I need you to call your guard and tell him you decided to have a night lesson with the children. Tell them to pull a bus around and wake the kids. I’ll drive it.”
“I . . .” He pinched the skin between his eyes. “A bus?”
“Stand up.” I started to feel frantic. His hair was sticking straight out in all directions, and I quickly combed it down with my fingers, trying not to be seductive with my touches. “You need to be able to walk straight.”
“Yes.” He was slowly pushing to his feet when the door burst open and I screamed, hitting the wall.
Five Baelese guards rushed in, brandishing their rifles. Senator Navis blinked and stood, wavering slightly. Before he could say a word, a familiar woman marched through the center, and a chill fell over the room.
The Senator stared, taking far too long to process before whispering, “Vahni?”
She cocked her head with a morbid jerk. “Did you think we would let you play house with the human forever?”
My heart nearly stopped. She couldn’t talk to him like that. What was she doing here?
He stood taller, and I was proud to see how quickly he was snapping out of his stupor. “You have been banished from these headquarters. Guards, take her into custody.” None of them moved or took their rifles off of us. I leaned heavily against the wall as dread crawled over my skin.
Vahni merely blinked. “Iam Bahntan now, Navis. It has been decided. You have dishonored yourself and our people. You served your purpose feigning to be a human leader, but you are not fit to rule our kind. You wereneverfit to rule.”
No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening!
Navis gave her a hard glare. “Your greed has gone too far. Do you know what humans call those like you? Narcissistic.”
“Do you know what they call those like you?Weak.” She lifted a handgun. “And dead.” A deafening shot rang out, echoing against the walls with my screams.
I covered my ears and slid down the wall as Navis fell back and crumbled into a heap.
“No.” I crawled toward him, but blood flowed faster than I thought possible. Before I could touch his still body, Vahni shouted in Baelese, and the guards converged. I screamed as they lifted me to my feet to face her.
“Each of these guest quarters was given an alarm clock,” she said. “How interesting that yours is missing, and that my soldiers came across a strange signal coming from Primo Town this evening.”
I shook my head, blood draining from my face as fast as it drained from the Senator’s chest. I couldn’t help but take one last look down at him, a sob rising from deep inside me. He was dead, a pawn of the Baelese.
“Apparently two executions was not enough to strike fear into human hearts this week,” she said. “We will have to make this one more memorable.”
She marched from the room, and the guards yanked me out, their fingers digging into my flesh.
