“To the queen’s suite, Gabriel, Eddie!” he ordered and ran back into the palace. Inside, he charged down the service stairs and ran along the corridor as if the sun were on his heels.
Meanwhile, he sent his thoughts to her. Faye, don’t take the tunnels. Come back! It’s too dangerous.
But there was no reply.
I won’t be angry. Please just come back.
Still, there was no reply.
The door to Faye’s suite stood wide open. Cain charged in, Gabriel and Eddie on his heels. It was empty. Without a thought for the confidentiality of the tunnels, he touched the mechanism to open the hidden door in full view of his two friends. As soon as the door opened, he squeezed through it and entered the passageway.
“Faye!” he called out to her, his voice echoing in the confined space.
He inhaled deeply. He could only smell his own and Faye’s scent, indicating that no strangers had entered the secret passageway that led toward the tunnels. Stunned, he froze while Gabriel and Eddie stepped into the corridor.
“What?” Gabriel asked.
Cain turned to him. “She didn’t take this route.”
“Then which way?”
“I don’t know.” He’d never revealed the other secret doors that led into the tunnels, though he’d planned to do so once she was queen. But he’d never gotten the chance. “She doesn’t know any of the other secret passages.”
“How many are there and where?”
“Shit!” Cain cursed, suddenly realizing that she knew of one other entrance. “The cell. I told her how I escaped from the cell. She must be using that entrance to the tunnel.” But with some luck it would take her a while to find the mechanism that opened the door. It would slow her down and give him a chance to stop her.
Gabriel and Eddie were already charging out of the queen’s suite, Cain now chasing them. Cain ran faster, passing them at the next turn and racing ahead of them toward the cellblock. He reached it moments later.
The door to the cell he and Robert had been in was open. Cain barreled inside. It was empty, but an odd smell lingered. It reminded him of something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
His eyes wandered to the place where the secret door was hidden, but it was closed. Had Faye not been here yet? Or had she simply closed it behind her to make sure nobody found it? It was the more likely scenario.
Desperate to stop her, Cain walked to the wall and laid his hand over the hidden mechanism.
“Your Majesty, wait!”
He swiveled and saw David hurry into the cell. Cain breathed a sigh of relief. Faye hadn’t made it into the tunnel yet.
“Oh thank God!” Cain let out, almost wanting to hug David. “Faye?” He looked past the older vampire to search for her. “Where is she?”#p#分页标题#e#
David lowered his lids. “Somebody took her.”
Cain’s heart stopped and inside him the beast roared. “Who? Who took her?”
“Your brother. I heard her say his name.”
“Fuck!” Why hadn’t she called out for help to him? Why hadn’t she used their telepathic bond to communicate that she needed help?
He sucked in a shaky breath and with it the bitter smell that lay in the air. He recognized it now. “Wesley’s potion.”
He stared at Gabriel and Eddie who were now crowding into the cell.
“He knocked her out with Wesley’s potion.”
Cain whirled to the secret door in the stone wall. “I have to save her.”
43
Even though Cain had been able to figure out which branch of the vast tunnel system Abel had taken by following his brother’s and Faye’s scent, he’d lost their trail when they’d surfaced in a wooded area about three miles from the palace.
Cain cursed and turned to John. The leader of the king’s guard looked agitated and Cain knew why.
“Abel will have had ample time by now to arrange for his jailor to hurt Nicolette,” John said, his eyes pleading.
“Wesley put the protection spell on her, didn’t he?”
John nodded. “But we have no way of knowing that it worked. Please, give me a couple of men, and let me free her. Wesley has her location.” He shoved a hand through his dark hair. “And who knows? Maybe Abel is on his way there himself. Baltimore was guarding Nicolette when they caught me and, knowing that you banned Baltimore from the palace after he got back, we must assume Baltimore returned there again and relieved his men. He’s Abel’s closest confidante. If anybody knows what Abel is planning, then it’s Baltimore.”
Even though Cain knew that John would say anything to make his case for a swift rescue of his lover, he couldn’t deny that John had a point about Baltimore. If anybody knew where Abel could be hiding, or where he was heading, it had to be his right hand man.