The Empress' Descent

Chapter 34 - A Long Night

[Derek]

Finding out the name of the gang who had been lurking outside the palace for the recent months had taken longer. But tracking down their location took only thirty minutes.

The Scarlet Skull gang had been sneaky and wise. They'd evaded discovery for a few months now.

As usual, none of Kazriel's advisers gave a care for the gang's existence. They dismissed his concerns as "ridiculous" and "impossible" for someone in the palace to be involved with petty gangs. For all Derek knew, the suspect was in Ethan's inner circle. Or perhaps it was Ethan himself.

A surge of illnesses was happening in the court and Derek was confident that something was amiss. Kazriel's rule had been shaky from the beginning and even shakier now that Grand General Ethan had grown ever complacent on where he stood.

Derek had put the pieces together yesterday. Sicknesses and the appearance of a gang. The first victim was Lady Penelope. Then Lord Arden and others more. And it was no wonder that the courtiers from Empress Athelina's administration became the next cases of sudden unidentifiable diseases.

A storm was brewing within the ornate halls of Solaria's royal palace, poisonous and lethal.

Being the Duke of the East and Head of Solaria's Public Order meant that Derek could act on his own accord.

He'd only brought five men, including Erix, to Cherville. They were quick to subdue the gangsters, and Derek pressed forward in the grubby and sooty corridors to find their boss.

Derek thought he was the first to crack down Scarlet Skull's headquarters. But he was wrong.

Someone else had been quicker. This someone had beaten him to it.

While his men dealt with the gangsters in the lower floors, Derek had passed by a room with four bloody gangsters lying on the floor, groaning and clinging for dear life.

His heartbeat skidded to a gallop, his legs moving faster. At the end of the corridor was a room and in it, Derek heard someone shout.

Without thinking twice, he'd forcefully opened the door and barged in.

Scarlet Skull's head had company.

One of his men was pointing a crossbow at a cloaked figure with a small frame.

Derek would recognize those azure eyes anywhere. Even if they were wide with shock. Even if half her face was hidden by a black cloth. Derek would know the trace of that pointed nose and the outline of her lips—admittedly, he'd spent unwarranted seconds staring at them.

A deep gash ran through her leg. Her flesh had been cut deep.

Anger sparked in Derek's chest, black gathering at the corners of his vision.

And as if reality had sunk in, Clary jumped out of the window.

"No!" Derek bellowed.

The boss swore. "Gods-damned it!"

Derek's instincts took over him. He grabbed the boss by the collar without much struggle and threw him toward the spooked gangster glued to the wall.

They attempted to run but Derek—despite the gangster being larger than him—hauled them both out to the corridor, his mind snagged by Clary along with her escape.

Erix appeared from the staircase.

"Interrogate them," Derek said as he went back to the room.

"What?" Erix said from behind. "Where are you going? Why do I need to—"