My breath catches. "It's Julius, he found us."
Darien grabs my shoulders and shoves me behind him. "Get down."
I nod and crouch down until my head is covered by the tall ferns below us. Darien crouches down next to me and draws his index finger to his lips. My eyes grow wide as the men's voices drift closer to us. I catch sight of movement in the grass a few meters away.
"Alissa," I whisper.
Darien looks at me. "What?"
I point to a little girl's foot poking out of the grass a few meters away.
Darien's eyes grow wide as Julius and his men come into view and start advancing towards Alissas. My heart stops as I realize they are only a few inches away from her.
I slowly begin moving towards her before Darien snags me around the waist. He slaps his hand over my mouth and pulls me back. I struggle under his tight grip.
"It's not safe, princess," he whispers.
I crease my eyebrows and struggle harder. I swallow my scream as they part the grass where Alissa is. My eyes grow even wider as Julius's beady eyes catch sight of her.
His sickening voice sends chills down my spine. "Well, well, well boys. What do we have here?"
A tear slips out of my eye as Alissa whimpers.
Julius bends over, making his fat belly look even fatter. He picks up Alissa in his arms as she struggles.My breathing speeds up.
I silently pray to whoever's listening.
Please, help her. Don't let them kill her.
Julius's head snaps towards us as the grass near my feet rustles. Darien tightens his grip on me as I freeze in place.
He nods to one of his men. The skinny man walks over to where we're hiding. He parts the grass next to us. Relief washes over me as the move away from us. Julius hand Alissa to the man.
"They're not here, let's move out. Darien's ship is still here, which means they're somewhere in this half of the kingdom."
"And the girl?" one of the men asks.
Julius throws Alissa a disgusted look. "Kill her."
I finally rip free of Darien's grasp and stand up from my hiding place. Darien tries to pull me back down, but it's too late. Julius has already spotted us.
He cocks his head to the side. I tip my chin.
"Leave her alone."
He laughs, making his belly jiggle.
Darien comes up behind me as Julius raises his gun.
YOU ARE READING
RULE (Completed)
Adventure"You are queen now, start acting like it." Ariana has waited her entire life to become queen and rule her country. But things prove to be much more difficult than she ever thought they would be. After the death of her beloved father, her mother sudd...
