Chapter l214

Chapter 0214

My adrenaline was sp iked, but had nowhere to go. I felt like I was buzzing out of my skin.

I was shaking, but didn’t know how to calm down.

At once, Julian and Nicholas moved toward me. They each took one of my hands. Nicholas placed my

hand over his heart.

“Breathe with me,” he said, and guided me. “Inhale.” He waited. “Exhale.”

Julian covered my hands with both of his. He rubbed his thumbs in small circles on the back of my palm.

They both anchored me to the here and now, rather than letting me float off among my fears and

worries, and I was grateful for each of them.

“You alright?” Nicholas asked, after a few more breathing exercises.

I wasn’t shaking anymore. “I’m getting there.”

Nicholas nodded, but he kept my hand on his chest. Julian didn’t let go of my hands either.

Though the two of them did begin to look at each other.

“We should brick this tunnel up,” Nicholas said. “Now.”

“We can’t do that,” Julian argued. “If we do, Terry will know we found the tunnel, and he’ll change whatever plan he’s concocting.”

“We want him to stop what he’s doing.”

“Ideally, yes. But he likely won’t stop, he’ll just make alterations. If he changes his plans, we’ll be back at square one without a clue or a lead. We want to keep him in the dark about what we know so he’ll be

more careless.”

“We can’t just let him do whatever he wants.”

“We won’t. We’ll be watching every move he makes. We’ll have spies stationed, like Brian, who will trail every person that comes through that door. Then we can figure out just what they’re up to.” Julian dipped his head toward me. “And we can discover Jane’s level of involvement.”

“Jane wandering around the palace could endanger Piper,” Nicholas said.

“That’s why we’ll be watching,” Julian said.

As I listened to their back and forth, I could see both sides.

The frightened side of myself wanted to brick up this passageway and never think of it again. But the part of me that was braver, the one that wanted to see justice done to the organization, knew we could

never win by burying our heads in the sand.

“What do you think, Piper?” Julian asked.

On the spot, I had no time for fear. To protect Elva, to save my sister, I had to be strong.

I swallowed hard, gathered my courage, and said, “You can’t put out a fire if you don’t stand near the flames. We have to keep the passageway open.”

Julian nodded.

Nicholas glowered. I thought he might argue, but when he opened his mouth, he surprised me. “I will

personally assign guards to watch this room and this door.

“They have to be inconspicuous,” Julian said.

“I can handle it.” Nicholas stepped back from my touch, letting my hand fall. Then he pulled out his

phone.

Julian glanced at me, then spoke to Nicholas, “I’ll walk Piper back to her room.”

Nicholas glared at him, yet before he could say a word, someone picked up on the other end of his call.

He had to turn from us to deal with them.

Julian winked at me. “Ready, Piper?”

I didn’t know if I was. If I went back to my room, I would likely be unable to sleep. But I didn’t want to

stay in this small room with that terrible tunnel any longer than I had to.

A tunnel that led straight to some type of torture basement in Terry’s mansion.

In my room, I could pretend everything was fine, that I hadn’t overheard the underground organization reached so far that they weren’t even intimidated or tempted by the crown.