Caged Kitten (All the Queen's Men #2) - Rhea Watson Page 0,121

of here should be a breeze.”

My snort had them both scowling, eyes narrowed and mouths in dreadfully serious thin lines, and I blew each a kiss before plugging my nose and shoving the fried egg in my mouth. Wretched. Tasted worse than it looked, not an ounce of seasoning save for the slightly burnt char of the grill. Yet as Rafe and Elijah fell into another hushed discussion, I sank into my own little world, mind whirring through all the possibilities of a daring escape attempt. In my time here, I hadn’t considered it all that seriously, as I’d been expecting big brother Rollo to charge the gates with half the Midnight Court’s army at his heels.

Apparently I would have to get myself out of trouble this time.

Tedious.

But necessary.

The boys were right: with each day that Katja refused the warden’s demand to respect the blood contract—a situation I understood in my bones, my kind accustomed to deals—he grew closer and closer to snapping. And if he couldn’t claim her, mind, body, and soul, then he might eventually just kill her.

Couldn’t have that.

No. No, no, no, no.

Wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

Breaking out of Xargi Penitentiary was the challenge of a lifetime, for it seemed near impossible…

But perhaps it was time to defy the impossible. Perhaps Prince Fintan of the Midnight Court ought to shatter expectations—just this once.

Prove them all wrong.

Be the hero.

Defend my warped little family against our enemies.

And for once, come out on top by my own merit.

Or…

Idea. A flash of brilliance. I grinned, shoving the second egg in my mouth, and then gagged dramatically at the assault on my taste buds.

Or, I suppose I could just buy our way out of here.

Everyone had a price, and it was time for the right witless pawn to finally name it.

24

Katja

Purposefully ignoring my boys, especially as Rafe tried to navigate the world without his fangs, was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.

And it had only been a day.

And… You know, not counting my entire family dying and then having to listen to the grim details from a psychopath who thought he literally owned me. That was harder—on my heart, on my mind. But my body yearned to be near Elijah. Longed to sidle up to the fire and bask in the warmth. I missed whispering with Rafe for hours through that mousehole between our cells, and I was desperate to spend today’s greenhouse shift with Fintan—nine hours of laughter and chatter with a dash of actual gardening.

Sad, really, to feel so bereft without them. I mean, they hadn’t been in my life for all twenty-nine years, and then, bam, there they were—like they had been there all along. Scary to consider the intensity of our bonds, both as individuals and as a group, but for their own sake, I had to stay away. Distance myself. Push back anytime they tried to wriggle closer like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Because it was the most natural thing—easy and simple, normal in a place that was anything but.

I didn’t realize any of this until I went without.

Didn’t realize what I’d had until I lost it.

Sure, I had been aware that they catered to me, forming a protective trio of handsome muscle so that no one could touch me when they were around. It still made me a little uncomfortable, having all these men standing up for me, fighting for me, getting in trouble for me, but going without it today and yesterday had been… shitty.

Terrible.

Not the lack of protection—just the lack of them. I had a solo bakery shift yesterday, Elijah stuck in the metal shop, which meant it had been easy enough to pretend they didn’t exist. As soon as we all reconvened in the cellblock, however, it became infinitely more difficult. Even Tully seemed a bit judgmental when I just hid out in my cell, interacting with no one. Thompson was gone—he hadn’t come back since my attack—and the rest of the guards were obviously in Guthrie’s pocket. Hopefully they had already reported to him that suddenly I was a loner, that his plan was working.

I would never give in… but let him think he had won this small battle by isolating me. If it meant keeping my guys safe, I could take this—the heartache, the longing, the loneliness.

Unfortunately, Fintan was the most difficult to ignore. Elijah and I had our fated mate connection, which made my body topsy-turvy when I forcefully distanced myself from