THE KING’S VESTIGE

Chapter 3

Thorne Caspian smiled at the bodies on the floor like he had walked into a gallery, not a massacre.

Kade stayed next to Aunt Mira and watched him walk around like he owned the place. Maybe he did own everything in this city, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was finding Lyric before it was too late.

"So you're the famous King of the North." Caspian stopped moving and looked at him with eyes that gleamed with cruel amusement. "I heard you won an entire war with one strategy. Heard armies gave up just because they knew your name." He circled closer, his expensive shoes clicking against the blood-stained floor. "Tell me, does it feel different killing people who can't fight back? Or is that not your style?"

"Where is my sister?" Kade's voice was flat and emotionless.

Caspian pulled out a cigarette and lit it before speaking, taking his time as if he had all night. "You don't get to ask questions here. This is my city. My family runs everything. The police work for us. The judges work for us. The mayor, the councilmen, even the people who deliver your mail." He blew smoke toward the ceiling, watching it curl and dissipate. "You're wanted for crimes, you know. Running away with a minor. Maybe even connected to your mother's death. The official story still has some holes in it, doesn't it? I could have you arrested right now. One phone call and twenty squad cars show up. How long do you think you'd last in one of our prisons?"

Kade's jaw tightened, but he kept his composure. "The auction," he said as he stood up slowly, his muscles coiled and ready. "That's where she is."

Caspian's smile changed slightly, becoming sharper and more dangerous. "Smart. Very smart. But knowing where she is won't help you. That place is locked down tighter than a military compound. Guards everywhere, all of them trained killers. Cameras watching everything, every angle, every entrance. You'd never make it inside, and even if you did, you'd never make it out alive."

Sirens started in the distance, getting louder with each passing second. Multiple units by the sound of it. Caspian wasn't lying. The Thorne family owned the cops, and they were coming in force.

"Tell me about the auction," Kade said as he pulled Caspian's arm higher, watching him wince in pain.

"You're crazy." Caspian tried to get away, but Kade held him firmly in place. "The Gilded Cage is the most secure place in the city. It's underground, protected by people who make your war buddies look like children. Even if you got in, which you won't, you'd never get out. They don't let people just walk away with what they bought. There are protocols, verification processes, transfer procedures that take hours."

Kade shoved him forward with controlled force. Caspian fell into the pool of blood near Aunt Mira, and his expensive suit turned dark red. He scrambled back, wiping his face with hands that wouldn't stop shaking, looking down at the blood on his clothes with horror.

"You're making a mistake," he said desperately, his voice breaking. "A huge mistake. My aunt will destroy you. She'll take everything you love. Everyone you care about. She'll make you watch while she ruins it all, piece by piece. That's what she does. That's what she's good at. She doesn't just kill people—she erases them. Makes it like they never existed."

"She already did." Kade looked at Aunt Mira, who was barely breathing, her chest rising and falling in shallow, irregular movements.

"You can't do that." Caspian shook his head, not quite believing what he was hearing. 

"Watch me."

Police kicked the door down with a thunderous crash, yelling for everyone to get on the ground. Multiple officers flooded in, weapons drawn. Kade picked up Aunt Mira as gently as he could and ran for the back window. Caspian screamed at them to shoot, his voice hysterical.

Kade went through the glass, feeling it slice across his arms and shoulders as he protected Aunt Mira from the worst of it. He hit the alley hard, rolling to absorb the impact, and kept running while gunshots echoed behind him. Bullets hit the walls, sending pieces of brick flying everywhere, creating small explosions of dust and debris.

Aunt Mira coughed, and more blood stained Kade's shoulder, soaking through his shirt. "Kade."

"Don't talk," he said as he turned down another alley, his lungs burning from the exertion. "I'm getting you to a hospital."

"No." She grabbed his arm weakly, her fingers barely able to hold on. "They'll find me there. They have people everywhere. Finish this first."

"You're dying."

"Then let me die free." More coughing followed, along with more blood that spilled from her lips. "Promise you'll save her. Promise me that Lyric won't end up like your mother. Promise me she'll have a chance at a real life."

"I promise," Kade said, his voice thick with emotion he rarely allowed himself to feel.

She smiled as her eyes closed, and her breathing became so quiet he could barely detect it.

Kade found an abandoned building three blocks over and kicked the door open. He put her down as gently as he could on what looked like an old mattress and called his contacts, military people who could send a medic with no questions asked. People who owed him favors from the war.

While he waited, he looked at his hands, which were covered in blood—Aunt Mira's blood, the blood of the men who attacked her, maybe even his own from the glass. He couldn't tell whose anymore, and it didn't matter.

The Gilded Cage. That's where they took Lyric. That's where he needed to be before the sun came up.

He walked to the broken window and stared out at City B, at all those glittering lights that represented power and wealth and corruption. All those people down there thought nobody could touch them, thought their money and connections made them invincible.

Kade looked at the blood on his hands again and remembered his promise to Aunt Mira.

If his sister was sold tonight, this city would burn tomorrow. And he would be the one holding the match.