***
Meanwhile, in the outlands...
"What do we know about Shaw?" Lux asked. She shot out a hand to press Petra back against an alley wall as two men with spiky hair passed by, laughing raucously.
Petra sighed and shook her head. "Not much. His parents were imprisoned for treason. Jayne brought him in about two months ago, said he found him hiding out in one of the burnt out houses in the outlands. He was beat up and looked like he hadn't eaten in a few days."
"Yeah, and since he got to the compound, he's been acting like we owe him something."
Petra considered. "He just wanted to be part of the inner circle."
"Yeah, well, turning Dante in wasn't the way to do it."
"I never expected he would turn on us like that. If I had known..."
"I would have booted his traitor ass right out."
Petra snorted. "Yeah, I think I would have, too. I would have taken any excuse."
"So no ideas where he might be hiding out?"
She shook her head. "No. No ideas. As far as I knew, he didn't have a friend in the world before he came to us. I don't know where he could be. Probably hiding out in the outlands again."
"He might've gotten paid enough for his information to be camped out in one of the hotels in the city center."
"We could check."
Lux snorted. "I don't think we'll have much success with that. I don't see a desk clerk giving us guest room numbers."
"Maybe your guy can get it for us."
Lux shook her head. "If he knows about the hit on the compound we might not have to."
"Why wouldn't he?"
"Because it was the hunters who hit us, not the Marshals. Don't you think the King would have sent his own people if he'd known where Dante was?"
Petra considered. "Did you find out anything about the guy who was leading them? The one who attacked Dante the first time?"
"A little. One of my contacts heard the call out for hunters, but she didn't make the hit. She doesn't go after kids."
She scowled. Petra peered out into the street. It was clear. She tilted her head, and the girls ran across to the next alley. A pile of newspapers stirred. They jumped as an old, dirty man cursed furiously at them. They ignored him. "Who is he?" Petra demanded.
"His name's Saer Dagon. No one knows that much about him. He doesn't usually work with the hunters. He works for money up front."
"He's a hit man?"
"He does jobs for the King and the Nobles. Only people who can afford to pay him. He doesn't pick up bounties. He solves problems."
"So he was sent to kill Dante."
"Maybe. I don't know. He didn't manage to do it the first time, so he might have had some other reason for going after him that night. He's good. He's the best. Even the hunters are afraid of him. They seem to think he's something inhuman. Like he's had some kind of augmentation or something. There are a lot of rumors."
"What sort of augmentation?"
"To make him faster and stronger, I guess. He was in a coma during the war, and word is some mad scientist did experiments on him. When he woke up, he killed the doctor, left him all torn up in the lab. Then he went on a rampage and killed a bunch of the King's men before they caught up to him. Scarlet didn't imprison him, though; he hired him to do his dirty work."
Petra frowned. "It sounds like a load of rubbish."
"Yeah, I thought so too. He's like a bounty hunter boogey man. Anyway, they're sure he's on some kind of drugs. He's pretty much unstoppable when he's juicing."
Petra exhaled heavily. "And he's after Dante?"
"Yeah, but like I said, he might not have been trying to kill him. The hunters seem to think that if he's sent to kill you--you're dead. You don't get a second chance."
"I think Dante took him by surprise. He remembered having a gun. He shot him."
"From the sound of it, a little gunshot isn't going to take this guy down. You saw him at the compound. He didn't look like a bullet wound was slowing him down."
Petra considered this. "If he's the one after Dante, we need to find him."
"Saer?" Lux sounded completely incredulous. "What do you think we're going to do?"
"No, not Saer. Dante. We have to make sure he knows who this guy is."
"Petra, that's nuts. What do you think we're going to do? Knock on the King's palace doors and ask to see him? What are you going to tell them--you're the girl who kidnapped him and now you want to warn him his life's in danger? Come on."
She sighed. Her chest ached. "I know it's stupid."
"Petra, we've already covered the outlands. He's made it back to the city center. He's probably back at his dad's house now. You made a mistake when you lied to him, and now he's gone. You have to let it go."
"I thought you were on my side."
"I was. I am. But now that he's back with his father, there's nothing we can do. I'm not going to let you go rushing into a bad situation because you have a crush."
Petra glared at her. "I don't have a crush."
"Whatever. Come on. We're here. Keep your guard up. This isn't the Blade. This is the outlands. This club is rough."
“The Blade isn't rough?”
“Not like this.”
The entrance to the club was in an alley across the street. No one was outside. Even in the daylight, it looked sinister and dangerous. There wasn't even a name over the beaten, peeling black door. Lux rapped once with her knuckles. A tall woman with long black hair and piercings in her nose and lip that connected with a thick, metal chain opened the door. Her eyes were sharp and suspicious. When she saw Lux, she nodded and stepped aside.
"Just keep your head down and let me do the talking," Lux ordered. "This isn't your average hunter. This is one of the King's guys. If he gets caught talking to us or has any idea we had Dante, this could get ugly for all of us. He can't be trusted."
Petra nodded. The man they were meeting looked as though he was in his late twenties. He had dark hair combed back from his face. He was clean shaven and looked well-kept, as though he spent a lot of time tending to his appearance. He wasn't handsome, but he had the look of a man who lived well.
He wasn't wearing a scarlet suit. He was dressed in neat jeans and a long black coat. There was a bulge under his arm that Petra was certain was a weapon. In the outlands, he'd need one. He'd look extremely appetizing to muggers and outlaws.
He was sitting in a table in the corner. It was a quiet place. Soft music played over the speakers. Voices hummed in the dusty corners and at the long, beaten wooden bar on the far side of the room. There were only a few people in the bar this early in the day, but there was a breathless, cagey quality to the air, like the patrons might fly at each other at any moment like animals upon their prey. It was a good place to meet if you didn't want anyone to come looking for you. Most people would have the good sense to stay away.
"Hello, Lux," the Marshal greeted.
Lux inclined her head. "Raff."
Raff's eyes flicked to Petra. He didn't ask who she was. He didn't seem to care. He nodded to her and turned back to Lux. "You wanted to talk."
"Yeah. You heard anything about the prince lately?"
Raff didn't seem particularly interested in why she wanted to know. He didn't even bat an eyelash. He shook his head. "No. He still hasn't turned up."
"What?" Petra exclaimed. Lux elbowed her in the ribs, and she snapped her mouth shut.
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you the hunters were coming," Raff told Lux with a frown. "I didn't know."
"You didn't know?" Lux sounded surprised.
"No. None of us knew. We were all shocked when we heard the hunters crashed your compound. No one had even heard the tip he was there before they hit."
Lux and Petra exchanged a frown. "The King didn't know about it?"
"We don't know if he knew. We just know we didn't know. He didn't send us."
"It was Saer Dagon. He was leading the hunters."
Raff's eyebrows traveled up tow
ard his neatly combed hair. "Saer? He was there?"
"Yeah. Any idea who would send him and why?"
"All he does is kill."
"Who does he work for?"
"You know who he works for. I've seen him around the palace. He works for the King, as far as I know. We never know what he's been hired to do until it's happened. Sometimes we don't even know then. He doesn't come out for just anything. He's the best. And he doesn't fail."
"He tried to kill the prince once," Lux told him. "He failed.
Raff stared at her for several seconds. "You have to be mistaken."
"Why?"
"If Saer went after the prince, he was sent by Scarlet."
Petra's breath caught. "Are you sure about that?"
"I've never heard of him working for anyone but the King's people. No one else can afford him. But I don't see a Noble hiring Saer behind the King's back to kill his son. Saer isn't loyal to anyone, but if someone wanted to go after the prince, they wouldn't send an assassin that's in the King's pocket. The King would find out about it. Saer would tip him the moment he offered some cash or juice. None of the Nobles would take that risk, and no one else can afford him."
Lux sat back in her seat. Her expression was blank, but Petra could see the flash in her dark eyes. "Do you know who our traitor talked to?"
"I don't know. Like I said, I never heard about the hit until afterward. The Marshals were never involved. We didn't hear a word about it until it was too late to do anything about it."
"So you think the King might want to have the prince killed?"
Lux's voice was soft, but Raff reacted as though she'd shouted it. He hissed out his breath through his teeth. "It isn't safe to make those kinds of accusations about the King."
"But you think he did!" Petra whispered.
He glared at her. Lux nudged her sharply in the ribs again. Raff scowled. "I'm not saying anything of the kind. I'm just saying that Saer works for the King. He works for other people, too."
"We have to find him," Petra hissed to Lux. "We can't let him die."
Lux glared at her incredulously, but Petra leapt to her feet before her friend could shush her again. She raced toward the door without looking back. Lux's legs were longer, and she was in better shape. She caught Petra in the alley outside. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.
"I have to find him!"
Lux stared at her. "And how exactly do you intend to do that?"
"He isn't in the palace. He's still out there in the streets."
"And you think we're just going to find him? He could be anywhere. We don't know anything about him! He could be hiding with a friend or some girl somewhere."
Petra felt as though she'd been hit in the stomach. Lux was right. They didn't know anything about Dante's life. They didn't know where he could be or who he would be with if he was in trouble. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I have to try."
Lux sighed. She reached out to catch Petra's arm as she started away. "Wait."
Petra spun angrily back to her. "What?"
"I have an idea."
"What idea?"
"I have some friends. A network around the city. They are in most of the corners. If Dante shows his face somewhere, they'll know."
Petra perked up. "You'll talk to them?"
"Yeah. I'll talk to them. I'll put them on the lookout." She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and punched in a message. She looked up at Petra. "It's done."
Petra frowned. "Is that safe?"
"Sure. I've been using them for years. I trust them."
"We trusted Shaw, too. Grey trusted me."
Lux patted her arm. "Things went horribly wrong, Petra. Suck it up. Get over it and move on." She jerked her chin. "Come on. You should get back to the safe house and check on Key. There's nothing else you can do."
Petra hesitated. She wanted to dart out into the streets and begin knocking on every door until she found Dante and warned him about Saer and his father. That was stupid, though. Finally, she sighed and nodded in resignation. "You think they'll find him?"
"If he's out there to be found, they'll find him, Petra. But right now, Key needs you."
"Yeah, you're right." She dropped her forehead in her hands. "I hope Key's all right."
"He will be. You need to have a little faith."
"I lost my faith a long time ago, Lux."