Levi was going to make it. He was going to be okay. Those thoughts rattled around her mind as hope overshadowed her fear for a brief moment. Then the rock he clung to pulled loose.

“Watch out!” Cassie cried.

Levi’s grip on her ankle tightened when he let go of the falling rock. He rolled to his side, and the rock tumbled past him and over the edge.

The sudden loss of his handhold doubled the weight pulling against Cassie. The boulder cut into her hand, and she gasped, her heart pounding.

She pulled herself upward with every ounce of strength she possessed. Inch by inch, Levi drew closer, finally reaching the spot beside her.

He sat up and pressed his back against the rock. His breathing came out in ragged breaths. “You could have been killed.”

“I couldn’t . . .” Cassie began. “I couldn’t . . .”

Levi put his hand on her knee. “Thank you.”

She nodded, unable to form words.

A new round of gunfire sparked the air.

Cassie cringed. “I hate to complain, but I’d really like for the shooting to stop.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Levi seemed to gather his strength before he pulled his legs underneath him and prepared to stand. “Can you stay here?”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

CHAPTER 41

Julien gasped with each shot fired. Pratt had taken position in a mature olive tree. He had chosen his spot perfectly, sitting low enough that the guards would assume he was at ground level but high enough for their bullets to pass beneath him.

Pratt picked off a second guard and sent a spray of gunfire in a wide semicircle to keep reinforcements at bay, and Julien cringed when a guard at the edge of the trees sent more bullets flying only to be forced to take cover when Pratt’s bullet came within an inch of the man’s arm.

Julien looked down at the gun in his hand, his palm sweating, his arm trembling from the weight of his weapon. How did people stand this? When he was king, he was going to make sure no one could make it onto the royal grounds. He had certainly spent enough time analyzing the property for weaknesses to know where they were.

From where he crouched twenty meters behind Pratt, he saw two more guards skirting through the edge of the woods toward him. Julien ducked out of sight behind a thick tree trunk. Footsteps grew closer, one cautious step after another. Julien pressed his lips together in an effort to contain his sudden fear of discovery. He didn’t like this lack of control. Why didn’t Pratt see them? Why didn’t he take care of their newest threat?

“Do you seem him?” one man whispered to the other.

“Negative.”

Him?

The footsteps slowed, then stopped mere feet from where Julien hid.

Julien’s heart pounded, his pulse echoing so loudly in his ears he was certain the men standing a few feet away must be able to hear it.