He glances at his watch. “Guards change in two minutes. When they do, it’ll be Hayes and Annemarie out there. They’ll let you go.”

“Are you sure?”

Kenneth nods. “Hayes hates it here. Annemarie wants more responsibility, and Eric will never give that to a woman. She’ll bet on you.”

Lynell nods. “Thank you, Kenneth.” She reaches out and places her left arm, the hand still wrapped in bandages, on his shoulder. “Whatever you want.”

He shrugs. “Just peace.”

Lynell nods. “As soon as this is over,” she promises. “As soon as I can.” She turns to Ramsey. “You both need to leave as soon as you can. You need to—”

Ramsey shakes his head and steps forward. “I’m not leaving my post.”

“Ramsey . . .”

“I’m a Registration kid. My parents worked for Gideon. I was born into this life. I was raised for this. I’m not leaving my post.”

Lynell sighs, but nods.

“It’s time,” Kenneth says. “Guards should’ve just changed. I’ll check.”

Lynell holds the knives close to her chest as Kenneth pulls a key from his belt and unlocks the door. He opens it, leans out, and asks, “Just you two?”

“Yes,” a woman, Annemarie, says.

Kenneth nods. “Take a break.”

“What? Ken—”

“Let’s take a break, Marie,” Hayes says. Lynell is certain he’s caught on and wants to take this opportunity to run. She can hear it in his voice.

There’s a long pause before Annemarie says, “Fine.”

Then Kenneth looks back at Lynell and opens the door to an empty hallway. “Take your castle, Ms. Elysian.”

Was Daniel scared when he did this same thing almost a week ago? Did Zach lead him through these same dark hallways, heading to the dungeons rather than away? How many people did he have to kill?

She wonders if her story will end the same way as Daniel’s. But even if it did, no bullet can ever hurt as bad as the one that hit Daniel.

After they reach the top of the stairs, Ramsey motions for Lynell to go left down a small hallway. She pauses, holding the knives in her hand so tight that even the hilts seem to be cutting into her skin. Ramsey turns and raises an eyebrow, pointing behind him with his thumb.

“Is that the way out?” she whispers.

He nods.

She chews on the inside of her cheek, looking left, then right. Her chest feels tight, whether from anxiety or grief or the idea that freedom is so close, she doesn’t know. The end of the hallway is dark and quiet. “How am I going to take the castle if I don’t get rid of the king?” Lynell asks.

His eyes narrow, and he extends the gun slightly, seemingly prepared to follow her wherever she leads. “Are you ready for that? Look, I’ll do what you think is best but our priority has to be safety.”

“If we leave now, he’ll come after me. I can’t keep running. We have to stop it all.”