Rise An Eve Novel

was a scuff on the right toe of his boot, and the cuff of his pant was caught on the black laces. He tapped his foot nervously as he shuffled through some papers above. I froze in place, the breath throbbing in my lungs as I held it there, trying not to make a sound. Then he circled back around to the window.
    I had only a few minutes before I was trapped here. As soon as the Lieutenant came, the room would be sealed off and searched. I had to go now.
    I peered around the edge of the desk. The door was propped open. The other soldier was at the end of the hall, speaking quickly into the radio in his hand. He paced the short width of the corridor several times before turning left and disappearing from view. I crawled out from under the desk, pressing my body against the side, trying not to make any noise. The other soldier was still hovering by the windows. I could hear the occasional crackle of the radio at his belt.
    The pounding in my chest subsided. My limbs felt light as I sprung up, darting through the open door. It took a moment for the soldier to process what had happened. I kept running, pumping my arms as fast as I could, sprinting toward the end of the hall. He reached the door just as I turned, shooting two bullets into the wall behind me.
    I raced to the nearest stairwell, punching the numbers into the keypad as fast as I could. By the time he reached the end of the hall, I’d slipped inside, descending the steps three at a time. I kept going, spiraling down the open shaft, grabbing the cold railing to help me along. I was four flights down when I heard the metallic beeping of the lock, then a door opening somewhere above me. The first shot sounded, taking a chunk of concrete from the edge of the stairs. I didn’t stop, just pressed myself tightly to the wall, away from the open shaft, trying to stay out of sight.
    I didn’t get more than two flights farther when a door below me opened. I could just make out glimpses of the uniform as the person ran up the stairs. I tried to turn back, but the nearest floor was another flight above, and the other soldier was coming down, blocking my exit. As the ascending man turned, he raised his gun. We both stood there, frozen, but I saw the recognition in his face, the slow softening of his features as he realized who I was. The Lieutenant came up so quickly, I barely had time to turn. Within seconds he was there, his gun at my back.
    I held my arms up as the other soldier came down the stairs, trapping me. The Lieutenant grabbed one wrist and twisted it back, tying it to the other with a thick plastic restraint.
    “He’s dead,” the soldier said. He kept his gun aimed at me, but the Lieutenant motioned for him to bring it down.
    “Go back to the office and guard the body,” he said. “I’ll be up within the hour. You’re not to tell anyone else about this. If anyone asks, it was a false alarm. You were mistaken.” As he spoke, he yanked my arm, pulling me behind him. I struggled to catch my balance as we started down the stairs.
    “Where are you taking her?” the soldier asked.
    I strained against the plastic tie, the blood throbbing in my hands. “To the holding cell off the first floor,” the Lieutenant said. “Let the others know there’ll be another execution this evening, before sunset. All citizens should assemble outside the Palace.”
    The soldier’s expression changed. His eyes fell to my midsection. “But I thought . . .”
    “The Princess has betrayed her father,” the Lieutenant said. Then he yanked my wrists, pulling me backward into the dim hall.

thirty
    MY AUNT ROSE WALKED BESIDE THE SOLDIERS, TRYING TO STAY in front of us, where she had a better view of me. “Don’t do this,” she said. They didn’t turn to look at her as she spoke. “Where is her father? Let me speak with him. He wouldn’t want this, no matter what happened between them.”
    The gun was at the small of my back, prodding me along through the main lobby. I processed it in quick, passing glimpses—the ornate pattern in the carpet, the shrouded gaming machines, the two soldiers who stood on either side of the gold elevators. Palace workers were crying, some huddled behind the desk, watching as I passed the great fountain in the center of the entranceway. My face was swollen from where the Lieutenant had struck me, my cheekbone throbbing. After eight hours of interrogation, they’d given up. They wouldn’t stop asking me about the rebels, about where the