As soon as Regis disappeared through the front door of the house, Jacob signaled to the soldiers and jogged quietly toward the building. He drew his revolver from its holster at his waist and held the weapon tensely in both hands below his hips. Usually, he didn’t involve himself in matters beyond the walls of the capital. He had been a soldier in the army twelve years ago but had since been assigned as a personal guard to the royal family. He’d always been a hard worker, and after a decade of loyal service to King Atlas, he’d been promoted to the position of captain of the royal guard. His range of expertise had thus been limited to the palace, and he rarely found himself in a situation that required him to prepare for combat. However, that didn’t mean he was incapable of falling back on the old habits he’d developed when he had been a soldier.

Sporting a bulletproof vest for protection, he turned his gun’s safety off as he led the way into the house with the other members of his team directly behind him. He’d been prepared to break the door down, but to his surprise, it seemed like the rebel leader had left it unlocked. The man was either very confident that he was safe here, or he was unexpectedly forgetful. Either way, the oversight allowed him and the other men to slip inside without drawing attention to themselves.

Moving slowly, Jacob remained on high alert for movement, his dark eyes flitting back and forth over the room they had entered. He’d expected to find more people here than just Regis, but it seemed like the leader of the rebellion was more solitary than they had thought. There was no one else in the house.

He signaled again to the others to keep quiet, stalking toward an open door where he could hear Nox-Fleuret’s voice coming from a basement below their boots. There was nowhere for the rebel to go at this point, but they didn’t know if he was armed. There was also a chance that Caspian could be down there with him. They needed to proceed with caution to make sure that none of the soldiers or their prince got hurt. So, he guided them downstairs as silently as he could manage until the underground room came into sight.

Their efforts weren’t enough. Almost as soon as he made it to the bottom of the steps, he stiffened as Regis whirled around and began firing his gun. He quickly hit the floor to avoid the wild spray of bullets and fired a shot in return, striking the seemingly crazed man in the knee on the first try. He guessed that Regis was used to hiring others to do his dirty work for him, because none of the projectiles had hit their marks. His words had left an impact though.

While the soldiers rushed forward to apprehend the fallen rebel, Jacob stood up and took his first real look at the basement. When he did, he felt his mouth grow dry. “Jesus…” he whispered, his gaze traveling over a cell that was thoroughly covered in blood. Some of it had pooled and congealed near the back wall, while some of it had been streaked and spattered on the floor as if whoever it belonged to had been fighting for his life. He stepped over to the row of bars, scrutinizing the sight with a concerned frown. The only thing missing was a body, but he was smart enough to deduce that the blood had come from their missing royal.

“What the fuck did you do with the prince?” one of the soldiers behind him yelled at Regis. The team had disarmed the rebel and pinned his arms behind his back to prevent him from getting away.

“Where is he?” another man pitched in angrily, standing inches away from Nox-Fleuret’s face.

Jacob turned around and stepped over to join the group with a frigid expression painting his chiseled features. If the rebels had killed their future king, he was interested in knowing as well.