63. Chapter 63

Chapter sixty-three

T he brute of a man holding Haven hostage mumbled something under his breath as his partner talked. His grip tightened anytime she moved a muscle. Haven was fairly confident she could escape him if she really tried but he had whispered in her ear about how he'd have his partner slit her friends throats if she kept attempting to escape. He promised to start with Astrea and end with Pluto. His words had quickly put an end to her struggling.

She might have been able to take both men out if it weren't for the ropes around her wrists that were restricting access to her magic. She hated feeling so helpless, she could see the fear written across Rea's face, Pluto kept whinnying where he was being held by Roman and even Delroy looked worried .

Niks father had slowly been inching away, the coward that he was.

She was going to kill Nik once this was over. At first she'd thought this was just a plain robbery, that they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then she'd wondered how that was possible given how deep into the woods their group was. All it took was one glance at Nik, she'd seen the resignation on his face and immediately known he planned this.

"Why don't we just take her. Use her as ransom. I bet the kingdom would pay well to have their future queen back"

The air around Haven stilled. At first, she'd assumed they might be here to help Nik kill his father, or even kidnap him. She certainly hadn't expected those words to come out of her captors mouth.

The arm holding her captive tightened around her midsection. She could almost feel her captors smile. They probably thought they'd get a lot of money for her but Haven wasn't stupid, she knew that if it was up to the crown regent, they'd never see a dime. He'd simply fake paying for her to appease whatever uproar her kidnapping caused. Hell, Niks father was more likely to pay these men to kill her rather than return her.

Haven frantically scanned the area, she had to figure something out. There was absolutely no way she'd let these men take her.

On her second glance, she caught Niks eye. She could see the worry in them, how scared he was. It was clear as day as was his love for her. For the second time tonight, Haven began to second guess herself. Maybe he hadn't planned this, she thought, maybe this really had been a terrible coincidence. After all, someone who had known this was going to happen or who was in control of the situation wouldn't be so distraught. A single tear fell down his cheek, causing a twin tear to roll down Havens cheek.

"I'm sorry" He mouthed

Haven shook her head, her heart beating frantically against her chest. Whatever Nik was about to do, Haven knew she wouldn't like it.

"Take me" His voice was only slightly audible and she could hear the pain in it.

"No!" Haven shouted, struggling to get out of her captors clutches.

"Yes! I'm the one you want." Niks voice was louder now, full of confidence.

"Why would we take you when we can have something so much prettier?" The man holding her snarled at Nik. He drug the tip of his dagger down her cheek, the same one that had had a tear rolling down it only moments ago. It didn't break the skin but the feeling of the sharp blade caused Haven to still. One wrong move and she'd be crying tears mixed with blood.

"Because you're not stupid," Nik began, "You know exactly what's been going on. If you take her, you'll never see a drop of ransom money. The crown regent won't pay for it."

Nik gestured to where his father had been on the ground. The crown regent was nowhere in sight, Haven would like to think he was going to get help but she knew better. The only person he cared about helping was himself and allowing Haven to be kidnapped would be a great help to him.

"Where did he go?" The bloody kidnapper demanded.

"How am I supposed to know! You're the one who's holding us hostage, his disappearance is on you!" Nik answered sarcastically. He had a devilish smirk on his face. In seconds he'd gone from what Haven assumed was a tearful goodbye to being an antagonistic little shit to the fae currently holding them hostage.

She'd think it was hot if it weren't for the knife currently being repositioned against her throat.

"Very funny smartass! Maybe we will take you since you seem so keen on sacrificing yourself."

The other man started towards Nik. As he did, a look of relief washed over Niks face. Haven may not like the idea of Nik sacrificing himself but she understood it. Understanding aside, nothing was going to stop her from struggling to get out of her captors hold and shouting,

"No, let him go!"

"Quiet" The man holding her grunted. Haven tried to force her elbow back into his stomach. Unfortunately he dodged her hit but it gave her the opportunity to reach up with her bound hands, grab his wrist and pry the dagger away from her throat.

Just as she slipped out of his grip, air magic slammed into her from the front, forcing her right back into his hold. She knew one of her captors had air magic but she hadn't been expecting them to use it like that.

"You. Can't. Hold. Me." Haven punctuated each word with some kind of jab at her captor, another elbow to the ribs, her heel digging into his foot, she even tried using her fangs to bite into his wrist or arm. Unluckily for her, the dagger made its way back to her throat, forcing her to pause her escape attempts.

A bag was being forced over Niks head where he lay on the ground with his hands tied, forcing Haven back into action, dagger to her throat or not .

"No!" Haven thrashed violently, she couldn't let this happen. No matter what Nik may or may not have planned, she couldn't let these men take him. If he truly wanted to go then they could fight off these men together and then he could leave. They'd tell the kingdom he had been kidnapped, she would fake looking for him to settle the crown regent and whoever else was upset by his disappearance but it would be a lie. As much as it broke her heart, Haven knew that if that's what he wanted, she'd make it happen. No matter what it took.

Haven lurched forward just enough to have the force to slam her head backwards into her captors nose. She nicked her neck on his dagger but with the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she could barely feel it.

He stumbled back and reached up to cup his nose. His arms left her torso. Haven scrambled forward. Just as she thought she was free of him she heard,

"Oh no you don't!"

A hand clutched her dress, dragging her backwards. Before she could make sense of what was happening, pain exploded across her temple and everything went black.