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"But what did I do to draw their suspicion? Why would they believe I knehere Xander was?" I still didn’t understand

"You didn’t do anything, Charlie" Max’s hand reached over and slipped around htly I didn’t have tiesture; his next sentence explained it all "One of the people they tortured was your friend Aron"

For aIt wasn’t until Angelina tugged atme that she was still therethat they were all still there, watching uish that threatened to clogat each one of theuards who had sworn their lives to protect their prince At Xander’s well-ar Brooklynn, who had sworn their lives to their cause And at Angelina, who stared back atblue eyes

Aron I couldn’t fathom it They had tortured Aron to find ht know?

It was only a bonus, I supposed, that they’d discovered theroyal family in th

e process

I felt sick to ers clutched his, if only to remain on my feet

"Did they--" But I couldn’t finished my sentence

Then Brooklynn, who had been silent up until this moment, finished for me, and in her tormented words I heard her, the person she’d been before I’d lost her to a rebellion "So it wasfor, not Charlie" Her voice sounded hollow, and then she whispered her question--our question--on a shaky breath "Did they kill him?"

"No," Max answered "When I left, he was still alive"

I felt her shuddering sigh all the way froelina, as if it werethat I wasn’t alone in this, that Brooklynn was still withbecause Aron had suffered, that ht now, releasing Max’s hand just to prove that I could I held ht "Then we need to save hiht"

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