Chapter 70: Deadly Coincidence

"We... we suspected someone would try to make a move against Prince Darius tonight," Leo explained, stepping forward as he lowered his gun and secured it back in its holster.

"That’s why we came to visit and couldn’t leave when you asked us to."

Basil’s eyes narrowed, not even bothering to hide his suspicion over why Darius’s supposed friends would know something like that.

"Where are my guards?" he demanded. "Why aren’t they here?"

"They’re lying unconscious in the hallway," Leo said quietly, his jaw tight. "Looks like a fast-acting aerosol gas was pumped through the intake vent right outside your door."

Marcus finally stepped further into the room, his boots clicking softly against the floor. He looked down at the assassin pinned beneath Basil. "Leave him to me. I can make him talk."

Basil immediately looked at him with even more suspicion, but before he could question Marcus’s intentions, Marcus’s leg snapped forward, driving his heavy boot directly into the side of the attacker’s head with a sickening crack.

The man’s body went completely limp, his head snapping back before thudding uselessly against the floor. Basil jumped back, his eyes wide with fury as he stared at Marcus.

"What the hell are you doing? We needed him alive! We need to know who ordered this!"

"Relax, Your Highness," Marcus said calmly. He rolled the unconscious assassin onto his back with the toe of his boot. "He’s still breathing. I’m just making sure he doesn’t bite down on a cyanide capsule, probably hidden in his back molar. Assassins always carry those to avoid being captured alive, especially when they know there’s a chance they might be interrogated."

He crouched beside the unconscious man and grabbed his jaw, forcing his mouth open. He carefully inspected the assassin’s teeth, running his thumb along the back molars before spotting something wedged against the gum. "There it is."

He reached inside with two fingers and carefully pried out a tiny capsule before holding it up between his fingertips. Basil stared at it, his anger giving way to grim realization.

"See?" Marcus said, holding up the capsule. "We just prevented him from killing himself before we could get any answers. Now we can find out who sent him and why they wanted the Prince dead."

Basil stared at the tiny capsule between Marcus’s fingers for several long seconds, his chest still rising and falling in sharp, ragged breaths from the fight. Blood from the cut on his cheek was beginning to cool against his jaw.

Then his gaze shifted from Marcus to Leo, his eyes narrowing as he processed everything that had happened. "You guys aren’t actually Darius’s friends, are you?" he asked, the silence in the room suddenly stretching thin.

Leo and Marcus exchanged a swift, almost imperceptible glance.

"Not really, Your Highness," Leo answered.

There was no point hiding it anymore. Whether they wanted to be the ones to tell him or not, Prince Basil would eventually find out the whole truth. He didn’t even seem like the kind of person who would let them leave without a proper explanation. Besides, as the central figure in everything that was happening around him, the secret wouldn’t stay buried for much longer before it came to light.

"Who exactly are you guys?" Basil demanded, stepping closer. "And how exactly did you know something like this was going to happen?"

Leo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Um, the thing is, Your Highness—"

A sharp hum of a vibrating phone suddenly cut through the room.

Everyone’s head snapped toward the small desk beside the window where Basil’s phone was buzzing violently against the wooden surface.

Without taking his eyes off the two men, Basil slowly backed away and reached for the device. His gaze never left them as he picked it up. He refused to turn his back on either of them.

He glanced down at the illuminated screen. His brow furrowed the moment he saw the caller ID.

A knot immediately formed in his stomach.

Why is the Queen calling at this hour?

He swiped the screen and brought the phone to his ear, his eyes instantly lifting back to Leo and Marcus, maintaining unbroken eye contact.

"Hello, Mother," Basil said, his voice hard.

He listened intently, the silence of the hospital room making the quiet hum of the receiver audible. As the voice on the other end spoke, the tension in Basil’s posture suddenly shattered. He froze. Every muscle in his body locked into place.

"What?!" Basil whispered, his voice barely more than a strained breath, the color draining entirely from his face. "What did you say happened to Nanny Linda?"

Marcus and Leo exchanged another glance.

Basil’s grip tightened around the phone as he continued listening to his mother’s words. His jaw slowly clenched as the phone trembled slightly in his hand. He swallowed hard, forcing his mind to focus through the sudden onslaught of confusion and horror.

"Calm down, Mother," Basil said, interrupting whatever frantic words the Queen was trying to say. "I will be at the palace first thing in the morning. But I need more palace guards dispatched to the hospital right now."

His eyes flicked toward the unconscious assassin on the floor.

"Darius was also attacked tonight."

The words sounded unreal even as he said them. "I don’t think any of this is a mere coincidence anymore. Somebody wants Darius dead, and I have strong reason to believe even the car crash wasn’t an accident."

His voice was tight and laced with a bitter, terrifying realization. "They tried to poison his IV tonight, Mother. The guards posted outside were knocked out. If I hadn’t woken up when I did, he would be dead right now."

A sharp, ragged gasp echoed from the phone’s speaker, loud enough for both Leo and Marcus to hear from where they stood.

Basil didn’t wait for her to recover. "Just send reinforcements immediately. I’m not leaving him without enough security." Another pause.

"Yes, Mother. We’ll talk when I get there."

He ended the call, lowering the phone to his side.