OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: OF MONDAYS, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE KIDNAPPED PRINCESS

KD frowned, rigid and precise, but the shadow of confusion darkened his light hazel eyes. Why is Tita Dana being kidnapped too? The question clawed at him—unanswered, unsettling. His jaw tightened. He didn't understand.

The screen flickered, drawing every gaze. The courtyard went silent.

A live video played: Riyee, chained and defiant. And beside her... Lucian Ortega.

Shock rippled through the Academy. One of the High Chamber Council members—the very people meant to uphold order—was revealed as the kidnapper of the Princess.

"You saved everyone in SAA when the men I hired attacked. You saved the President. Now tell me—" Lucian said, smirk curling on his lips. "Who do you think will save you this time?"

KD's fist clenched so tightly his knuckles whitened. His jaw tightened, but it wasn't just anger this time—something deeper, raw and fraying, twisted through him. Riyee... His calm, controlled mask wavered, just enough for the courtyard to feel the edge of it. Fuck.

Silence clamped down on the Court. Not fury yet—silence. The kind that carved through the crowd's murmurs, dragging dread into every corner of the courtyard. Then it shifted—Lyle's narrowed gaze, Saichel's smirk twisting into something sharp, Tofer's fingers already flicking across his tablet. Their fury didn't explode. It coiled, patient, waiting to strike.

Riyee rolled her eyes, fire still burning in her gaze. "Ask me who I'll kill first once I escape here. The answer is you."

Her face twitched involuntarily as the cuffs sank deeper into her skin, each pulse a cruel mixture of pain and fire, gnawing at her muscles while probing her mind.

Lucian laughed, low and measured. "You shouldn't struggle, Princess. You'll only bleed faster. Your body obeys the cuffs whether you want it to or not. They don't just drain muscle—they drain control. They drain sanity."

Riyee breath hitched—sharp, ragged—as the cuffs bit deeper, each pulse threatening to drag her under. A tremor ran through her fingers, unbidden, betraying her. And yet, when she lifted her head, her eyes burned with the same fire. Her body betrayed her; her will did not.

"I... won't... bend."

Everyone watching could see it—Riyee was struggling, every muscle trembling under the cuffs' relentless pull. Her defiance was fierce, but it was cracking, subtle cracks that only someone paying close attention would notice.

KD's shoulders locked, the rigid posture of a President. But then his hand curled in too tightly, nails pressing crescents into his palm. The calm cracked—not in his face, but in the small betrayals of his body. A single breath, sharp and uneven, betrayed the storm swelling beneath.

Every flicker of movement made KD's chest pound. Memories of her pain twisted into raw fury.

Alexie noticed. KD's Echo-9 Lucem instincts—buried, controlled, but never gone—stirred beneath the surface. If this continued, his restraint would falter. And when it did... no one could hold him back—not when Riyee isn't around to anchor him.

"What do we do now?" Alexie asked, voice tight with worry, glancing between Riyee's trembling form and KD's barely contained fury.

A devious laugh slithered from Lucian. "The Ardent Court won't save you."

A tense silence fell over Solencia Courtyard. Every gaze lingered on the members of the Ardent Court—measured, calculated, and wary. Confusion flickered across a few faces, unspoken questions hovering in their eyes: What will they do now?

Riyee's glare was sharp enough to cut glass. "You're wrong. They will come. They will hunt you."

"Tell me, Princess... who do you think breaks first? Your strategist cousin, when the crown slips from his head? Or perhaps the Tactician, who still flinches when your name crosses his mind? Or maybe..." Lucian's gaze tilted toward the screen, as if seeing KD. "...the President, who pretends control, but unravels the moment you're not there to steady him."

KD's expression hardened. Heat coiled in his chest—anger, fear, frustration. Seeing Riyee kidnapped, seeing her there... it made something inside him snap. I'll kill him.

Keryn was the first to notice—KD's calm cracking, a dangerous heat simmering beneath. Rage, sharp and volatile, coiled through him. Anger. Fear. Frustration. She didn't need to feel it herself to know this was serious.

She brought up her tablet and opened the Architect's Web. KD's pulse flickered erratically—Echo-9 Lucem was slipping fast.

"Khaizer," she said to Lyle, her tone tight, controlled. "We need to anchor him—he's destabilizing. This is serious."

Lyle inclined his head deliberately. "Then we do what's necessary—calm him. It's the least we can do."

Riyee swallowed, trembling, but her gaze stayed steady. "Xythe will find me, like always. And Xythe will definitely kill you without mercy."

Xythe's hands clenched. Slow. Controlled. She expected him. Of all people. He reached for her pulse—nothing. Heartbeat ring silent. Artemis collar unresponsive. But the choker, the ring—still there. Weapons Lucian hadn't realized.

A curse slipped past his teeth. After everything. After the betrayals. After breaking her heart. After becoming someone else entirely—she still thought of him first. Still trusted him to come.

And that thought burned through him like fire.

Lucian smirked beneath his mask. "That is... if he would find us. Too bad they won't. Our veil system worked better than yours."

Riyee didn't answer. She smirked instead—and the Tri-Havoc pulse network didn't miss a beat. Subtle enough to avoid detection, but enough to reach Xythe and Saichel.

Saichel felt it first. The tremor traveled up the Jester's Spine and pulse-chain anklet. Riyee's fear radiated outward—fragile, restrained, undeniable.

"She's scared," he muttered, voice low. "And she's trying not to show it."

Xythe's jaw clenched. Fingers brushed the edge of his Aether Mirror monocle and fracture-lens ear cuff as he scanned the pulse—triangulating, mapping every tremor, every subtle deviation.

Then a smirk tugged at his lips. I found her.

"Let's go, Saichel."

Without another word, he turned his back to the Solencia Courtyard. Each step precise, deliberate, carrying the quiet weight of resolve—and the certainty that the network would guide them straight to her.

"Where are you two going, Xythe?" Seb's eyes narrowed, a trace of warning beneath the calm. He knew a single step from Xythe could ignite war. He wasn't just the Court's second-in-command, the Tactician, or the Prince—he was their ultimate Weapon, and everyone would feel the consequences if it was unleashed.

"To kill the bastard who kidnapped the Princess and Tita Dana," Xythe said, cold and precise, his words cutting through the tension like a blade.

"How will you know where Ari is?" Thres asked, his eyes were sharp.

Every gaze in the courtyard shifted to him, the weight of the question hanging heavy.

KD's eyes didn't leave Xythe. Every twitch, every measured breath, every line of resolve—he read it all. He'll find her. He has to. The thought pressed against KD's chest like a weight he couldn't shrug off.

He didn't know Xythe. Or any of the Ardent Court, really. But he knew one thing: Xythe would never let anything happen to her.

It twisted inside him—helplessness, frustration, and rage all knotted together. His chest tightened, jaw locked, fists clenching as if he could punch the world into fixing what he couldn't

Xythe didn't look back. "I've already mapped everything. Her pulse pattern will be the guide. Every spike, every suppressed breath is traceable. We follow. We find her."

Every step he took, every strategy he executed, was fueled by the certainty he would find her—and anyone who dared touch her would regret it.