Chapter 10:

Adrian leaped to his feet as the room descended into chaos. People were screaming, and there was a large group of guests in the centre of the room, circling where he assumed Beatrix was. Some ran for the exits

He went to move forwards, but Cassandra grabbed his arm. He could see her hand shaking, but she pointed all the same.

"A-Adrian! Look!"

He spun, just in time to see Kiko disappear through a side door, shoving something back in the pockets of her dress.

A bottle.

The bottle.

"Cassandra, stay with Chaddick and Beatrix." He said calmly, much, much calmer than he felt. Cassandra went white.

"You think Kiko-" she began, gripping his bicep tightly.

"Yes." Adrian cut her off before she could work herself up. "Phone me when you can. I'm going after her."

And before she could protest, he shook her arm off, and ran after Kiko.

The side door led to a darkened corridor. Evidently guests weren't meant to come down this way.

He glanced left and right, trying to see where Kiko had gone. She wouldn't have gone further into the building, she'd be trying to get out-

A thud echoed from the right hand side, the corridor leading to the exit. He spun, and hurried after the noise, now sure that she was trying to escape. The bottle in her pocket had been poison. Why hadn't he realised? Or at the very least suspected.

Now he'd have to try and catch Kiko, before she could escape the building and get away.

He heard the scream of sirens from outside, and as he rounded the corner, and saw Kiko at the other end, wrestling with a door handle, just as an ambulance and a police car roared into the courtyard. He could see them from the high windows lining the hall, and Kiko obviously could too. She spun, breathing heavily, and saw him stood there.

She froze.

They stood there for a minute, staring at each other. Then Kiko spun to a side door and tried that too, but it was also locked.

She spun towards him and her hand dug in her pocket. Adrian began to run towards her, intending to reach her before she could grab whatever she had in her skirt pockets-

Another set of hurried footsteps echoed behind him, but he'd barely turned around before he was tackled, and, as he hit the ground so hard he knew he'd be bruised for weeks, he realised who it was.

"Ch-Chaddick! Let go! She poisoned your wife!" he gasped, trying in vain to wrench from the other man's grip. Chaddick paused for a second, then answered.

"Did she?"

Adrian struggled for breath, bemused.

"Chaddick! Please, there's an ambulance! She's a criminal! Let me go!"

Chaddick only smiled wider.

"Do you know your poisons, Agent Adrian Bohen?"

"I-yes, I…"

"Then surely you know that there are "poisons" that can bring about brief unconsciousness, right? And after all, if someone who was in on it raised the alarm…and then "escaped" to draw you here…"

Adrian stopped, feeling like he'd just run straight into a brick wall.

He'd fallen into a trap.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"W-who are you? Beatrix? Kiko? What do you want?"

"Well. It's not so much as what we want, as what Lady A wants." Said Kiko, beaming. "We do her bidding, after all. We're not quite as famous as beautiful Dean Nevermore, or fierce Lupus, or fabled Inkclaw, but we do our best. After all, it's much easier if you're not known. My name is Belladonna, and I'm the poison expert. This here is Mason, and his wife is Moonstone. They're our best kidnappers."

Adrian broke into a cold sweat. Beatrix wasn't poisoned! She wasn't even injured.

"Where's Cassandra?" he gasped, suddenly realising that he'd told her to stay with two people, one of whom was here and the other who was being taken to hospital.

Chaddick- or Mason- shrugged.

"I don't know, but she's with us, mate. Working with us. She lured you here. She's not malicious at all, but she's a bit of a scaredy-cat. We're forcing her to."

Poor, scared Cassandra had been forced to betray him. He remembered how terrified she'd been when he and Agatha had first met her. No wonder.

"But what about Agatha? What have you done with her? Who took her?"

The two assassins exchanged amused glances through their masks.

Masks.

It was a masquerade ball on purpose. Adrian wouldn't be able to identify them properly, because they were wearing masks. They really had thought this all through.

"Well, it was our Lupus who broke into her room to take her. As for what we've done with her… our Lady was interested in Agatha, especially her knowledge about the King."

They must have seen the look on his face. He hadn't known he'd made a facial expression until he hurriedly dropped the frown.

"Oh? Are you jealous, Adrian?" giggled Kiko.

Adrian went to reply, but Chaddick huffed impatiently and tightened his grip on his arms.

"Alright, Belladonna, ridicule him about his love life later. We're going now. We're on a schedule, and the Lady hates tardiness. You should know. You're always taking too long on missions."

Kiko sighed.

"I know. You're right. Let's get going."

"You- you can't-the police-"

Chaddick snorted derisively.

"Oh, the police? They won't come round here. Besides, as far as they're concerned, both you and I are chasing the assassin who poisoned my wife. That's what Cassandra will tell them."

"She'll not say that." Gasped Adrian. "She'll tell the police the truth!"

"Well. She might. But Officer Ravenswood and Officer Bloodbrook will know if she doesn't say what we told her to. Because they're with us. And Cassandra doesn't know that."

Kiko smiled sweetly down at him.

"They'll play it off to their colleagues."

Adrian was lost for words. His head was reeling with all the information he'd been told, all the truths that had been unravelled in the last few minutes. He didn't have words to describe how he felt to realise that he'd been tricked and duped like an amateur. It must have been child's play for them. Now he knew why one of those reports had been wrong. Because it was made up. he needed to get to the bottom of what had really happened.

His mind whirring, he began to work through what had happened, trying to make sense of it all-

Chaddick and Kiko were watching the police and ambulance outside quietly, lips pursed-

No, not Chaddick and Kiko.

Belladonna and Mason. Two deadly assassins, not two outgoing nobles in the King's court0-

The King's court!

Tedros!

He needed to warn him. God only knew how many more of his courtiers were in league with the assassins- they could be planning another attack on him right now, and that would mean certain doom for Camelot. The young ruler's recovery was the only thing stopping mass panic.

He had to escape. He had to get to the castle and warn King Tedros. Forcing down a twinge of resentment against him for Agatha would be easy if he could only-

He was wrenched roughly to his feet.

"Come on, Adrian." Said Chaddick cheerfully. "Let's take you to Lady A."