"...I'm not very keen on turning into a criminal on my first day here."
"Then let go of my husband, and we'll talk."
There were probably a thousand thoughts going on in Annabeth's mind right now. Ways to escape their current situation and save her husband, but even though she was now seeing Rhys as a threat, there was this sort of feeling inside her that made her think Rhys wasn't actually going to do anything.
And very soon, she realized what that feeling was as soon as she saw Rhys subtly sneak a glance at Lina, who was lying unconscious in the seat in front of them.
He wasn't going to do anything that would put her in danger.
"This is a crime, Mr. Rhys," Annabeth calmly breathed out, "Let go of him, and we will forget this ever happened."
"I don't exactly know the rules in your country, Ma'am..." Rhys then looked Annabeth in the eyes before turning his focus back to Lina, who was almost snoring too peacefully even with all the chaos happening around her, "...But I do believe that drugging someone is considered wrong anywhere in the world."
"That is my fault entirely, Mr. Rhys." And even though there was a man threatening to snap his neck off, Lance remained completely calm and even slightly glanced at Rhys as he spoke up, "Since you do not even have any signs of being knackered, I would assume you have been awake the entire time — you know the reason why I had to drug her."
"I am sure she would appreciate your reason, Sir," Rhys sighed and shook his head, "Where are you taking us?"
"Home," Lance answered cooperatively without any hesitation, "In the Royal Palace."
"You're bringing her to the place where her cousins are...?" Rhys's tone turned deep as he slightly tightened his wrap around Lance's shoulders, "I thought you were trying to keep her safe?"
It was almost as if the walls of the palace were untouched by time. Of course, he doesn't actually know what the palace looked like hundreds of years ago, but it was probably still the same — they were even using torches for some reason, even though there were street lights just meters away from the tall defensive walls of the castle.
"Follow me," Lance gestured to Riley to follow him, "Anna, can you make sure no one sees Rhys and Lina?"
"She's literally already in the palace," Annabeth sighed.
"Just at least for tonight," Lance grumbled, "Let's just have one final night before all the chaos ensues. This will be the last time for a long time we will be having a good night's sleep."
"Hm... very well," Annabeth nodded as she gestured to the guards to follow her. Although she was still a little worried about leaving her husband alone with Rhys, there was truly nowhere for Rhys to actually go since they were already inside the palace. And so, the two just looked at each other before she left Lance and Rhys.
"...Lina grew up in a place like this?"
Like the outside, the corridors of the palace seemed aged — even the furniture felt like they were hundreds of years old, expensive. There were also a lot of portraits plastered everywhere on the walls that were only lit up by torches that danced as they walked across the aged hallways.
"It may look destitute, but it has its moments. You should see it in morning, It is very beauti—"
And before Lance could finish his words, he felt his vision shift as Rhys suddenly grabbed him from behind and pulled him down. Lance gritted his teeth and was about to attack Rhys, but noticed the arrows that were suddenly stuck to the wall.
"Bloody..." Lance turned to look at Rhys for a few seconds, before quickly standing up and looking around,
"...Who activated the traps?"
"...There is something seriously wrong with your family, Sir."