Ianthe immediately tensed. “Go where?”
“The Undersecretary has been trying unsuccessfully to hack my system. If I don’t input the activation codes, thousands of people will lose access to purified air, including us.
“Barnard told me that he’d tortured all of that information out of you.”
“Then he lied.”
“Won’t you be caught?”
“The compound is being monitored but security is light. Adrian and I shouldn’t have any problem getting in and out undetected.”
“And the rest of are just supposed to sit here and wait?” Anxiety rose in the back of her throat like bile. “What if you get captured again, or worse?”
“That won’t happen.” He cupped her face in his hands then leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on her lips. “I will come back for you. Always.”
Ianthe watched him go with a curious mix of emotions, fear most notable among them. But she wasn’t simply afraid for herself or her family. In that moment, she was most afraid of never seeing him again.
Chapter Twelve
When night fell and Legion had not returned, Ianthe became nervous. By the middle of the night, as she stood at the window in the front room with the curtains parted just enough for her to look through the sliver into the courtyard beyond, the fear was enough to make it impossible for her to sleep.
And by the morning, Ianthe had come up with a plan.
“I thought you said they were coming back.” Circe regarded her with a concerned face as Ianthe tore through the house.
Ianthe held a canvas bag in her hand and was methodically pulling a meager portion of their supplies off of the shelves in the kitchen and shoving them inside. “That’s what they said.”
“So why are you running around like a crazy person?”
“Legion did not say anything about them being gone all night. It’s already dawn and Adrian told us earlier that it was a bad idea to travel during the day, so where are they? I think it’s safe to assume the worst.”
“That’s part of your problem, Ianthe,” Circle grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest while watching Ianthe scurry around the kitchen, as if she was making a point by staying calm. “You always assume the worst.”
“And I’m often right.”
Circe sighed. “But maybe not this time. Don’t you think that you should give it a little more time before you go off half-cocked?”
“The last time Legion left me alone, he was tortured and I was nearly raped by the Undersecretary. I’m not waiting around.”
“And what is your plan exactly?”
“This entire sector is deserted and the only way out is via skycar. I’m going to go look through the houses nearby and see if I can find a terminal to call for transport or another way out of here. I don’t know how close we are to the nearest elevator platform but it might be walking distance.”
“That’s a terrible plan.”
“And you think it makes more sense to just sit here and wait?”
“Better than wandering off into an abandoned sector. If you don’t fall through a bad piece of flooring and starve to death, you’ll probably get snapped by a surveillance drone, and then arrested. It makes way more sense to stay here and wait.”
Ianthe let the bag drop to the floor with a loud bang as she stood. “You don’t understand, Circe. I’ve spent my entire life waiting for something to happen, waiting for someone else to come and save me. I’m not doing it anymore.”
“Ianthe—“
“No. I’m going and nothing you say is going to stop me.”
“I’ll come with you,” Eaon said from the doorway. It was impossible to know how long he’d been standing there. “I can help.”
For a moment, seeing him standing there with that determined look on his face, Ianthe could almost see what Legion had been talking about. Maybe he would grow to be an Alpha. “You need to stay with Circe just in case the worst happens. The two of you still have plausible deniability. If Guardian Alphas find you and I’m not here, you can pretend that you had no idea what I’ve been doing.”
“If the Guardians come, I’m going down fighting.” He crossed bony arms over his chest and spat on the ground to punctuate his point. “They’re not taking me alive.”
“Oh yes they are. If you get killed who’s going to be there to protect Circe?”
Eaon seemed to contemplate that for a moment before answering. “Fine, but they better not try me because I’ll do whatever I have to do.”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.” She abruptly stood and wrapped her arms around her little brother, who was breathing normally and moving without pain. If nothing else, she had to be grateful to Legion for that. Without his generosity in paying for Eaon’s treatments, the boy likely wouldn’t have survived. “Take care of things here for me.”
He put up with her embrace for as long as he could stand it, which was about five seconds, before pulling away. A dark blush suffused her brother’s cheek and he stuck his hands in his pockets. “Just go quick so you can get back. And be careful.”
Circe watched her with narrowed eyes as Ianthe finished gathering supplies and slung the bag over one shoulder. “You’re really doing this, aren’t you.”
“If I’m not back in a day, you should assume the worst. Once the food starts to run out, you should go outside and try to flag down a surveillance drone. When the Guardians pick you up, tell them that you were brought here against your will and you don’t know anything else.”
“Ianthe, you can’t be serious.” Circe caught her arm as Ianthe headed for the door. “Didn’t you say that Adrian told us not to go outside during the day?”
She gently pulled her arm away. “It’s safer than trying to look through the houses at night. I’ll be able to avoid the surveillance drones. Trust me, okay.”
Circe didn’t say anything else as Ianthe opened the door and stepped out although unhappiness rolled off of her in waves. “Just be careful.”
Ianthe’s smile was grim. “Aren’t I always?”
“Not really, no.”
The door closed on whatever else her sister would have said next as Ianthe surveyed the deserted courtyard. She didn’t enjoy the idea of setting off alone, but what choice did she have? Her family couldn’t be put at any more risk than they already had been, but she also couldn’t sit and wait for days while fearing the worst.
A cluster of apartments surrounded the courtyard, with pathways to other sections leading off in multiple directions. She approached the next nearest house slowly, hugging the perimeter of the building to avoid being under empty sky. This place had been abandoned long enough ago that the concrete pathway was covered by the dirt that occasionally swirled up during bad storms. Still, it was nice to be outside. The air was cleaner here than in the slums and she had been cooped up inside for far too long.
“Ianthe, wait!”
She turned back to see Circe sprinting towards her, one hand covering her head scarf so that it wouldn’t fly away in the breeze. Ianthe waited for her sister to catch-up, her gaze on the sky as she watched for surveillance drones.
“You’re not going to change my mind,” Ianthe said as soon as Circe came to a gasping stop in front of her. “I’m not just going to sit around and wait to find out how all of this has gone wrong.”
Circe doubled over for a moment, rapidly inhaling air as she caught her breath. “Just wait a second, okay. I didn’t realize you’d already gotten this far.”
Ianthe crossed her arms over her chest. She glanced back at the sky, not just looking for drones but attempting to judge the time. “I need to get going. Spit it out.”
“You’re out here looking for a terminal, right?”
“Or some other way of contacting the outside world, yes. Why?”
A brief expression of guilt crossed her face. “I have one.”
“You have a terminal! Are you kidding me?”
“Stop yelling at me.”
Ianthe g
lared at Circe, seriously contemplating how much effort it would take to choke her sister to death with her own scarf. She maintained control of herself with an effort and took a deep breath. “Where did you get it?”
“It’s only for emergencies. Adrian made me promise not to tell you. He was worried that you might try to leave while he was gone.”
Of course they had orchestrated a backup plan without her knowledge. Legion had likely only agreed to leave the terminal on the assurance that she wouldn’t know anything about it. Because the one thing he loved most was treating her like a child.
“This isn’t a joke, Circe. If I go back to that house and there’s no terminal in there, one of us isn’t going to survive.”
“It’s not a joke. Please, just come back.”
Ianthe followed her sisters back to the house, still suspicious. She wouldn’t put it past Circe to lock her inside or do something even more drastic to keep her from leaving. Her sister had clearly been given specific instructions.
But Circe was true to her word. The moment that they entered the house, she headed straight for one of the back bedrooms. After a few minutes of rummaging she returned with a small, handheld terminal. It was a much nicer model than any of the ones that they had at home, and similar to the one that Adrian had taken off of the Undersecretary. This unit was meant to be completely portable and was often carried by those who lived in the upper levels.
Eaon came up behind her. The look of surprise on his face was impossible to fake. “You have a terminal?”
It was nice to know that both of them had not been part of a conspiracy to hide things from her. Eaon wasn’t the type to obfuscate, he preferred head-on confrontation. At a time like this, Ianthe could appreciate that.
“Apparently, Circe has a terminal that no one else is allowed to touch. Is it connected to the CommNet?” Ianthe held out her hand expectantly but Circe did not immediately hand her the unit. “Give it to me.”
“Just wait a second, please. Adrian promised me that we wouldn’t use this unless it was an emergency because the signal can be traced. I was going to wait a few more days before using it but then you decided to run off. Are you sure that you can’t wait a little longer. They could be on their way back right now.”
Ianthe held out her hand, not bothering to respond.
Eventually, Circe handed it over with a weary sigh. “You’re going to regret this.”
“We can add it to the long list of things that I regret.”
The tablet came to life as she swiped her finger across the screen. She held it in her hands for a long moment as she contemplated what query to input first. If Legion had been arrested again, the news was unlikely to have made it to the CommNet and it was possible that searches of his name were being logged.
“See, you know this a bad idea,” Circe said, watching closely as Ianthe wavered. “Just give me back the terminal and we can have dinner. You’re just torturing yourself.”
Ignoring her sister, Ianthe keyed in another search for recent arrests. It didn’t take long for her to find what she was looking for, disciplinary reports always ended up on top of the newsfeed.
“They’ve both been arrested.” Ianthe’s voice was flat as she conveyed the news, even as her mind whirled. “They’ve been taken to a detention center in the mid-levels. Because of the serious nature of the charges, the proceedings have been hastened. They’ll be put on trial tomorrow.”
Circe’s face grew immediately concerned before going blank, as if she realized that any likelihood Ianthe would sit idly by had greatly diminished. “We have to stay here. If you leave, they’ll just arrest you too.”
“What are the charges?” Eaon asked, coming up behind her.
“In order from best to worst? Resisting arrest, racketeering, criminal negligence and conspiring to commit treason against the Crown.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“And leaving here won’t make it any better,” Circe added, voice repressive. “Legion knew that this could happen. And the one thing that he wanted was for you to stay here where you’d be safe. You’re pregnant, remember?”
Not for the first time, Ianthe wondered why she had been the one born into the weakest dynamic. Her sister seemed to be a much better fit for the stereotype of an Omega. Circe wanted to follow along without questioning and happily let others take the lead.
The only time Ianthe truly felt like an Omega was when Legions hands were on her skin.
She shivered. The memory was enough to stimulate curls of unwanted desire. She didn’t want to yearn for him, but that was precisely what happened in each and every moment that they spent apart. Her entire being had betrayed her when all she wanted was her freedom.
You don’t want to be free.
The dark voice of her psyche whispered through her mind, tempting her with thoughts of her own degradation. It was shameful, the things that roamed through her head. But she couldn’t stop it. The only solution that she could think of that would ease those thoughts from her mind would be to put as much distance between them as possible. Which would be easy if Legion were left in the detention center to rot.
And maybe she wasn’t really pregnant. She didn’t feel any different, no morning illness or fatigue. And as far as she could tell, her scent hadn’t changed with the additional hormones. It could all be a mistake.
Except the knowledge of the child she was carrying was etched onto her very soul. There was no denying it. And without Legion, she would spend the rest of her life incomplete, no matter how much she chafed at the restraints that her dynamic placed on her.
“I have to go to the trial,” Ianthe said finally, as she surveyed their unhappy expressions. “I’m calling a skycar.”
“What good could that possibly do?” Circe cried, dismayed. “You’ll just be arrested and thrown in detention. You can’t help him.”
“Perhaps, I can.” Ianthe’s hands pressed against her stomach, almost convinced she could feel the tiny, fluttering spirit within her womb. “If the court knows that I’m pregnant, they might take mercy on him. It could be enough for a stay of execution.”
There was a good chance that she would miscarry if Legion died. They were bonded as tightly now as it was possible for an Alpha and Omega to be. His death could shock her system enough to end the pregnancy, perhaps even kill her.
“It’s too much of a risk.” Eaon surprised her by piping up. “He wanted you to stay here where you’d be safe.”
“And I’m done with me being told what to do,” Ianthe snapped back at him. “Are you coming with me, or not?”
“Of course we are,” he said promptly. “Can’t let you self-destruct all by yourself.”
But Circe didn’t seem as ready to leap into danger. “Perhaps we should stay here, Eaon. In case the worst happens.”
“That’s exactly why we should go, in case the worst happens.”
“Do whatever you want,” Ianthe said flatly. “I’m going.”
“And we’re coming with you.” Eaon grabbed Circe’s arm and pulled her towards the door. “No offense, but I’ve never seen an execution before.”
Her brother’s stab at humor wasn’t lost on her but there was no room in Ianthe’s mind for anything aside from a focus on what she had to do. There wasn’t time to ponder things carefully. Any moment, Legion would be standing trial for whatever crimes the Undersecretary had cooked up. She couldn’t just let that happen without trying to stop it.
Even if it killed her, too.
Chapter Thirteen
Ianthe entered the square full of trepidation. Her legs shook as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. She locked knees that threatened to collapse underneath her at any moment as she walked towards the gathering crowd. People always showed out in droves for public trials, particularly when there was possibility of an execution.
She had always hated the spectacle and avoided these spectacles like a spreading sickness, but now s
he had no choice. Her siblings followed closely behind her. Eaon’s eager strides made it clear that he was restraining himself from bounding ahead into the fray. Circe seemed mostly concerned with keeping her head scarf wrapped tightly around her face in the rising wind.
It was impossible to see what was happening without getting through the crowd. Ianthe was small but determination gave her strength as she strode forward, heedless of the jostling elbows or shouted expletives as she pushed past.
When Legion finally came into view, she had to stifle a cry of dismay. They had him up on a raised platform at the center of the square. He sat on a large metal chair with heavy shackles on his wrists and legs. The hangman’s noose swung gently in the air above his head. She felt some relief that it wasn’t already looped around his neck. She knew that the chair was designed to fall away through a trapdoor in the platform if the mechanism was activated. It was weighted to ensure that the force was enough to break the neck of whoever fell victim to it.
The trial had not even commenced and the executioner had already prepared for its conclusion. Clearly, the judges intended for Legion to hang.
Adrian stood further back, hands clasped behind his back where they had obviously been secured, with two hulking Guardians on either side of him. His turn would be next.
The booming voice of the head judge filled the square, magnified by speakers inside of the dozens of drones hovering overhead. Public trials were large events and this was likely being broadcast over the CommNet into people’s homes and workplaces via their terminals. Most of the city was watching this.
“Legion Aristophus, you have been accused of the highest crimes against the state, including collusion to overthrow the Crown and contributing to the untimely death of a member of the royal family. How do you plead?”
Legion’s expression revealed no trace of emotion. He could have been sitting in a cafeteria, sipping on a stimulant drink for all of the concern he evidenced. “Not guilty.”
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