by Rachel Jonas
“I radioed one of the guards with a message and he says Baz and the Chancellor will see us. We’ll head over as soon as Hilda gets in,” she answered.
“Good,” he sighed. “This is exactly what we need.” He glanced at me again and I knew what he was thinking—that if I would just settle down, would just let him work out whatever plan he devised, this would all go more smoothly.
My heart beat wildly in my chest, knowing there were mere miles between Evangeline and I.
Elise gaged the tension that volleyed between Dallas and I before asking a question. “Did I miss something?”
I stood like a statue, saying nothing, but Dallas’ rationale had gotten to me. If there was a way to increase our odds of getting Evangeline out safely … I’d be crazy not to try.
The instant he saw my shoulders lose tension, the moment he saw my brow relax, he breathed a sigh of relief knowing I’d comply.
“Nope, everything’s all good,” he finally said, answering Elise’s question. “I’m gonna radio the boys and tell them to come in so we can brief them.”
Elise seemed content with that as she turned to leave us again.
“One day,” Dallas said quietly. “Give it one day to make sure things are done the right way, to make sure we kill this problem at the root.”
My heart ached in a way it never had before, knowing the sun would set again before I could go after her, but … there was no other option. As much as I hated to admit it, this problem was bigger than me and I’d need those around me to help fix it.
So, feeling completely defeated, I agreed to his terms.
“One day.”
Chapter Seventeen
Evie
They were all here—Liam, my brothers.
I wasn’t sure if this dream of them was just because my heart, literally, ached for them, or maybe it was another of the vivid memories breaking through. Either way, after a week away from home, I welcomed it, welcomed the feeling of being surrounded by love and family again.
I glanced around a large table, staring at each of their faces, feeling the closeness. Beside me, Ivan could barely get a statement out, laughing hard with a mouth full of food. I smiled, half-listening as I discreetly stared across the table at the new object of my obsession.
Liam.
Our love felt new and old at the same time.
New, because I was certain this memory was from shortly after he’d come to my room and we succumbed to our desires.
Old, because I was certain I’d always loved him.
Maybe even before our souls were contained in physical bodies—like Hilda suggested.
I popped a grape into my mouth and tried to focus on only Ivan when he asked why I’d suddenly gotten quiet.
“I um … my apologies. I’m a bit tired,” I explained. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
There was a fleeting image that flashed in my thoughts—one of a silhouette being cast by candlelight onto the stone wall of my bedroom. It only took a moment to realize that silhouetted figure was Liam’s. A glimpse from yet another passionate night we’d had in secret.
At the memory, I swallowed hard, extending my hand toward a metal chalice filled with wine.
The table was silent and I glanced around to see why my brothers had suddenly run out of things to say. Their gazes were shifted from me to Liam and back again. There were smirks, too, an at the sight of them, my stomach sank.
“Didn’t get much sleep … ” Josiah said thoughtfully, bearing his teeth when he smiled.
My throat felt tight and a trickle of sweat raced down the center of my back.
He turned to Liam and asked a follow-up question. “Did you get a good night’s rest, brother?”
I pushed my chair away from the table and dropped the napkin I held beside my fork. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll finish my meal in my bedroom,” I announced, doing little to hide that this was an exit strategy, doing my best to get away before the accusations began to fly. I was certain my brothers knew exactly what Liam and I had been up to, but weren’t gracious enough to pretend they didn’t.
“And uh … will Liam be joining you up there? Perhaps for dessert?” Tobias asked next—this question being the straw that broke the camel’s back. They exploded with laughter and I could feel my face warming.
“You’re disgusting,” I accused, doing all I could to deflect. “All of you.”
I cast a look toward Liam who, smiling, took another healthy bite from the leg of lamb he held in his fist. He wasn’t bothered or embarrassed in the least, but hadn’t confirmed any of my brothers’ charges.
I took a step, but Declan had my wrist. “Don’t run off, Evangeline. We didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said sweetly. “It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t give you two a hard time about this.”
I stood there a moment, my chest and shoulders heaving after having been humiliated, but then I settled into my seat again. Ivan grabbed my hand and squeezed it when he smiled.
I was quiet, moving food around my plate, but not bothering to eat. My stomach was too topsy-turvy to even try.
My brothers had gone silent, too. And that was, perhaps, the most unnerving part. I was used to them being a boisterous bunch, so this strange behavior had set my nerves on edge.
Frustrated, I let out a sigh and dropped my fork to the plate, eyeing each of them.
“Just … say whatever it is you have to say,” I urged. “The quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can move on.”
I sat, waiting, but none of them spoke.
“Seriously? First, you couldn’t seem to keep your snide remarks to yourself. Now, you’re suddenly all out of things to say? Unbelievable …” I scoffed.
“Calm down,” Ethan chuckled. “You know how we feel about Liam. He’s as much a part of our family as anyone else sitting at this table. None of us could think of a better man to love and care for you, our one and only sister.”
A smile followed the statement and some of the hostility I built up toward them faded.
A little, anyway.
“Have either of you thought of how you’ll break the news to Father?”
It was Caleb who asked, and all eyes darted toward him. While the current me had no recollection of what Noah was like as a father, the version of myself in this memory felt a spike in her heartrate. I guessed that meant she was at least mildly concerned how he’d react.
“There’s no reason to tell him,” I blurted.
Caleb erupted with laughter and I stared at him. “Are you insane? Noah believes it is his God-given right and his duty to know everything that goes on in his kingdom. So what makes you think he won’t be angry if something beneath this very roof goes on without his knowing?”
“And what’s so difficult about it?” Ivan jumped in again. “You’ll only be telling him one of his sons has been … intimate … with his beloved daughter, the jewel in his crown. Nothing odd about that, right?”
The crass phrasing made me uncomfortable, my expression shifted to match.
“Yes, Liam is family, and like a son to him, a brother to you six, but … I’ve never looked at him that way,” I shared. The part of that I didn’t admit out loud was that I never looked at him in that light because, even as a little girl, I felt something for him.
Love that was not familial in nature.
I cleared my throat after pondering that for a moment, deciding it was too personal to share.
“Oh, I can hear the rumors now,” Ethan laughed. “Scandal in the palace,” he added, stating the words as though they would be the headline of some newspaper.
Or … whatever people relied on for news updates back then.
“How did you all know anyway?” I asked, finally feeling settled enough to give eating another try. I’d just bitten into an apple when Tobias answered.
“The same way Mother and Father would have known if they had the misfortune of their bedroom being in the same wing as yours.”
His respo
nse made me swallow before I meant to, and the chunk of fruit in my mouth went down the wrong way. I reached for my wine again as they all shared a laugh at my expense.
Brothers …
“At first, I thought you’d snuck an outsider in. Naturally, I woke the others to storm into your bedroom and toss the bastard over the balcony, but … then we went to get Liam. Finding his bed empty was somewhat of a clue,” Ethan smiled suggestively, bouncing his brow with the gesture. “It didn’t take us long to figure it out.”
The embarrassment quickly returned as I imagined what they’d done after realizing what had gone on in my room … and with whom. They had probably gathered outside my door, listening, getting the laugh of a lifetime at my expense.
“Usually, we only ever hear racket like that coming from Declan’s room,” Ethan chuckled, nudging Caleb in the arm.
“Then perhaps you ought to spend less time eavesdropping and more time taking notes,” Declan replied, causing the others to laugh. And even I cracked a smile.
The conversation took a turn then, transitioning to my six brothers comparing stats of their own love lives, and I didn’t feel so strange having this conversation anymore. Above the chatter, the laughter, I caught Liam’s stare. Another smile broke free and there was no containing it. He just brought out this softer side of me and … so help me God … I loved it.
Loved him.
I reveled in this feeling, wishing it would never end, but it was inevitable that I’d be thrust back into reality, back into the cell where I’d spent so many terrifying days. The fabric of the vision broke apart and I felt the loss immediately, realizing right away that my surroundings hadn’t changed. Much to my dismay, I was still trapped in Sebastian’s hell.
*
As I blinked, the four walls confining Beth and I to this small space seemed so much closer, as if they were shrinking around us. She was asleep beside me on the lone mattress that had been shoved in here on our third day, saving us from spending another night on the cold, hard, cement floor. We couldn’t say for sure, but we both wondered if this was a gift that had been arranged by our anonymous angel. Whoever he or she might have been.
I closed my eyes and tried to hold onto the dream that had just teased me with a hint of freedom, hoping for sleep, but … there was a pain. One so swift and so sharp I cried out into the night.
It was blinding, making me forget where I was in that moment.
Beth sat straight up, turning toward me as I continued to cry out in pain.
“What is it? What happened?” she asked in a panic, placing a hand on my back as I doubled over.
The feeling was intense, unending.
“Something’s wrong,” I panted as a wave of nausea struck out of nowhere. It felt like I was being torn apart from the inside out, but I was increasingly aware of a tightening in the center of my abdomen.
My hand went there, to the source of it all.
“Is it… is it the baby?” Beth asked.
I could only nod, confirming.
That had to be it.
Up until now, I barely even noticed I was carrying. Life was completely normal, even when I’d taken on the soldier a week ago. But as I lay there, curled into myself hoping it brought me comfort, I was all too aware of the life inside me.
“Ok breathe, Evie,” Beth urged, keeping her hand on my back as she got to her knees. “It … it has to be that thing you were telling me about. The cresting or whatever it was, right? Isn’t this when Elise said it would happen?”
I managed to focus long enough to go back to that moment, to think of what Elise had shared with me. She was clear that if I were to present as a dragon, the process would be far quicker than if I presented as a wolf. She described it as intense and, if nothing else, what I was feeling now was intense.
“I can’t,” I panted. “I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can. You’re a freakin’ queen for Pete’s sake, Evie. You’ve got this. We’ve got this,” she amended, moving her palm from my back to take my hand. “Just breathe and I’ll get some help.”
Unable to think, I didn’t give any input. All I knew was I wanted this, whatever it was, to be over.
“Help!” Beth called out. “Something’s wrong! Can anybody hear me?”
I fell over on my side and the room blurred. There were words leaving my mouth in mumbled, half syllables, but I couldn’t make sense of any of it.
“Help!” she called out again. “I can hear you out there! Please!”
She was quiet for a few seconds before crouching to the slit where our meals had come in. Part of me hoped someone came—although I had no clue what a horde of soldiers could or would do to help me. The other part of me hoped they ignored Beth’s plea, fearing what they’d do when they found me like this. There’d been no compassion for us since arriving here, so I wouldn’t expect them to have it now.
“I think someone’s coming,” Beth whispered, turning to listen again.
The burn subsided marginally, and I placed a hand on my stomach. When I did, I was startled to feel that it had swelled. The change was slight—so slight no one else would notice without touching that same spot—but this wasn’t my imagination.
She held her breath when someone approached and backed away from the door when a folded sheet of paper was dropped into the slot.
No conversation.
No help.
Just another piece of paper that probably held another empty promise—just like the one we’d been given the night we arrived. The one who claimed they’d help us never made good on their word. If they had, we wouldn’t still be in this mess.
Beth practically ripped it in half trying to open it, sighing as she read the message aloud.
‘TOMORROW.’
I had no clue what, exactly, would happen tomorrow, but I was groggy and couldn’t hold a coherent thought in my head. The one thing I did know was that, from here on out, my condition would progress a lot quicker.
While I felt nothing but terror for what the future held, I was certain this discovery would make one person very happy—Sebastian. He had some wicked plan for this baby, a plan I felt sick just imagining. If we were going to make it out of this situation alive, something would have to give. And soon.
There was only one I knew could save us and I called out to him in my thoughts despite knowing the message would never reach him.
‘Liam, wherever you are … we need you.’
Chapter Eighteen
Liam
The more I thought about it, the more I believed a theory I formed within a few minutes of us leaving the house was true. Elise had purposely arranged for me to ride alone with her and Hilda as we trekked to Ridge Borough. She’d cloaked her intentions well, her invitation seeming innocent enough, but this was definitely a setup.
“You’re certain everyone’s clear on the plan?” Hilda asked, aiming her question at me. My guess was that their intentions were to talk so much I couldn’t focus on the rage, thus keeping me levelheaded.
They definitely had the excessive talking part down.
I gave a nod. “Everyone knows what their jobs and positions are.”
From the passenger seat beside Elise, Hilda returned the nod. “Good. Tonight must be executed with razorlike precision. Even the slightest slipup could prove detrimental.”
With that statement, she’d earned herself a stern look from Elise. I guessed she didn’t approve of Hilda’s remark.
She moved on after an expected eye roll.
“The witches are being removed from the premises as we speak. The sisterhood from Mogue Rock spent the entire night preparing. It’s no small feat to dampen the power of an entire coven, and then entrance them to leave town in a single-file line,” she said with a laugh, exaggerating that last part. Although, the process was pretty close.
The witches leaving in one massive wave would have sent up all kinds of red flags, alerting Sebastian of our intent to strike. So, instead, the spell would work subtly.
They would leave in small groups of three, each one sensing and responding to an inexplicable call to head North, toward the edge of the woods. Once they arrived, they’d find a massive tribe of ancient magic wielders waiting to act as judge, jury and executioner. Their task was to identify the witch who cursed the weapons. Once she successfully undid the spell, she and all the others would be put to death.
Like they deserved.
“And the parameter is already sealed?” Elise asked next.
Hilda gave a dutiful nod. “Sealed and impenetrable.”
“Speaking of,” Elise chimed in again, “are we certain everyone’s been marked? Because if they haven’t, they won’t be able to pass through the seal. We can’t afford for anyone to—”
“No one will be left behind,” Hilda interjected. “I oversaw the marking myself. In fact, I’ve still got henna on my fingers,” she added as she peered down at the smudges.
At the mention of it, my eyes drifted down to the very mark they spoke of, placed on my inner-wrist just like the rest of our clan. To most, it would have looked like a tangle of random lines and shapes, but it was much more than that. Without it, we would be trapped in Ridge Borough at the stroke of midnight … when the final act of our strategy would be carried out.
Around my neck, a handful of necklaces hung, each with the same symbol etched on it to allow the ones who wore them passage into the safe zone. There were enough for Evangeline, Beth, and one for the kid who worked for us from inside Sebastian’s camp.
Elise breathed deep, gripping the steering wheel as our convoy headed toward our intended mark. We’d done our share of debating and planning. Now, the time had finally come to act.
And we were all beyond ready.
***
I hated that so much time had passed, but as I stood with my back to a tree, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to feel her, imagine I’d have her in my arms again soon. The only way I knew she was nearby was because intel had brought us here.
There was no definitive extraction point where I’d find Evangeline, because they needed to be able to move her on a whim, should a place come under heavy fire. So, there were just characteristics we agreed upon—the place would be moderate to small in size, would be at a higher elevation the most of the other structures, and we would find a red strip of fabric tied to the door knob. Other than that, we were heading in blind.
