Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
ARCHER
I awoke with agonising pain in my skull. I didn’t remember anything after seeing Draven in my office… The back of my head rested against what felt like hard, cold stone. My vision swayed as I opened my eyes, and I bent forwards to hurl my guts up.
What the fuck.
‘I laced your whiskey,’ a deep voice said from somewhere in the darkness.
I scanned my surroundings, my eyes struggling to adjust to the absence of light.
I tried to move my hand up to hold my pounding head, but realised I couldn’t – cool, metal wrapped around both of my wrists, attached to two long chains pulling in opposite directions.
‘Where the fuck are you?’ I shouted into the darkness, my voice raspy and strained. ‘Let me out of here right the hell now!’
‘Hush now, Archer,’ Draven said as he emerged from the shadows. There were two other figures, cloaked and masked, behind him. ‘No need to make a scene.’
‘Where am I?’ I demanded.
‘You know where you are,’ was all he said.
I strained to see around me. I could just about make out the stone floor and walls – I was in the chamber below the school.
It was where they held the members of the Society who refused to kill and complete their initiations… Before they, too, were killed.
I swallowed.
They also sometimes ‘store’ the sacrifices here before their ceremonies, as the entrance was at the tree line of the woods. Completely impossible to stumble upon unless you knew where to look.
‘Why am I here?’ I spat, trying to bury the fear threatening to overwhelm me.
‘A while ago, an informant revealed to me that they had concerns,’ Draven said.
‘Concerns that you weren’t truly with us.
’ He began pacing the stone cavern. ‘At first, I was shocked. I didn’t believe them.
How could you, of all people, betray me?
Betray the society? I wanted to know for sure, because I thought surely you would never do anything to jeopardise us…
’ His smile was maniacal. ‘I began thinking after that. Watching you closer. And do you want to know my first clue?’ He paused as if I was actually going to entertain this shit.
He continued with a scowl when he realised I wasn’t going to answer.
‘My first clue was how invested you were in her academic performance. I thought you were just a passionate teacher – but no… how silly of me.’ He huffed out a laugh, before he stopped pacing and looked directly at me.
‘So, we fed the information to you on purpose.’
‘What?’ I breathed.
‘Your little pet, Iris… We told you we’d chosen her in order to flush you out. It was simple, if Iris was caught fleeing the school, then we knew you were a traitor… and you fell for it.’
Fuck. In trying to save Iris, I’d doomed both of us. I braced myself to ask the question that ate at my gut.
‘Did she make it off the island?’
Draven scoffed. ‘Of course she didn’t.’ A sick smile tugged at the edges of his lips. ‘You really think we would have allowed her to escape? She knew too much.’
‘I swear to fucking god, if you hurt her, I will kill you.’ I spat, pulling at the chains.
‘Now, Archer, really, I don’t think you’re in the right position to be threatening me.’ He stepped forwards and I didn’t have a chance to brace as his boot connected with my chest, knocking the air from my lungs. I wheezed as pain enveloped me.
‘If you’re going to kill me,’ I panted, ‘why don’t you just get on with it?’
Draven scoffed again. He knelt down in front of me on one knee and pushed his face right in front of mine.
I could feel his stale breath on my cheek.
I wanted so badly to hurt him, but the chains wouldn’t give.
As if sensing my feeble attempt, he grinned.
He knew I couldn’t move. ‘What’s the hurry?
’ he asked, cocking his head slightly to the side, ‘We’re going to have some fun first.’
‘Where is she?’ I demanded.
I huffed out a sharp breath as his fist connected with my jaw. My head whipped painfully to the side and my vision swam.
‘Where is she?’ I asked again, and had a split second to brace myself this time before his knuckles smashed into my eye, pain flooding me when the back of my head connected with the stone behind me.
The coppery tang of blood filled my mouth, my nose, and I realised I’d bitten my lip.
I could feel it dripping slowly down my chin.
‘Traitorous scum,’ Draven drawled, standing and stepping away from me. ‘We take you in, give you a life of privilege, and this is how you repay us? Pathetic.’ He indicated behind him into the shadows. ‘She’s right there.’
I followed his gaze and choked back a sob of both relief and fear combined.
Iris lay unconscious on the floor, bound and gagged with a huge wound on her head. It was oozing blood where it looked like she was smacked.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to kill Draven for touching her. I pulled against my chains with all the force I could muster, the metal cutting painfully into the skin at my wrists.
‘Iris,’ I shouted, but she didn’t stir. I looked straight at Draven.
‘I swear on my fucking life that you will regret this. When my face is the last you see before you die, you will regret laying a finger on her.’ I spat blood at his feet and he scowled.
The two masked men stepped forwards but he waved them off.
‘Touching. Truly,’ he said, a thin smile curling at the edges of his mouth.
Something in me snapped.
I felt a level of anger I’d never experienced before. Heat surged up from my chest, sharp and sudden, flooding my veins until it drowned out everything else. It swallowed me. Consumed me.
I saw red.
‘I will burn this school to the ground,’ I hissed, each word low and venomous, trembling with a promise I fully intended to keep.
But Draven only lifted a hand, waving the air in a lazy, dismissive gesture, as though I were nothing more than an inconvenience.
‘I have things to do,’ he said, slowly stepping back towards the shadows.
‘I do hope you enjoy your accommodation… while you can.’ Then, without another glance, he vanished, the other two men at his heels, leaving us alone in the darkness.
Silence settled over the cavern in his wake, thick and suffocating.
‘Iris!’ I called out to her, but she didn’t stir. ‘Iris… please.’ My voice cracked on the words, but not with sadness.
With burning rage.
After what felt like a fucking lifetime, Iris stirred. First I saw her fingers twitch, and I felt my heart in my throat as I waited and waited for her to wake, praying beyond hope that she actually would.
‘Iris,’ I whispered.
‘Hmmm…’ She moaned around the gag. Her eyes fluttered slightly.
‘Iris?’
‘Mmm.’ Her eyelids blinked open warily, and she jumped at her surroundings, sitting up far too quickly, attempting to lift a shackled hand to her wounded head just for the chain to pull taut.
‘Iris, don’t panic, I’m here.’ She looked around, horror shining in those beautiful eyes. She kicked her legs out, terrified. Her eyesight probably hadn’t adjusted to how dark it was down here. ‘I’m here,’ I pleaded, ‘look at me. I’m right here.’
My heart broke at the sight of her. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be miles and miles away by now.
I tried to keep my emotions in check. She was so scared, and needed me to be strong – for her. ‘Breathe, Iris. You’re going to be okay.’ I didn’t know if that was true, but I did know I’d do anything it took to make sure she survived this… even if it killed me. ‘Breathe,’ I whispered gently.
‘Mmhmm…’ She pulled violently at the shackles and instantly weeped at the pain.
‘No, don’t struggle,’ I said quickly. Seeing her in physical pain made me want to rip apart my own body to get her out of here.
When she moved, I noticed her chains were a lot longer than mine. She had slightly more movement than I did.
‘Iris, wait,’ she looked at me, wet lashes brushing her cheeks. ‘Listen, if you move back against the wall, and then push your body towards your right hand, you should be able to reach your mouth.’
She looked down at her restraints, and I saw her eyes follow the chains to where they connected with the stone wall.
‘That’s it,’ I urged gently.
She shuffled slowly backwards, cringing at some form of pain I couldn’t see and I averted my eyes, unable to see her like this.
I heard her back hit the wall, and she leaned to the side.
She let out a loud moan of agony as she stretched, further and further, her scream getting louder and louder, until she managed to touch her fingers to her gag and rip it away from her mouth, the fabric falling around her neck.
‘Iris…’
She gasped, taking a deep breath of stale air. ‘Where… Where are we?’ she asked, her voice weak and quiet. So unlike her own.
‘We’re in the cavern under the school,’ I said quietly, trying to keep my voice even and stable. ‘Are you okay? Where are you hurt?’ The skin at the corners of her mouth was red and sore, and the wound on her head was leaking blood down her temple.
‘They got Rory,’ she said meekly.
‘What?’
‘When we got to the docks… I don’t know, they must have hid in the bushes, maybe.
He was worried, so he went out to check, and he never came back…
’ She looked dizzy, eyes blinking in and out of focus, ‘I followed him… and I… I don’t remember anything else.
’ She squeezed her eyes closed. ‘It’s my fault. ’
‘No, Iris,’ I said, automatically moving to comfort her before the chains grew taut, manacles cutting into my wrists, and I could move no further. I hated myself for not being able to touch her. ‘It’s my fault. They fed me false information.’
‘What?’ She asked, green eyes looking up at me, seeming to illuminate the darkness.
‘The whole emergency meeting was rigged. Draven said he had an informant… someone told him I wasn’t loyal.
’ I lay my head back against the hard, stone wall so the tears that were threatening to fall would stay put.
‘They used you to get to me, Iris, and I’m so…
so, sorry… They knew you were my weakness. ’
She was quiet for a long time, staring down at her bound hands.
‘Please say something, Iris,’ I whispered. She looked so frail.
‘I refuse to blame you,’ she said feebly.
‘How?’ I asked, disbelief on my tongue. ‘This is all my fault. If only I’d told you everything sooner.’
‘No,’ she said, louder now. ‘You were in an impossible situation. I understand that now. You protected me by not telling me… I'm just sorry it still ended this way.’
I realised the defeat on her face too late. ‘No, Iris. This is not over. I will get you out of here, I promise you.’
She laughed quietly, the sound so at odds with our bleak surroundings. ‘You know, Archer…’ A tear slipped down her cheek. ‘Even if you told me exactly how our story would end, I still don’t think I would have changed it.’
‘Iris…’
‘You taught me how to love, too, Archer,’ she said, echoing my words from what felt like a lifetime ago.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that at the time.
’ She sniffed. ‘I had such a black and white life until I came here, to Stonewall. And now? After meeting you, after meeting my friends, I can see my life in colour for the first time.’ Her words caught in her throat, cracking. ‘I love you so, so much.’
‘You are my entire life, Iris. My world would cease to exist without you.’ My throat closed around the words. I turned my head as far as the restraints would allow, praying she wouldn’t see the lone tear slipping free.
It was quiet for a moment.
‘You know…’ she said quietly. ‘When we first met, I thought you had a girlfriend.’
‘What?’ I blinked at her. But then I realised what she was trying to do.
She needed a distraction.
‘A girlfriend?’ I asked.
‘Yeah,’ she said, a faint smile tugging at her lips. ‘I thought you were dating Professor Graves.’
A breath slipped out of me – half sigh, half laugh – despite the weight pressing down on my chest. ‘Oh, God,’ I said. ‘Why would you think that?’
‘You acted so weird that day,’ she said, tilting her head slightly. ‘When we were in your classroom together and she came in… it was like you changed into a different person.’
I let out a pained laugh, my head and chest pounding. ‘Wow, I can’t wait to tell Keir that.’
Her brows pulled together. ‘Wait, why?’
‘Because,’ I said, shaking my head, ‘that’s his wife.’
It was silent for a second while she let the words sink in, and then we both chuckled weakly.
‘Then why were you so weird that day?’
‘Let’s see…’ I said slowly, my voice rougher than I intended.
‘Maybe because I was completely distracted. By a student.’ I exhaled, shaking my head at myself.
‘One who I thought was the most beautiful girl in the world.’ I thought back to the first time I saw her, and my heart raced. ‘It kind of set me on edge.’
She went still. ‘Really?’ she asked hesitantly, her voice quieter than a whisper. ‘You felt that way about me… even back then?’
‘Since the very first moment I laid eyes on you.’
I saw her head tilt back against the wall through the darkness.
‘Iris?’
‘Yeah?’
‘When we get out of here…’ Not if, but when. ‘I’m going to ask you to be my girlfriend… okay? Officially.’ I swallowed. ‘Once all this is over. Something to help us through this.’
She bowed her head sadly, and I had never wished more to touch someone in my whole life. I wanted to rip these chains out with my bare hands and strangle Draven with them until the light left his eyes.
It was quiet again until I heard her inhale, taking in a deep breath.
‘Do you have any idea who the informant is?’ Her voice was becoming more and more subdued, and I worried it was due to her head injury. It seemed to have stopped bleeding, but her eyelids were starting to droop.
I needed to keep her talking… I thought about her question for a moment, playing everything out in my mind, but then I reluctantly shook my head.
Then, suddenly, a voice from the shadows said, ‘Well, I think I might know.’
The voice was male. Familiar… too familiar.
My blood turned to ice.
No. No, it couldn’t be—
The shadows shifted.
A figure stepped forwards, one hand sliding casually into his pocket, the other holding a mask.
His face emerged from the darkness… and my heart stopped…
Rory.