Chapter Eleven
It hadn’t been bad enough that Alexandria had to go shopping with her mother for a baby that would never exist, but immediately after returning home, they’d been bombarded with guests. Aunts and cousins she hadn’t known existed before revered her and showered her with presents she didn’t need or want. She’d gathered from the snippets her mother had dropped and what she’d caught from paying attention that everyone who was a Swan seemed to be going through financial issues. They deemed this centenary celebration the event that would appease the gods. They kept touching her stomach as if she were pregnant already.
Jokes on them.
Alexandria had wanted to shake them. Were they so desperate for wealth and privilege that they’d believe a ritual would change their luck? She was all for having fate and being hopeful, but it was based on a mindset not capturing three men and blackmailing them into impregnating Swan House’s princess, who just happened to be her. And then kill them for their troubles afterward.
By early evening when she was finally alone in the confines of her bedroom, she forced her heart to stop racing. How was she going to tell Cara about her brothers?
She already knew what leaving her room would do to her, but Cara had promised she’d be okay. She just wanted to be with her sisters, wherever they were. Now, she had to break the most devastating and confusing news to her. How was Cara going to react?
It was now or never. She couldn’t waste any more time, certainly not to have a mental breakdown. She needed to stay super alert and strong. Within a few hours, they would be on the other side of the Swan mansion, cutting all ties with them. The path Cara chose still needed to be decided. She hadn’t spoken to Rhea yet either, opting not to use their messaging system for something like letting her know that Cara had been taken from her brothers when she was just a child. They intended to use her as a pawn, a bargaining chip, to gain their cooperation. Her brothers were the men in the dungeon.
God, even saying it in her mind, still rattled her. What kind of people were her supposed family?
Taking a fortifying breath, she was just about to step out of the dining hall and head to Cara’s when her mother intervened yet again.
“I forgot to mention we’re hosting dinner for all the members of the Swan House council tonight. They inspected the evidence of your virgin blood and the dragon seed, and they’d like to congratulate us in person.”
“Mother, I have a headache. I think I’m coming down with something,” Alexandria said.
“Nonsense. It’s a celebratory dinner, and you’ll be there. She doesn’t have much time to get ready,” her mother continued, dismissing her daughter and addressing the trio of priestesses who followed her into Alexandra’s bedroom. “She’ll wear the pale pink dress. Leave her hair open and adorn it with the swan hair clip. It will please the council.” Alexandria would have had to be blind not to see the envy in her mother’s eyes when she looked at her. Did she want this role? Alexandria would give it to her with open arms. But it wouldn’t matter in a few hours. Still,
That was all she needed on the night of their escape. Try as she might, she became more rattled with every minute that passed, sick to her stomach to be seated at the same table as the gross, cowardly people. Her misery threatened to break her in half. Every time she asked her mother to be excused, she was quietly told to put a smile on her face and be grateful for the part she had played in the ritual. She was even guarded when using the bathroom. If drinking half a bottle of Scotch the night before the ritual hadn’t put her off alcohol completely, she’d have drank another bottle.
Time ticked by. She still had to talk to Cara.
Oh god. Did her mother know of her escape plans? Was that why she was keeping her here?
It was ten minutes to one o’clock in the morning. The dinner party now consisted of a bunch of drunk men who made crude jokes about dragons’ seed in her body. Her parents entertained them, laughing with them.
The man her parents would give to Rhea burped loudly, with spittle on the sides of his mouth, after he made a remark that clawed at Alexandria’s nerves.
“The pussy worth twenty million dollars. You’re a lucky bastard, Richard. The end of your financial woes.”
Her parents had sold her for twenty million dollars to carry a Swan heir.
She thought she’d be more upset, but she wasn’t. Maybe because it was completely unsurprising and she had other bigger things on her mind.
Ten minutes before their escape, Alexandria envisioned running out of the dining hall and never returning.
She hadn’t yet spoken to Cara. Oh god. Cara. Both her sisters would be waiting for her, ready to leave, and she was stuck at a dinner party from hell.
. The guests started to leave, and relief consumed her. After telling her that she needed to be more friendly to the councilmen, her mother told her to go to bed.
Alexandria raced up the stairs. She didn’t have time to change out of the silk and lace pale pink ankle-length dress she wore. It cinched her waist and flared out at the bottom with lace and silk ruffles.
They couldn’t be late.
She almost collided with Melle, standing in the shadow. She grabbed Alexandria.
“The guard who watches Cara’s room is the son of a friend of mine.
He’s turned off the surveillance, but you only have ten minutes. I hope that gives you a little extra time. Go now, child. Be safe.”
She hugged Alexandria, then darted away before Alexandria could say anything.
“I love you, Melle.” She hoped the older woman heard her. Tears gushed down her cheeks as she swung Cara’s door open and found her sisters huddled together, stressed and terrified.
Instant relief washed over them at the sight of Alexandria.
“Cara, listen to me, sweetie.” She took her sister’s hand and held it tight. She didn’t want to tell her this way, not rushed like this.
“You three brothers you told me about in your book?”
“Yes.” Cara frowned. “Slade has grey eyes. Cian has green eyes. Lachlan has blue eyes.”
Slade. Cian. Lachlan.
Could those be their real names?
Slade. Cian. Lachlan.
“They’re your brothers, Cara. They have tattoos on their chests. Do you remember them?”
“I made them up.”
“What’s going on, Alex?” Rhea asked, unease reflecting in her eyes.
Alexandria reached for her with one hand and squeezed her sisters’ hands.
“Cara, they’re real. You wrote about them because you remembered them. They were... are your brothers. Do you remember? They’re big and strong and have tattoos on their chests, Cara. Three dragon heads. Your brothers. They’re real. They exist, and they love you more than their own lives. Please, please, please say you remember. They're your brothers, Cara. You were eight years old. Remember?”
“Slade. Cian. Lachlan. They exist in real life?”
“Yes, they do. They’re real.”
“You were taken from them, Cara.”
Cara’s eyes widened. Her face paled. Tears fell down her face like rivers.
“They took care of me. They loved me. The fire. The fire. The fire.” She used both her hands to block her ears, shaking uncontrollably.
Alexandria gently lowered her hands.
“They loved me. They died. The man said they had died. I remember now. Before I came here,
“No. Cara, they love you. They’re alive. They’re here.”
“Alex?” Rhea whispered, her voice quivering.
“They’re here. Cara’s brothers are here. In the dungeon.”
Rhea gasped. Cara bolted for the door.
Alexandria grabbed her back.
“Not that way. We have to go through the tunnel.”
“I want to see them now. Take me to my brothers now.” In all her life, Alexandria had never heard Cara speak with such force.
“I want to see them now.”
Wasting no time, Alexandria told Rhea to grab one of the duffle bags while she grabbed the other. They walked down the tunnel, using the flashlights Amanda had left for them.
Alexandria turned left. She pushed against the third stone door but she needed Cara’s and Rhea’s help before it squeaked open. The door had been unused for decades.
It was there that Alexandria had to make a decision. Everything could go south, and she would jeopardize all three of their lives.
“Rhea, take the bag and go through the south tunnel. You know what to do with the guard. He’ll be asleep. Just taser him. And run. Get into the car and wait for me.” As she spoke, she retrieved one of the burner phones from the bag. The only number saved in the contacts was Doctor Amanda Foster. She was waiting in the car outside their house.
Without letting Rhea see what she was trying, she let Amanda know that if she wasn’t there in ten minutes, she had to get Rhea to The Console. Alexandria would find another way to get out. Maybe they had less time. Did Melle’s friend’s son already get into trouble for turning off the surveillance? Were they looking for them already? The possibility was too high to ignore. She had to get Rhea out, knowing that Cara would not leave the dungeon without seeing her brothers.
Rhea squealed in protest, but Alexandria remained forceful, sending her sister off immediately, but not before Rhea warned her that if she wasn’t back in ten minutes, Rhea was going to come and get her. She also refused to hug her because they were going to see each other in ten minutes. That was Rhea’s way of showing she wasn’t terrified.
With Rhea on her way to safety, Alexandria and Cara faced the other sleeping guard. Using the chlorophyll, Alexandria pressed the white cloth to the snoring guard's mouth while Cara held onto his hands for dear life. Alexandria held the chlorophyll against him until he stopped trying to fight it off.
She stalled for a millisecond as the ante came into view, and with it came the three men who were kept imprisoned and all the things they had done to her. Her left breast still bore the red bruising of their mouths. Three bite marks next to each other, one from each of them.
Cara saw them, but before she could rush to them, Alexandria grabbed her and hugged her so tight that she took both their breaths away.
“I love you, Cara, my sister. Just go right and keep going until you get out. Tell them that.” She did not doubt that once they were released and their sister’s life was no longer in danger, they could fight their way out of there. Still, she tucked the bottle of pepper spray into Cara’s hand before she pushed her toward the cells, staying hidden in the shadows.
She couldn’t give in to her tears right now; she still had to disarm the alarm that would automatically open the cells.
Trembling all over, she cried in relief when she found the metal box—the new equipment was added to the ancient dungeon only recently.
She pushed in the code. A series of gears kicked into place. The last thing she heard was the cell bars sliding open.