Chapter 19 #2
I was directly across from him, and yet it was like I barely registered in his mind. My hands closed into fists against the glass. The miles stretched as the vehicle carried on, putting greater distance between us and the hotel—and further from Jon.
I had to stop waiting for Cliff to soften and recant his actions; it simply wasn’t going to happen.
Every kindness and warm word he’d ever offered me had all been hollow.
He was a master manipulator. I had known that from the moment I’d first seen him hunting that werewolf outside Elysia.
My fatal mistake had been being naive enough to believe him when he said I was an exception.
As their conversation continued in a dull drone, I let myself sink into the corner, wings folded at my back.
Zia came to sit beside me, grabbing my hand in hers and squeezing.
It was obvious from the circles under her eyes and the unwashed state of her hair that she’d been captive here for at least a week.
And still, her skin was soft and cool to the touch.
She smelled faintly of jasmine, a scent that brought me hurtling back to warm summers as a child in Elysia.
Mother. Hazel.
I couldn’t afford to break. More than ever, I needed to be alert and on guard, but something about the silent kindness of Zia’s touch shattered what was left of my fragile walls.
Everything I’d worked for was crumbling around me.
Bravery and stupidity are close in kin, Mother used to sneer.
She was right. I was not a courageous nomad of my own making.
How stupid I had been, to ever trust my life in the hands of hunters at all, to dream of something so outlandish and greedy—that I might have a foot in both the human and fae worlds alike with a gem.
Zia wound her arms around my shoulders gingerly, her grip tightening when I sank against her.
Even with her affinity dulled in this wretched prison, an intangible wave of peace sank into my bones when she touched me.
Her fingers combed through my hair like I was an old friend.
Sobs shuddered through me. Were all nobles like this?
“I’ll never see my family again,” I rasped out, thick tears rolling down my cheeks. “I was supposed to meet them at Aelthorin. We were so close, and I…”
“Aelthorin?” Zia pulled away, hands lightly on my shoulders as she searched my face.
Rowan sat up behind her, and they exchanged a shadowed look.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“There’s no need to focus on that right now,” Zia started, glancing at the wicked men who packed the truck with us.
“Tell me,” I growled, pulling away from her. I rubbed my tear-stained cheeks on the sleeves of my blouse, gaze hardening.
Zia’s brow knitted, lips pursed like she couldn’t decide how to say it at all.
“Aelthorin’s been raided,” Rowan said, his voice harsh and matter-of-fact. “We sought refuge there on our way toward a safe haven for our kind. They offered shelter for a few weeks before these evil fucks found it.”
My breathing hitched, then stopped.
“No, it… It’s gone?” I all but whispered.
“Little but ash left,” Rowan said.
“Don’t be so callous.” Zia shot him a withering look.
“It’s the truth, my dear. She asked.”
I moistened my cracked lips, heart hammering in my chest like a frantic, caged bird. “But if it’s just the two of you here, then… Did everyone else escape?”
Rowan’s stony expression flickered with pain.
“We don’t know. There were dozens taken.
These humans were prepared beyond our more vicious nightmares.
Iron woven into clothes, netting, these damn glass cages.
We didn’t stand a chance, even with every capable affinity on the offense.
It was an ambush. Zia and I were only separated from the other captives because of her healing affinity.
Apparently, healers have the most value to them. ”
These last words were dripping with such utter disgust, I had no doubt he’d tried to murder every single assailant that had tried to lay a hand on Zia.
And no wonder for the hardened shame that sagged his posture. He had failed her.
“But—you were there for weeks, right?” I asked, my voice frantic and fast as I straightened. “Did you see my family? My mother and sister—a fire affinity, about fifty and eleven summers old. Bright scarlet hair—”
“Sylvia, calm down, you’re barely breathing,” Zia cut in, taking my hands and urging me back down. “If you keep up, you’ll fall unconscious again.”
“Perhaps that will be a blessing for her,” Rowan muttered.
“Please, you must have seen them!” I said, voice rising.
Vaguely, I noticed the men outside turning their heads at my outburst—Eros and Rhett looking on curiously. Cliff finally acknowledged my existence, eyes sliding to me.
I should have taken the opportunity to appeal to him while I could, but I remained pleadingly fixated on Zia. My hands shook as I gripped hers, begging for her to recall that she saw a redheaded woman and her daughter flying off in escape before they could be rounded up.
But Zia shook her head. “I don’t know. There were many fairies in Aelthorin.” Her voice caught as she blinked hard. “So many,” she said, softer. She shut her eyes for a moment, as though witnessing the heavy losses and captures all over again. “I’m so sorry, Sylvia, but I can’t help you with this.”
I ripped my hands away from her, my head throbbing with panic and anger.
Storming toward the glass wall nearest to Cliff, I noticed that even Ben had stopped his mindless pacing to observe me.
His expression was mostly blank, but the slightest drop of pity in his eyes told me he’d been listening.
I had to stop falling apart. I was supposed to be the brave one, the willing sacrifice, but all of that was locked far away from me now.
My voice cracked as I called out to Cliff. “Did you hear what she said? She was in Aelthorin! It.. It’s gone! Raided.” I slammed my hands against the glass, almost relishing the sharp sting of pain. I imagined striking him, knocking some sense into him. “My family, Cliff… My family.”
I sniffled pathetically and wiped my face, only to find that Cliff was pointedly looking away again, a tick in his jaw.
There. Something. He was feeling something, but he was fighting it.
That hardly inspired hope for my own sake.
He was still choosing his father and all of this power over me.
I dropped my forehead against the glass and balled my hands into fists.
One of the armored guards had his head turned blatantly toward me. My skin crawled as I felt his eyes upon me. Even with the mirrored visor in his helmet obscuring his face from view, I felt the prickle of his attention lingering on me.
“Fuck you,” I mouthed to him. He was certainly staring hard enough to catch it, but he didn’t react.
I felt like a monster being studied. Is this what my life was about to become? Observation. Experimentation.
The same would undoubtedly happen to Mother and Hazel if Eros’ men had captured them at Aelthorin.
A terrible vision struck me: the two of them huddled together, then forcibly separated.
Mother would viciously fight back, but her fire would be subdued.
She would have nothing but curses and promises that she would find everyone responsible and reduce them to ash.
But in the meantime, Hazel would be screaming and crying as she was wrenched away by uncaring hands.
Fragile and forced into a nightmarish existence.
I sank to my knees, not because I couldn’t support myself but because I had exhausted all other ways of begging.
“Cliff,” I said, my voice wavering and bearing none of its vicious bite.
“Please. Save them, at least. Sacrifice me to this cause if you must. I did this to myself. I…I know that. But my mother and Hazel? They’re innocent, and it’s my fault they’re in this mess.
” I pressed my open palms to the glass beseechingly.
“Find them and let them go. Please, please.”
Slowly, Cliff straightened and crossed the interior of the truck to reach our prison. He set his hand against the glass—and for one heartbeat, I thought he was reaching for the elaborate latch that would unseal the top hatch.
“Stand up,” he said. “You look pathetic.”
Rhett sucked in through his teeth, obviously relishing my distress. “Cold, even for you, Everett.”
“What’ll happen to these ones?” Cliff asked, tapping the case.
“All adept healers are promised to Price,” Eros said.
“Their talents are expected to give him the edge he needs to complete the project. I’m not blind to his agenda.
He’s trying to save his kid. I can sympathize with that.
In exchange for funds, labs, and regenerative creatures, he has agreed to share all proprietary research with Evercor, including patents. ”
“You’re rounding up more than healers,” Cliff pointed out.
“Any of these beasts with regenerative abilities are beneficial to his study. And the usefulness of these creatures goes far beyond the medical world. The others will be evaluated to find where their abilities can be best harnessed.”
“Sold off to those cocksuckers at the gala?” Cliff asked.
His father waved a hand. “That’s trivial. Government contracts are a secondary aspect we’re looking into.”
A low growl came from Rowan. Whoever would be charged with separating him from Zia was in for an unpleasant time. And Ben… Poor Ben. He’d already lived through the harnessing of his glamour, and now he’d be plunged back into that nightmare.
“All this fuss for some lab rats,” Cliff hummed.
“Does it bother you?” Rhett needled. “I mean, it can’t be easy to have your personal healer snatched away.”
“Thank fuck,” Cliff snorted. “Jon may be into the whole feisty, winged girl thing, but I take different strokes.”
My nerves became so alight that I would have frozen the vehicle solid if not for the iron. If I got out of here, I was going to scratch that stupid, pretty face of his into ribbons.