CHAPTER 18
One Month Later
DANI PUSHED HER PLATE of roast chicken and potatoes away. Cinder, seizing the opportunity, hopped up onto the table with a quiet mrrrow. Evan snatched her up before she could pounce and deposited her back on the floor.
“You’re still feeling sick? Do you need to feed again? I can get Sera to draw more blood.”
“It’s getting better, I think,” Dani lied.
“It’s been a month. You’re sick every day. This doesn’t seem right.”
“It’ll be fine,” she said, pointedly cutting a look in Ava’s direction.
Evan frowned, but went over to the cupboard to pull out the loaf of bread from breakfast that morning. With Lara’s men combing the sector looking for them, they couldn’t risk accessing the money in their accounts, and neither could Sera or Dante.
It was thanks to Finneas that they had a steady supply of fresh food. Every day someone from Thornwood arrived with produce, fresh milk, and loaves of bread that were still warm from the oven and had a nice nutty flavor.
When Dani’s nausea and shakiness had persisted through the first week, Sera had brushed the symptoms off, saying they were to be expected. Her transition to vampirism had been violent. It had taken longer than expected to get blood into her system after being shot.
Sera initially prescribed a schedule of feeding every other day for the first two weeks, from Evan, who she could take blood from without the risk of addiction due to them being sisters, and from her and Dante as well.
When that hadn’t helped, she’d asked Finneas to increase their daily allotment of meat, cheeses and nuts, thinking that lack of protein was the problem.
Now a month had passed. She could see Sera was worried the change wasn’t taking, and was at a loss for what to do, even if she refused to admit it.
“Mom texted me again today,” Ava said, scooping up Cinder and burying her face in her soft gray fur. “She asked where I was.”
Dani exchanged a worried glance with Evan. “You didn’t say anything, right? Remember, we talked about this.”
“No, I get why we can’t tell her right now.” Ava’s voice went wobbly.
“Remember, it’s not forever.” Dani cut all three of them a slice of the fresh bread and nudged the pot of honey butter her sister’s way. “We just have to lie low for a little while until this mess with Lara Cavalieri blows over.”
“But when is that going to be? It’s been a month. Alex is on the media feeds every day saying how you were a plant for the resistance and he just can’t wait to marry Lara.”
“I know it’s upsetting to see those videos. We’ve told you not to watch them, and also that he’s likely being held against his will.”
“I hate him. And I hate being locked up here.” Ava’s eyes filled with tears. “When are we going to be able to leave? I wish you’d never met him. I just want to go home.”
“This hasn’t been easy on any of us, and you’re allowed to feel how you feel.” Dani looked down. “But Alex was captured because he went back to the castle to try to free aberrant prisoners that the king was holding captive.”
“He risked his own life to save innocent people like Dani who could be picked up off the street at any time because this authoritarian regime feels the traces of magic some families have in our blood make us too dangerous to be allowed to live,” Evan added.
Ava sniffled, swiping at her cheeks. “Am I ever going to see my mother again?”
Evan met Dani’s eyes from across the table.
They hadn’t told Ava about the full extent of Nadine’s involvement in what had happened the day she’d been shot.
It was a risk. Nadine would no doubt try to exploit Ava’s vulnerability and love for her in order to learn where they were hiding.
Based on her texts, which they were closely monitoring, her attempts were only getting crueler.
Ava was at a vulnerable age. Seeing what had happened to Isabella Visconti, how devastated she’d been at the loss of her mother, how easily she’d been manipulated, had served as a harsh warning.
“I hope so.” Dani squeezed her sister’s hand. “But not right away. There were some things that happened just before we had to leave. You know your mom is sick, right?”
“The drugs. And what the vampires did to her.” Ava fiddled with the edge of her napkin. Tears filled her eyes. “It’s all my fault.”
“None of this is your fault,” Dani began.
But Ava’s breathing was coming out in gasping sobs. “She said it was.”
“What?” Evan said sharply. “What do you mean?”
“Mom said I had to go with her that day, do what she said and keep quiet because she needed the money.” Ava couldn’t stop shaking.
She covered her face, unable to look at them.
“When I told her I was scared, that I just wanted to go home, she said that I had to do this. She told me it was my fault she’d been forced to sell herself.
That if I hadn’t gotten sick, her life wouldn’t have been ruined. ”
Evan swore. “I’ll kill her.”
Rising from the table, she hurled the carving knife across the room. It stuck in the far wall with a thock. Cinder leaped into the cardboard box that had brought that morning’s food delivery and peeked out distrustfully.
“She didn’t mean it. Not any of it.” Dani pulled Ava into her arms. “I’m so sorry she said those things to you, and I know it must have hurt you to hear them, but that was her disease talking, not her. You are wonderful.” She kissed the top of her sister’s head.
“I know she was the reason you were shot,” Ava said in a small, choked voice. “If I’d just told her no, if I’d run home that day instead of going with her, none of this would have happened. But she had my phone, and—"
“If you’d come home, you would have been in danger, too,” Evan pointed out. “Lara shot Dani. You think she would have hesitated to hurt a little kid?”
“I’m sorry for what I said about Alex.” Ava scrubbed her face with the heels of her hands. “I can’t believe she’s holding him prisoner. She’s so awful. And I hate that I ever thought she was pretty. It’s so obvious now when you see her laugh that everything she says is super fake.”
“Appearances can be deceiving.” Dani smoothed her sister’s hair. “We will get through this. We’re safe and we have each other.”
She looked up just as voices sounded from the front entryway.
Evan’s face immediately went blank. “I don’t like this. She shouldn’t be involved. She burned us before. I don’t trust her.”
“Neither does Sera, but she thinks she may be our only way into the castle.” Dani nodded to Ava. “Go hang out in your room for a bit, okay? And take Cinder with you. You know she’s a shameless flirt when it comes to Finneas.”
The door closed behind Ava just as Sera and Isabella Visconti entered the room.
Despite having known Isabella was coming, despite having tried to emotionally distance herself in preparation for this meeting, which was their only chance to rescue Alex, Dani couldn’t help the sick feeling that formed in her stomach at the sight of his sister.
She thought of him being thrown to the ground and beaten by guards, tortured, all because his golden child brat of a younger sister had tattled their plans to their father.
Isabella took one look at her, at the way her fangs were bared, her eyes wild with hurt, and took a cautious step back.
“I’m here to help.” She held up both hands.
“Yeah, we’ve heard that before,” Evan muttered.
“I know you can’t access your accounts, but no one is monitoring mine.” Isabella reached into her satchel and withdrew a paper bag. “I know your sister is sick. I went to the pharmacy. They had insulin yesterday.”
“Someone could have seen you.” Despite how she wanted to slap Alexander’s sister, Dani snatched the bag from her hand. They were desperately low on Ava’s supplies. “Thank you.”
“We don’t have much time.” Sera paced before the window.
Despite Finneas’s assurances the glamour over their location was secure, she was always on edge.
“I assume if you’re gone for long, there will be questions.
We need to know Alex’s current condition, and any weaknesses we might be able to exploit in order to get him out. ”
“Alex isn’t doing well.” Isabella folded her arms. “They manage to get him prepped for the cameras each day for Lara’s propaganda pieces, but he’s getting weaker.”
“You think it’s the fae bracelets they’re holding him with?” Dani asked.
“Most likely, but from what I’ve overheard, Lara is angry because they’re not affecting any of the other prisoners they’re holding in the same way. She was convinced Alex was faking it until he started having fainting spells.”
“She has to remove those cuffs.” Dani pressed a hand to her chest. “You have to tell her. She’s going to kill him.”
“Believe me, I’ve tried. She’s determined to get his compliance.”
“Lara does realize that without Alex, her little plan to become queen is all for naught, right?”
Isabella looked suddenly uncomfortable. “That’s the other thing. She’s determined to get an heir in order to cement her place on the throne, even if that means coercing Alex into her bed in order to make it happen.”
“That fucking bitch,” Sera swore. “You said they have Henri. Is he still alive?”
“He was as of yesterday. Lara has him at every taping with a knife to his throat in order to ensure Alex’s cooperation.”
“We’ve got to get them out of there. She’s unstable. Eventually, she’s going to snap when she doesn’t get her way.”
“And that may come sooner than we think. Lara is furious because apparently the magic in the handcuffs is making Alex so ill that he can’t, um… perform.”
“That bitch.” Sera tugged at the edge of her glove. “Alex was worn out before he left for the prison. I should have gone in his place. I would expect that once the cuffs are removed, he and Henri will both make a full recovery, but we need to get them out of there as soon as possible.”
“Is there any chance that if we managed to get the cuffs off, he and Henri could dematerialize away on their own?” Dani asked.
“Doubtful.” Isabella shook her head. “They’re both very weak.”