*****
Austin climbed the stairs, photos in hand, and knocked lightly on Marcus’ door. The door swung open and Marcus looked at Austin with disgust. ‘What you do want?’ he sneered.
‘I want to talk to you about Anita and then I’d like you to question her for us.’
Marcus laughed coldly. ‘And why do you think I’d do anything to help you after the way you’ve treated both of us. You’ve hauled Anita off like some common criminal whilst totally ignoring both my wishes and my judgment. I’ve been trained just like any other Descendant to identify deception and deceit and I can assure you Anita showed no signs of either.’
Austin handed Marcus the pictures of Alexander and Anita holding hands in Kingdom. ‘No deception or deceit at all?’ he asked triumphantly.
Marcus took a long look at the photos before casting them aside. ‘What exactly are you trying to show me? All I see is Alexander dragging Anita through the streets of Kingdom, during a visit that happened several months ago, before we were properly seeing each other. Alexander and Anita are friends; she had lessons with him in the Spirit disciplines. What do you expect me to do,’ he smirked, ‘fly into a jealous rage because Anita’s holding another man’s hand? Show me pictures of them kissing and then maybe I would react differently, but this means nothing at all.’ Inwardly Marcus was jealous, very jealous, but that could be worked out later. First he needed to concentrate on getting Anita free. ‘But I’ll question her for you, so we can clear this whole thing up and let her go.’ Marcus pushed past his perturbed father and made his way to the basement, Austin following him, trying to keep up whilst maintaining a dignified pace.
Marcus burst into the basement, snapping, ‘where is she,’ at Amber. Amber looked to Austin, who was coming down the stairs behind Marcus, nodding his approval.
‘Right this way,’ said Amber sardonically, leading the way down the corridor and unlocking the cell that held Anita inside. ‘Just knock when you want to come out,’ she said, standing aside and motioning Marcus through the door. Marcus saw Anita’s slumped form and rushed past Amber, hearing the door shut and lock behind him as he sank to his knees in front of her and lifted her head with his hands.
‘By the Gods, what have they done to you?’
She looked at him through her swollen eyes and smiled weakly. ‘They beat me up.’
Marcus was relieved to hear they hadn’t managed to rip every shred of her apart and marvelled that she still had any semblance of a sense of humour. ‘I’m so sorry Anita, this is all my fault. I should never have left you alone in the vault.’
‘Don’t say that Marcus. I should learn to curb my curiosity.’
‘What were you even doing anyway?’ he asked softly.
‘The cylinders caught my eye as they’re exquisitely made. All the energy recording equipment we have at the Observatory is made of brass and needs to be very precise, so, crazy as it sounds, I appreciate beautiful brass work!’ She laughed, but immediately stopped, the pain in her chest confirming that all of her ribs had not survived the beating intact. ‘I’ve never seen such fine cylinders, so I wanted to examine one close up. I was about to pick one of them up when Amber, Austin and the cronies burst in, saw me reaching for the shelf and assumed I was about to steal something. The rest you know.’
‘I’m so sorry Anita,’ he repeated, not knowing what else to say. ‘I’ll get you out of here, I promise. You haven’t done anything wrong, so they can’t keep you here.’
‘I’m sure they’ll find a way if they want to,’ she said in a low, cynical voice. ‘They’ve kept me for this long and have beaten me up for no reason.’
‘I’ll find a way,’ he whispered, placing a gentle kiss on her cracked and swollen lips. ‘I have to go now, but I promise I’ll be back before too long and I will get you out. I love you,’ he said meaningfully, before placing a protective kiss on her forehead.
‘I love you too,’ she said, in a voice so small it was barely even a whisper.