“There’s six of them.”
And two of us with hardly any energy to spare and no weapons. Shoot.
He didn’t say it, but I saw the concern written all over his face. How were we going to get out of this?
“I’ll create a diversion,” he whispered to me. “You get Analisa and meet me near the ballroom.”
“The ballroom?”
“I know a way out.”
My stomach tied itself into knots. I bit down on my bottom lip and struggled to come up with a different plan.
Any other plan.
“You’re going to meet me in the ballroom?”
“Near the balcony doors,” he continued to explain. “We’ll run through the maze. There’s a back door.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up.”
“Sera,” he intoned. “None of this is a good idea. But it’s the only idea we have. So, are you ready?”
“No.”
A slow smile pulled at his full mouth. “Too bad.”
“Sebastian-”
“You’re the one that wanted to prove herself on missions. Am I wrong?” I pressed my lips together and refused to answer. I wanted to go on real missions, not willful attempts at suicide. Sebastian didn’t need my response in order to make the rest of his argument. “I’m not wrong. You wanted to go. You knew you could be something that I didn’t want you to have to be. Well, here’s your chance. I’m going to go over there, create a diversion and you’re going to sneak in that room by any means necessary and extract my aunt from it. Then you’re going to keep running down this hallway until you get to the main staircase. You should be able to find your way to the ballroom from there.”
“And if I get caught?”
He breathed out slowly. “Seraphina, listen to me, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. You know how to smooth talk just about anything that can speak back to you. You know what to do if you get caught. But more importantly, don’t get caught.”
“Wise words.”
He chucked me under the chin. “You’ve got three seconds until I leave you. I suggest you mentally prepare.”
I winced an ugly, needy sound and immediately wanted to take it back, shove it in my mouth and swallow it completely. I sounded so weak.
And I wasn’t weak.
Sebastian was right. I wanted this opportunity. I wanted to be treated as a real member of the original Resistance teams. But more, I wanted Sebastian to see me as valuable and important.
I wanted to be his peer, not just his trophy.
I had always wanted that.
This was my chance.
I wouldn’t let him down.
I nodded just in time for him to give me a confident smile and then slink across the hallway. It was just dark enough that he managed to get into the long part of the T without being seen.
I realized what he planned and pressed myself against the wall as tightly as I could. My heart beat in my throat as I watched him across the way.
I wasn’t just worried about myself or Analisa. I was worried about him too!
So very worried.
I couldn’t think about that though. We had to do this right and fast or we would be back in our prison cell with only endless hours of torture to look forward to before our unfortunate deaths.
I jumped when Sebastian slammed into the wall nearest him. He stumbled forward and pulled a tapestry off the wall. It knocked a torch down in the destruction. I watched it until the flame died.
Then I looked back to Sebastian, who I could tell was trying not to smile.
I thought maybe he wanted to start a fire and that his plan had died. But he didn’t seem fazed at all that his fire went out.
Instead, he looked down the hall in the direction of Analisa’s room and at all of the men guarding it and said, “Who’s going to clean this mess up? It sure as hell isn’t going to be me.”
He sounded inebriated. I thought he might have been going for delusional, but it just came out sloppy and drunk. Still, his plan worked.
I heard several of the guards yell, “Hey!” before they took off after him.
He shot me one more wink that I wouldn’t have been able to see if I would have closed my eyes with panic like I wanted to. And if I hadn’t felt his action through our still-shared Magic.
He turned around swiftly and took off down the hall.
I counted the men as they went. I breathed a sigh of relief that all six of them pursued Sebastian and then waited thirty seconds more to make sure Sebastian had counted them correctly in the first place.
When I was sure everyone had gone after Sebastian, I slid around the corner and stayed against to the wall. As I got closer to the room I thought was Analisa’s, I picked up my pace and then sprinted the last few feet.
I let my Magic feel the door and the energy that locked her in. I wouldn’t know how to get inside without a trial and error process, but hopefully Sebastian had bought us some time.
I walked over to the door and twisted the door handle.
Locked.
Grr. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I wanted this to be easy.
I looked around the hallway and couldn’t find anything to help me. I racked my brain and tried to think like a human and did everything that I could think of. But nothing helped.
The door remained locked. I remained on the outside of it. And Analisa was still trapped on the inside.
Minutes ticked by and I started to fumble through things. I was too nervous to concentrate. Sweat dotted my brow and my lower back. I should know this. I should be able to figure it out!
I searched my vast resources of Magic, but no answers popped into my head. My Psychic instinct didn’t lead me in any other directions.
I was basically stuck.
Just stuck.
“And what do you think you’re doing?”
The voice came from behind me. It was cold, calculating and American. Not that I had anything against Americans. In fact, if pushed, I could admit that I was an American. It was the fact that we were both Americans and supposed to be bonded in solidarity and the Pledge of Allegiance and bald eagles and instead he’d traded in our mutual patriotism to work for Terletov the Douche Bag.
It bothered me.
A lot.
“I need in this room,” I replied honestly.
He stood at my back with the hard barrel of his gun digging into me. I wanted to squirm from the fear of having that dangerous bullet lodged into my spinal cord. And then I had to quell the urge to spin around and kick this guy in the face.
“You can go in that room if you really want to.” He chuckled sinisterly and I would have sworn he threw his head back and wiggled his fingertips together if we were in a cartoon.
“Really?” Maybe after he heard my accent, we would bond after all!
“Really,” he deadpanned. “Just until my friends catch up with your boyfriend, then we’ll take you right back to Mr. Terletov, so he can decide what he wants to do with you.”
Well, there went the matching-accent theory. Bummer.
“Mr. Terletov,” I snorted.
“Get in the room.” He shoved the gun into my shoulder blade until I bowed backward at an awkward angle.
I didn’t hesitate when he reached around my waist and infused the handle with his sickly Magic. The locked clicked open and I tripped forward into the room.
I took in as much of the room as I could in two seconds. There was a body laid out across a bed. A small electric lantern flickered on a nightstand next to it, but it was the only light. There were no windows and the large fireplace in the center of the room was untouched. The room had been emptied of all other furniture except for a chair near the bed with something slumped over on top of it.
I steadied myself and whirled around to face my captor. He was a young guy, younger than me. Probably not even twenty yet. His gun pointed at my mid-section and his eyes scanned the room nervously.
I felt him take in
the scene as quickly as I did. He was alone right now. And even though he had a gun to protect himself and subdue us, there were potentially more prisoners than guards.
Except that most of the prisoners were unconscious and incapacitated and not one of us had a weapon.
Still. He had reason to be nervous.
“Do you think he’ll kill me?” I made my eyes as big as I could and made sure my bottom lip jutted out in a trembling pout.
This never worked with Sebastian, but he knew me better than this kid. Plus, Sebastian had called me beautiful- the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Surely, that meant something to this kid, trapped in a stone castle with only men and zero lights.
And my pajamas.
The kid took in my skimpy silk top and the pants that had started out loose but now clung to me from blood and sweat- super hot, I know. This kid apparently hadn’t been around a woman in a while. His hand dropped half an inch and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. “I’m not sure,” he answered.
“I’m scared,” I whispered. I took a step forward and the kid didn’t even have enough sense to step back. “I don’t want to die.”
“I’m, um, sure that you, er, won’t.”
We were just inches apart now. His gun pointed at my feet and his eyes now firmly fixed on my face. He swallowed again and gulped with it.
I let a tear slip out of the corner of my eye. I had always been able to make myself cry on command. It was something that got me my way with my daddy, something that irritated the ever-living hell out of Kiran and something that Sebastian never acknowledged.
Not once.
This guy didn’t know any better though.
His expression blanched with wild-eyed panic and his free arm twitched at his side as if he’d almost moved to wipe my tear away and then thought better of it.
I suppressed my triumphant smile and made my move.
Faster than I thought possible, I swatted the hand that held his gun to the side. This arm swung wide and I pulled my right arm back and punched him in the face.
Granted, it wasn’t the best hit in the world, but my Magic supported me enough to cause blood to burst like a geyser out of his nose.
I shook my hand out and then made a mad grab for the gun. He tried to shove me off of him while aiming at me, but I attacked with the ferocity of a rabid beast.
I pulled at his hair and threw my whole body at the arm that held his gun. I even bit him! I wasn’t going to let him shoot me. And I didn’t feel bad about biting him.
Okay, I felt a little bad when he yelped in my ear. But I couldn’t let that stop me.
My Magic pushed against his Magic until I could hardly breathe through the struggle. The entire time I knew he was going to win the upper hand and shoot me. He was younger than me but bigger, tougher and had that stupid, super-strength his Magic transplant gave him.
Plus, if I were honest with myself, Sebastian had reason to want to keep me out of battle. I’d been in skirmishes and used my Magic forcefully, but it had been a long time.
I was used to decent Immortals that didn’t want to kill anyone, even if they had differing views.
I let a frustrated scream when he elbowed me in the jaw. My head snapped back and my tangled hair flew in my face and obstructed my view.
I retaliated by kneeing him in the groin, but it hardly had any effect on him. Either he was determined to fight through the pain or Terletov had removed his manhood along with his Magic.
That was a definite possibility.
The metallic taste of blood coated my mouth and my Magic surged with long pulses of dwindling energy.
I needed to end this.
And I did.
Although, I would never be able to recall exactly how it happened. One moment he was just a move away from gaining control of me, and the next, I’d somehow turned the gun on him.
I threw every last bit of strength I had into maneuvering his hand to point away from me. It was only by luck that I managed to point it at him just at the same time he pulled the trigger.
The shot rang loud and poignant through the room. I didn’t believe that it didn’t hit me. It took long moments of holding my breath before his body grew too heavy for me to hold and I realized our fighting had come to an end.
I took a step back, away from him, and his body dropped to the ground immediately. The muffled thump he made when he hit the floor seemed to echo for eternity and mingle with the ringing sound of the gunshot.
Hysterical urgency surged through me. I knew someone would have heard our struggle and especially the gunshot. Reinforcements would be on their way.
I needed to grab Analisa and get out of here. Fast.
Plus, I had no idea where Sebastian was and if he was already to the ballroom or if he’d managed to get captured again like I almost had.
What a mess!
I ran over to Analisa and immediately put my fingers to her pulse. I breathed a short breath of relief when I felt her faint heartbeat and the warmth of her skin.
She was alive, if barely.
Sebastian clearly hadn’t thought his plan all the way through because I had no idea how to get her out of here. Was I supposed to carry her?
Not happening.
She was basically the same size as me and I didn’t have enough Magic to sustain us the entire way.
Besides, me carrying Analisa was about as opposite as inconspicuous as possible.
I looked around the room frantically, but I didn’t come up with any solutions. I stared at the lump of something that took up the entire chair next to her bed and wondered if it was a dead body.
It was definitely body-shaped and it hadn’t moved since I walked in the room.
I didn’t think it even acknowledged the tussle I had. Which was really too bad because I wanted some accolades for kicking that guy’s ass!
It didn’t look like I was going to get it.
I pushed on Analisa’s shoulder and when she didn’t stir, I pushed her over so she lay on her back with her head drooping off the bead. Whoever had tossed her here had done exactly that: tossed her.
She moaned with the movement, but her eyelids didn’t even flutter.
Suddenly the lump moved and then all at once it shot into sitting.
So I was right about the body-shaped hunch. However, not dead. I really hoped that was a positive thing.
Something wild and uncivilized appeared before me. His long, scraggly beard was an impossible tangle of bristled hair. His dark eyes glistened like onyx in the dim light and he licked at his dry lips as if he could repair some of the massive damage done to them with just his sandpaper-like tongue.
It was not a pretty sight.
“Don’t touch her,” the beast-man growled at me. He leaned forward but started coughing violently almost as soon as he’d moved.
I wanted to yell at him to be quiet, but that probably would have been counterproductive.
“I’m here to help her,” I snarled back. “Can you help me lift her?”
“Help her?” His voice was just a whisper as he gaped at me with disbelief.
“Yes. I swear.”
“Do I… Do I know you?”
I took a step towards him and tried to peer at him through his mangy hair and Sasquatch-styled look.
“I am Jedrec.” He continued to whisper, but this time I could tell he was less sensitive to the people around us.
“Oh, my gosh!” I squealed quietly. “I’m Seraphina. We’ve met a few times before.”
He nodded like he could finally place me. “You’re really here to help her?”
I gave him a confident smile. “Yes! And you, if you’d like help. We’re trying to get out of here.”
“We?” His eyes narrowed in quick suspicion.
“Sebastian’s here with me.”
“Sebastian?”
“Sebastian Cartier.”
Jedrec’s eyes got even bigger. “The prince! You brought the prince to help rescue us!”
&nb
sp; I cleared my throat. “Actually he brought me here.” I thought back to our recent arrest.
He shoved his body onto shaky legs, wobbling for a while, but eventually steadying out. “I can walk,” he declared.
I bit back my naturally sarcastic response and decided to smile patiently at him instead. I wondered when he had walked anywhere was and if he had been unconscious when I walked in or playing dead until he knew what to make of me. “That is fantastic news. How do you feel about weight-lifting?”
His face betrayed none of his emotions when he asked, “Weight-lifting?”
“Your Queen,” I told him. I nodded in the direction of Analisa. “I don’t think she’s walking out of here and I’m too short to manage her.”
And by short, I obviously meant not Hercules.
Jedrec ambled over to the bedside and ran the backs of his fingers over her slender, but filthy, neck. “I can help her.”
Despite his obvious weakness, he swooped her up into his arms and swung around to face the door.
“Are you sure you’re strong enough?”
He gave me a determined look and grunted at the open door. “I’m fine. Let’s go before someone else finds us.”
He had a point.
All of this would be in vain if Terletov’s henchmen caught us before we even got down the hallway.
Thankfully, no one did.
We moved as quickly as we could in our pathetic states. We pushed our bodies to their limits and sprinted, or ran with much gusto, down the hallway.
Sebastian had been right. As soon as I got to the staircase, everything started to look familiar. I relaxed just a pinch and said another prayer for Sebastian.
I hoped he was well enough to outrun all of the men chasing us. I hoped he was fast enough and tricky enough to get to the ballroom.
Footsteps pounding against the stone floor and the shuffle of pants and belts and men broke into our quiet getaway. I grabbed Jedrec by the back of his shirt and steered him behind some drapes. It felt very Tom and Jerry of us to hide in plain sight like this, but there weren’t any other options.
Analisa moaned softly, but it felt like a siren screaming an alarm. Jedrec quickly shifted her in his arms and wrapped a hand over her mouth.
I held my breath and prepared to be discovered.