Satisfied, Daniel turned on his heel while ordering his men to bring them to the dais.
A deep half circle had formed, creating a large space in front of the dais where Daniel left Adrien and Lily.
As gasps filled the room, Daniel levitated slowly, the showman that he was, to hold himself above everyone, his men spreading out to either side of him, battle chains hanging down with the threatening blades slack at the bottom.
He moved forward just a few feet so that Adrien could see him.
Daniel waved an arm to encompass his captives. “I fear, my most beloved compatriots, that I have discovered a sinister plot in our midst coming from my son Adrien. As many of you know, he recently achieved Ancestral status, something I had hoped to celebrate this evening with all of you. Instead, what I have learned is that Adrien has bound himself to this human in order to form the outlawed tracking bond, and has been searching for the extinction weapon for the past three nights. He even embraced his Ancestral status in order to gain enough power to accomplish his goal.”
The crowd hissed at these words.
Daniel’s performance went on and on as he detailed each step of their journey, more proof that he’d been following them from the beginning. Adrien felt the hard stares of his peers.
Many, like Gabriel, knew what Daniel was up to, but a great majority believed, or chose to believe, Daniel’s lies.
Lily’s voice entered Adrien’s mind. They believe him, but how can they?
For many, this is about survival. From the moment Daniel took over the Council of Ancestrals, he’s been harassing and blackmailing the weakest. I don’t blame them. And Lily, I’m so sorry.
She might have said something in response, but Adrien had fixed his mind on the immediate future, on trying to figure a way out of this mess. He didn’t want to die, and he especially didn’t want Lily to perish—or her son.
But what could he do? If Daniel incarcerated him again, that would be one thing, but his father’s dark side reigned in this moment, and Adrien had the sense that Daniel intended to make an example of him, maybe for Lucian and Marius’s benefit.
The next moment Daniel’s voice rang out stronger than before. “Justice must be served tonight, both swift and sure. I hereby pronounce judgment on my son and the woman to whom he so unwisely bound himself, the human who led him onto this wayward path of destruction. I, Daniel, despite my love for Adrien, must order an execution, this very night, for both these traitors to our kind.”
Daniel turned and met Adrien’s gaze. An unholy light had entered the monster’s eye, something Adrien had never seen before. For the first time in his life, Adrien knew he would die at Daniel’s hand. Every time before, he sensed that his father had intended only to inflict as much suffering as he could, but not now, not this time.
“What do you say, my fellow Ancestrals? Do these traitors deserve to die?”
Shouting filled the banquet room as well as scattered calls that Adrien and Lily should be taken to the Pit.
“The Pit, the Pit,” became a horrendous chant within the obsidian cavern.
Adrien? Lily’s voice pierced his mind, a soft query against the harsh calls for their deaths.
He turned to look at her, full suddenly of all that he felt for her, his respect and admiration, his trust in her, his belief in her essential goodness, her rightness of character. And in this moment, he understood that he loved her, something he’d never before truly believed himself capable.
I love you, came from his mind.
She blinked, and her eyes filled with tears. I love you, too. A soft smile, full of affection followed, then, With all my heart, Adrien; with all my heart.
Daniel’s voice, louder than all the shouting combined, echoed through the cavern, “To the Pit!”
Lily felt disconnected from her body, as though the path she walked right now led straight into hell. Her heart beat like a mallet against a drum, so hard that the thumping resounded painfully in her ears.
Worse, she could feel Josh now and knew that with every step she took, she drew closer to him, which meant Daniel already had him at the place of execution.
How convenient that the Pit should be located in the Black Caverns.
She wanted to reach out to her son telepathically, but to do what, to tell him that they were vastly outnumbered by a mob bent on their execution?
She took another breath.
The path that apparently led to the Pit had a downward slope now and Ancestrals poured into the space from every direction, all coming straight from the banquet to watch the execution.
Was this really happening?
She still carried her purse, the one that contained the double-chain that Gabriel had given her. If she put it on now, would it do any good? And if she did, and somehow she survived, she’d be bound to a vampire forever. She’d never be able to leave Adrien, she’d never have the choice.
She drew the silk package out of her purse, letting the purse slip to the floor from her hands. As she walked, she opened the small packet and pulled the double-chain out.
Immediately she felt a vibration flow through her body.
Lily, what is that?
She opened her palm and showed him. Adrien pressed his lips together and shook his head. Won’t do a damn bit of good and if we’re able to survive, I’d hate that you were bound to me like this. You’d never be able to leave my world. Don’t even think about it.
She sighed and nodded, then wrapped the chain around and around her wrist, wearing it like a bracelet. The vibration remained, but she sensed no particular bond was being forged.
Still, she thumbed the chain with her opposing hand, wondering if there was some possible way out of this mess, something she hadn’t seen either about Daniel or the situation, or even her own abilities.
Though her heart still thumped in her ears, she focused her attention on her surroundings, on the nature of the Pit into which she was descending, on the love she had for Adrien.
She felt his rage now rising within him, that familiar terrible ire that had defined him from the moment she had first placed the binding chain around his neck.
Yes, rage had defined Adrien, rage birthed in his childhood and continuing as he watched his society’s inequities unfold.
She knew that tonight had become for him the culmination of his life experiences. He was a man who battled to keep his world in order while his father, always besieging good vampires and humans on the opposite side of justice, kept the secret world in a state of chaos.
The tunnel opened up into a huge cavern, an arena-like space, all black as the name of the resort promised, the walls in polished obsidian with intricate diamond etchings in an array of patterns. Soft light from dozens of sconces lit the space in a dim glow.
Looking up, she saw that even the ceiling had been worked well, this time in a dome of polished rock that overlooked the rows and rows of seats, all in a circle above the place of execution below.
From other hallways, Ancestrals poured into the arena filling up the seats. Lily drew in a sharp breath realizing that they’d come to watch her die. Historically, crowds often watched public executions, but in more modern times, in her human world, justice-ordered deaths occurred behind closed doors.
She wasn’t used to this on any level, including the horrifying spectator aspect of the event.
Adrien’s voice pierced her mind. I’m disgusted as well.
She moved forward and grabbed his manacled hand. He squeezed her fingers in response.
But that was the last contact she had. Quill emerged from a nearby tunnel, which caused Adrien to stiffen, drop her hand, and turn in his direction.
“Happy, brother?”Adrien spat.
Quill smiled. “More than you’ll ever know. I’ve wanted you dead for a long time, punished for your disrespect toward our father. Now let’s go.” He snapped his finger in Lily’s direction. “And bring the woman.”
The guards hefted Adrien, picking him up beneath his arms, pulling him off-balance so that he fell forward. They dragged him toward a set of stairs that led downward to the place of execution, his body thumping down the stairs the entire distance.
She cried out, “Stop it. What are you doing? He’s done nothing wrong. Daniel did this. It’s always been Daniel.”
But the crowd above shouted her down this time, calling her a liar and a traitor. Of course the closest seats were taken by Daniel’s men, so that was no surprise.
She moved quickly down the same set of stairs that led to the base of the Pit. But that’s when everything shut down for her because standing opposite, past two tables made of slabs of black granite, Josh stood staring at her, manacled at his wrists as well, a dark heavy chain looped between them.
Daniel waited beside him, his arm resting over the back of Josh’s young shoulders.
And Daniel smiled.
She stopped in her tracks, staring at the child she hadn’t seen in two years. “Josh,” she whispered.
A thrashing began deep within her soul, a need to get to him, to hold him, to protect him, to beg him to forgive her for being unable to help him.
But looking into his eyes, his expression now old beyond his years, all such maternal thoughts ceased. She grew very still as she met his gaze. Instead, she opened herself to her siphoned ability to sense what others were feeling and directed that power toward her son.
The first thing she felt was the depth of his fear, which he’d been living with for two years, fear of his situation, of the guards around him, of the arm resting across his shoulders. So much fear, which prompted another resurgence of her mother-guilt and a second internal flailing.
But again, the serenity in Josh’s eyes stopped what was useless in this situation.
What she felt next, however, was a determination so similar to what Adrien exuded, her heart finally began to settle.
“I love you,” she called out.
He didn’t speak, but nodded slowly and never lost eye contact. So restrained, so grown-up, long before he should have been, all the heinous signs that he’d been through a severe trauma.
Josh was taller now at ten and came to Daniel’s shoulder. His hair was slicked back and his cheekbones looked sharp, as if he hadn’t been fed as well as he should have, or maybe he’d been unable to eat. He wore a black T-shirt and black jeans, and he was barefoot. Even from here she could see that his feet were filthy. But a child without shoes was a child who couldn’t run away.