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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.
Maybe more than any other thing the sight of his feet did her in. Something inside her began to scream. She arched her neck and let the sound pour out of her. She screamed until her lungs ached and her vocal cords could take no more.
When she stopped, she was staring up at the tall domed ceiling at least five stories up.
And the crowd was finally silent.
When she looked back at Josh, it was Daniel who caught her eye. His gaze had a foggy appearance and his lips were slack. No doubt he was euphoric because she’d just given him exactly what he craved the most: the suffering of others, the pain of others.
When she glanced at Josh again, his eyes were tight and he mouthed something. It took her several seconds before she understood he was saying, simply, Mom. She nodded and using her telepathy said, I’m okay now. I love you, Josh. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.
He didn’t say anything in response, but held his lips together tightly, two white lines.
So here she was, Lily Haven of Deer Valley, Arizona, and of Manhattan, soon to be executed, standing halfway between her kidnapped son and the man she loved, with no way out.
* * *
The sounds of Lily screaming her anguish at the sight of her son had quieted Adrien, had brought him out of his rage and into the present moment. His senses sharpened as the emotions of the now silent spectators hummed through his veins.
The guards grabbed him once more. Though he resisted, he was quickly overpowered, picked up, and thrown onto a hard slab of granite, one of two altar-like tables in the Pit. More chains were wrapped around him, securing him, chains that held Daniel’s powerful signature and kept him immobile.
He stared up at the tall, curved black ceiling, his mind rolling backward to being a child. How many times had he been in this position, chained to a table and subjected to knife cuts, delivered close-up so that Daniel could watch him suffer? How many times? A hundred? A thousand?
And how much Lily’s screams had fed the beast that lived inside Daniel, the one that needed the pain of others to thrive and to be satisfied.
He didn’t want his father to win so Adrien lay very still, gathering his thoughts. He had to figure this out. He’d gained Ancestral status. Surely there was some way to access his power and overcome the chains.
The guards moved Lily in the direction of the second table. Surprisingly, mother and son didn’t speak, but then what could be said? He’d watched Josh’s reaction to his mother’s screams, he even remembered what that was like. How young he had been when his own mother had screamed her pain, her anguish.
