Aiden shook his head.“But—”
“Aiden, there’s no debate here.I do as I see fit and you follow.Especially now, when we are all in danger.”The hatch beeped as Sparkman keyed in her entrycode.
Elodie squeezed his hand.“We have to go.What those soldiers did to Astrid...”her chest heaved.“We can’t be here when they gethere.”
Sparkman and Elodie were right.He would have to deal with Echolater.
A loudboomshook the warehouse.The lights flickered as another sounded.Aiden and Elodie bolted after Sparkman and toward the open hatch that promised safety.The sharp whine of caving metal forced Aiden’s hands over his ears.His heartbeat raced inside his throat.He’d stopped and it had held Elodie back from reaching sanctuary.
He waved his arms, motioning for Sparkman to continue into the tunnel.“They didn’t come for you!”he shouted.
Sparkman’s chin lifted and her stance widened.“I won’t leave anyone behind.”
A root snagged the toe of Aiden’s boot and he crashed against the dirtfloor.
Another boom.Another flicker of lights overhead.Another screech of metal.And then something new behind them—marching, voices.
Elodie crouched next to him.Herred-rimmedand swollen eyes frantically swung from the front door to Aiden before settling on Sparkman.
“Go!”Aiden shouted, “We need you on the outside, not in handcuffs before the Council.”
Sparkman nodded stiffly and pressed her fist against her chest.“After the storm comes thedawn!”
The hatch creaked closed and the velvet drapes fell back into place.Sparkman wasgone.
The front curtains opened and a wave ofgun-totingKey Corp red burst through.This was it.He’d known this day would eventually come, but he’d never imagined there’d be anyone by his side when it did.Aiden rose to his feet as the sea parted and a single officer marched forward.
Elodie shuddered and let out a strangled wheeze as the man removed his helmet and tucked it under hisarm.
“So, I’m sent to find my fiancée in a fucking Eos stronghold.”Rhett eyed Aiden for a moment before puffing up like a toad.“And withAiden Scott.I’m sure your sister will justlovethat I found you here.”He turned his attention back to Elodie.“Nice job making new friends, El.”Rhett set his wide jaw and flicked his chin in the air.“Arrestthem.”
The soldiers overtook Aiden and Elodie.With sharp commands and prodding guns, the soldiers forced them to their knees.Aiden’s jaw ticked and his chest tightened as handcuffs were bound around their wrists, complete with one lead rope for each of them.Air fled his lungs as he watched Elodie cower away from each rifle jab.Her hands quaked.Her eyes gleamed with tears.Her lips parted around panicked gasps for breath.He’d led her down this path, led her to a river of truths, but this was too much too fast.This was drowning.
A soldier jerked her to her feet.She let out a sharp howl of pain, but clamped her mouth closed just as quickly and tripped along the path toward thedoor.
Aiden couldn’t watch her anymore, not while he was shackled and pulled from his favorite place on earth.He was useless.Just like he’d been a decade ago...
Rhett’s white blond hair caught his attention and Aiden fixed his gaze, his fears, his rage on the Major.“What does my sister have to do with this?”Aiden grunted as he strained against his handcuffs and the soldier pulling him closer to theexit.
Rhett’s lips thinned and stretched, wormlike, into a smirk.“You’ll see soon enough.”
The handcuffs bit into Aiden’s wrists but he held his ground.“Tell menow!”
A dry laugh burst from Rhett’s throat as he turned his back to Aiden and barked more orders at his sea ofred-cladcommandos.
Pain shot through Aiden’s hands and he stumbled forward into black velvet curtains.His eyes burned, but he wouldn’t let himself cry.Tears had never saved him.Another swift jerk of the leash and he was through the soft black.The curtains whooshed closed behind him as he was yanked from Wonderland.
XLI
Rhett stood next to the handcuffed traitors he’d forced up against the wall across from Blair’s desk with Aiden between him and his erstwhile fiancée.Rhett, then Aiden, then Elodie.Blair wasn’t sure whether or not he’d meant for them to be in height order, but they were.Like stairsteps, one leading down to the next.All leading to Elodie.
The girl was pretty.Not beautiful.At least, not as beautiful as she should have been to have gotten Aiden to betray who he was, to join Eos, and to commit the ultimate crime.Intercourse, the way it had been in the past, no longer existed.And in a perfect world, the world the Key was trying to create, a woman could no longer use her beauty as a tool to manipulate.But the world was far from perfect.Blair knew that firsthand.She’d used her beauty many times.It was just one part of her power.
Elodie fidgeted with the frayed ends of her plainT-shirt, which covered her plain brown skin beneath the lengths of her plain brown hair, which she shook away from her plain brown eyes.The girl might as well have been beige paint.So where was herpower?
Not only had she manipulated Blair’s only brother, she had also wiggled her way into the Fujimoto household and gotten Jasper Fujimoto’s youngest daughter to recant her statement to the Council.Maxine’s eyes on the Council had informed her that Council Leader Darby was certain the retraction couldn’t be trusted.Astrid Fujimoto was, after all, one of Elodie’s friends, and it was clear that Elodie could get anyone to do anything.Taking down Westfall’s top families seemed to be Eos’s goal, and they were using Elodie Benavidez to achieve it.
Aiden cleared his throat, snagging Blair’s attention.“Blair, is all of this,” he lifted his cuffed hands, “really necessary?”
