“Anya…” Enid breathed as she stepped closer, granting her a faint glimpse of her round brown eyes through the bars of her cell. And despite the pain and suffering she had been forced to endure all these weeks, Enid’s smile was unrestrained. “I knew you’d come. I always knew.”
28
Enid was here.
Anelize caressed her sister’s hair, her cheeks, her arms, her hands. This girl she loved with her entire soul, more than her own life, was finally back in her arms. And she would never let her go again.
“How did you find me?” Enid whispered, the sound belonging to her, while not at all. Her delicate cadence was still there but there was also something else. Something hollow. Not right.
“There’s much to discuss but now is not the time. I need to get you out of here.”
She felt Enid tilt her head. “How are you here? Were you also taken?”
“No, it’s a long story, and one I’d be more than happy to tell you about when the time is right. I just need you to give me time and I’ll find a way to get you and Wellyn out. Where is he?”
“Wellyn…” Enid murmured as if she just remembered he had also been brought here. “I think he’s dead.”
The words, despite being spoken so bluntly by Enid of all people, left her utterly stunned. Feeling as though the world beneath her feet was shifting.
It took her a few shallow breaths before she managed to utter another word. “How?”
“The Watchmen took him. They said he was going home, back to his family. When he refused, they dragged him out anyway. That was days ago, and they still haven’t returned him.” As if admitting those words to her drained what little strength Enid still had, she slowly slid to the floor. Anelize followed, never taking her hands away from her. Her sister’s voice was so low, so defeated, that it broke her already tattered heart. “Do you think he is dead, too?”
“Enid, listen to me. I need you to stay strong for a little longer. Long enough for me to find a way to get you out. I swear to you, I will get you out of this wretched place,” Anelize implored as she ran her thumbs over her cheeks repeatedly, trying to warm her skin.
Enid nodded against her touch. “I’ll wait for you. I always will, Anya.”
A breathless cry escaped her, unable to stop herself from doing so. “I’m so sorry, Enid. I never should have left you. I should have been the one?—”
“Shh.” Enid’s hand eased through the bars and cupped her cheek this time. Her touch so cold yet so familiar that she never wished for it to end. “I never would have been able to come to you. You were always stronger than me, Anya. You always bore your suffering well, better than I ever will. So do not cry. If this was the one thing I could do for you, then I am glad for it. We’re together now.”
Such tender words filled with such horrible truths.
The sound of footsteps echoing through the corridor made them both tense.
“You should go,” Enid whispered. “If they find you, they’ll kill you. Please, go.”
Anelize shook her head, every fiber of her being refusingto leave her side once more. But she stood, her fingers slowly sliding away from Enid’s face as she took a step away from the cell.
“Iwillcome back for you,” she said through the knot in her throat.
As she stood by the door and watched as a guard strode past and unlocked another door, disappearing inside, she heard Enid’s smile through her final words. “I’ll be here.”
Taking a deep breath, she eased the door open and gently closed it, mindful of every sound she heard as she slowly took bracing steps backward. Her eyes trained on the opened door where the guard had disappeared as the back of her boot hit the first step of the stairwell. Turning around, she began ascending the steps before she slammed straight into a broad chest that nearly sent her careening back down. An arm wrapped around her waist at the same time a hand covered her mouth, muffling her gasp.
Through the shadows, she stared up into piercing blue eyes as they glared down at her.
Aeric.
His grip tightened on her at the sound of footsteps heading their way from the corridor and his glare shot over her shoulder.
“Come with me,” he ordered, his tone as unforgiving as his grip, as he pulled her up the stairs and into the light.
The structure Aeric led her into before the guard could reach the top of the steps of the tower was a small chapel within the ward. It was a small building which consisted of a long hallwhere a worn rug led to the two pews facing the lancet stained-glass windows. The only light they were rewarded with were the few candles lit upon the candelabrum beside the altar.
Aeric closed the door behind them with a deep exhale before he released her arm. He kept his back to her as he turned to walk farther into the chapel, his shoulders tense.
It didn’t take much to know he was angry with her for her carelessness, her reckless actions that could have cost them everything. She did not care since finding Enid after spinning her mind in maddening circles for weeks. Wondering if she was alive or dead. As Wellyn was likely dead.
