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Tarragon shrugged. “Yes. There are limits, but it’s quite easy to spread her influence in an enclosed space.”
I thought back to the orgies that had happened while we were here—the couples we’d stumbled upon in the Gardens, training grounds, halls, and even bathrooms in the castle—and swallowed thickly.
“Jesus Christ,” Sariel breathed.
Blossom sighed. “I hope you know what this means now; we have no choice but to demand a viewing to ensure you’re doing what we asked.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I could only nod jerkily. The alternative was to test them and see how far they were willing to go to get what they wanted from us, which wasn’t an option because there was too much at stake—our friends’ lives, for example.
“This could have been different, but with Azazel and Tyler in Europe sniffing around, we want to get this out of the way as soon as possible so that we can focus on keeping everyone safe,” Tarragon added.
Sariel’s fingers gripped mine tightly as he stared at Tarragon. “He’s going to try to take the baby,” he said tensely. “Our offspring would be worth more to him than us combined. He could raise them to be everything I wasn’t, experiment on them, sell them into servitude, whore them out. I need you to understand that the child will be in danger regardless of what happens if Azazel isn’t dealt with.”
“Not to mention that Tyler is under some illusion that my blood will save all fallen-blood wolves. It was no doubt Azazel’s doing,” I added. “Promising him that they’d find a way to replicate the bond’s effects was probably how he got Tyler to follow him. They don’t know that the thing that saved my father was a mate bond, though. They just think it was my mother and her blood. This could be dangerous.”
Tarragon shrugged. “They are not the first delusional people we’ve encountered. And they will not be the last.”
Blossom once again turned the conversation back to the child. “I think we will hold your friends until after the child is born. You are a flight risk,” she said calmly. “We cannot afford to have you trying to run away with our future child growing in your stomach. It could create chaos and unease.”
Her words had barely penetrated my thoughts when Tarragon added, “Besides if you run, you would lose the respect of the fae. They would not protect you against Azazel. They would not fight alongside you. If you want their respect, you will make this sacrifice to their King and Queen, and you won’t make a fuss.”
“Wait a minute.” Sariel held up a hand. “What the hell do you mean, you’re going to hold our friends? What friends?”
His voice rose in octaves as he spoke.
Blossom’s eye sockets twitched as though she blinked. “We will keep Michaelson, Neo, and Marilyn until the child has been born and is proven healthy. They will be taken care of, but knowing they are locked away will motivate you to work harder and give you pause in case you try to run.”
Sariel’s mouth opened once, twice. The third time, he stood abruptly. “How long until the viewing?”
I stood with him as Tarragon answered lazily, “Twenty-four hours.”
“Thank you, your majesties,” Sariel said, and with a hasty bow, he dragged me from the room.
“Sariel—” I started.
Not out loud,he snarled.They could be listening. We need to get the fuck out of this castle, Aria. Right now.
I know,I answered frantically,but how?
If we get to the others before the King and Queen do, we can get Mikey to convince Lucia to open the portal for us.
He was dragging me along after him as he maneuvered the hallways of the castle. When we came to the wing where we were held, we found Johnny and Reese pacing.
Sariel pulled up short. “No,” he hissed. “No! They didn’t take them already, did they?!”
Johnny glared at Sariel. “They did.”
“Neo was with me,” Reese said, then flushed. “He could have gotten away, but the Guardian outside my door snitched.”
I almost laughed. Reese believed that Neo would escape without her—how asinine. Now wasn’t the time to tell her that, though.
“What happened?” Johnny asked.
For the first time, I wondered what he was feeling. As a blessed-blood wolf, he wouldn’t know how to process an emotion such as anger properly, but he could definitely feel fear. And yet he didn’t even look agitated. Marilyn had been taken from him, and he was waiting patiently to figure out what we could do because he didn’t have it in him to incite violence.
There was some irony to that, considering that between him and Sariel, he looked more like the kind to get in trouble with all his piercings and tattoos. Granted, I hadn’t seen his ink since we arrived, and he’d taken his piercings out to train.
Sariel started to say, “We need to find Lucia—”
