“Come here.” I pulled at his hand, and he leaned forward so I could see his shoulder. “We need to get the bullet out right?”
“It hit the soft part,” he said, turning to show me the exit wound. “I think it went all the way through.”
“Good.” I touched his taut skin gently, examining the wound with care. I pressed lightly against his firm muscle, and rich red blood oozed out easily. He gritted his teeth, but let me test the flow. “It’s still bleeding well enough.”
As the shock started to wear off, I was confronted with the pain head on. It made me cringe and shake, as I put my head back on the pillow.
“You’ll be all right,” William promised, bringing his face close. He brushed my sweaty hair out of my eyes and touched his lips to mine with the slightest kiss.
It was a relief to give up control, to know that he would take care of me, and it would be over soon. He rolled me gently to one side, unzipping my dress, and I moaned when I returned to my back. Tears slid into my ears as he pulled the straps off of my shoulders.
“Did I mention I’m going to kill him?” he said, trying to distract me.
I smiled, not wanting to tense my muscles by laughing, and nodded, still shaking. He peeled the blood soaked dress down to my hips, leaving me in my bra and exposing the wound, then climbed onto the bed positioning himself over me.
“The pressure will probably hurt at first,” he said, without acknowledging his own pain. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah,” I answered, and clenched my jaw to brace for it. He laid his body on top of mine, matching his shoulder with my side to seal our injuries together. He was gentle, but the weight of his torso was excruciating, and I cried out in agony.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, but stayed held in his position, head resting on my chest. “It will feel better soon.”
As we waited for our wounds to heal, giving in to emotional and physical exhaustion, we drifted off. Without food or water, our bodies demanded only one thing of us— sleep. At some point we folded into each other like flower petals pulling close together to endure a cold night.
8.
I WOKE UP ALONE. My skin was healed, and a tray of breakfast sat untouched, but William was gone.
I did my best to resist the food, telling myself I would accept nothing from Christoph, not even if my belly was twisting with hunger. I cringed at the sight of his fancy silver platter. Did he really think nice things would make me forget I was a prisoner? It was probably laced with something anyway.
“Alaximandrios,” I whispered over and over under my breath, but no matter how many times I tried to call him, he never came.
I couldn’t keep from growing anxious as each minute passed that William didn’t walk through the bedroom door. What if I never saw him again? I had no way of knowing where or why they had taken him, what they were doing. What if William was dead? My chest tightened. If so, I hoped they would kill me next.
I tried to put myself in Christoph’s shoes, to imagine what I would do if I had finally captured the two most valuable people in a war set against me. We had something he wanted, we wouldn’t cooperate, what other use was there for us besides death? The death of the last healer and the new mother and father would be the ultimate blow to a people already wary of revolution. What better way to reestablish his stronghold than killing us both?
When the door finally swung open, I had already come to terms with what it would mean. I didn’t know if it would be Christoph or one of his many pawns who would do the job, but I was ready. Without William, I couldn’t muster the will to fight for any cause. As far as I was concerned, without him, there was no prophecy, no war, no oracle, no future.
“It’s you,” I uttered in disbelief as William was shoved into the room. I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around him. Our eyes met, but his were no comfort. “I thought they killed you.” His face was pained as he looked into me, like maybe they were still going to.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He looked away. “You didn’t eat your food.”
“I don’t want it,” I said, falling for his distraction. “I don’t want anything from him.”
He lifted my arms from off of his shoulders and headed for the platter. “You should eat, Elyse,” William insisted. “He isn’t planning on letting us go any time soon.”
His somber expression was daunting. “What happened when you were gone? Did you talk to him?”
He hung his head, recoiling from his own thoughts. “Come here,” he said when he finally worked up the courage to look at me. “Eat, and I’ll tell you.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and wheeled the room service cart close enough to use as a table. My mouth watered at the smell of bacon and eggs as I lifted the lid covering my food, and I couldn’t resist. I grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite. “Did you eat anything?”
“I had breakfast with him.” My eyes fell into a scowl.
“His idea, not mine,” he clarified. “I didn’t have much of a choice.” He sat close to me on the bed, watching me eat. “Elyse, I need you to know that I love you.”
“I know,” I said, my heart clutching at the suspicious way his words were colored with sorrow. “I love you too.”
“I’m so sorry, for everything. I was supposed to protect you, and it was me who . . . this is my fault. I know you don’t see it that way, but I do. I just hope you can forgive me. You don’t blame me now, but you might later, after . . .”
“After what?”
“Even if you can forgive me, I’ll never forgive myself,” he continued.
“William?”
“I have to ask you something, before I tell you. I need you to know that it comes from the heart, and even if it were a different situation, and we were free, I’d still feel this way. I’ve always wanted you and nobody else, like I’ve known you forever.” He fell to one knee and my heart shot up into my throat.
“What are you . . . Why are you doing this now?” This couldn’t be right. It wasn’t like William to be so careless with sentiment. If this was his proposal, something was wrong. “Is he going to kill us?”
“If we don’t do what he wants. Yes. He’ll kill us.”
I shook my head, trying to deny what I knew was inevitable from the moment we were captured. Christoph wanted one thing, the next oracle, and unless we gave him what he wanted, we were as good as dead.
“I won’t do it,” I said without thinking.
“Then he’ll kill you, Elyse,” William said in distress. “He’ll kill both of us.”
“This isn’t your fault, it’s hers,” I sneered in anger. “Who?” he asked with surprise.
“The oracle. She’s been working with him. She told him we would be here. She meant for us to get caught.”
He rose to his feet and sat next to me on the bed. “How do you know?” he asked, ready to defend her.
“He told me,” I answered. “Think about it. She wants her bloodline to continue. This makes sure it happens. How else would he have known we were here?”
“But why would she put her trust in Christoph? It doesn’t make sense. She’s on our side.”
“Is she? What if she kept me alive this whole time for this moment? She gets what she wants.”
He shook his head. “Ellie, Christoph killed Iosif. Why would the oracle side with someone who killed her husband? Christoph manipulates. Whatever he told you isn’t true.”
“Maybe,” I answered, not sure what to believe.
“What should we do?” he whispered into the silence, his eyes pleading for a miracle answer, one I didn’t have.
When I thought William was gone, death was an easy thing to accept, but with him sitting inches away from me, I couldn’t give in that easily. If I refused to cooperate, it would be my decision that took William’s life.
I turned to face him. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
“I don’t want to force you,” William said, releasing his guilt. “He tried to convince me
it was the right thing to do, that I’d be saving your life, but I just can’t do it.” We looked at each other, both pained by the decision. “I can’t take that from you, not if you don’t want it.”
“It’s not that,” I pleaded. “I do want it. I just . . .” Tears began to form, but I refused to blink. I would not let them fall.
He nodded. “Just not like this.”
A thousand things were telling me to stand up for myself, for my virtue and my future child. I couldn’t let Christoph manipulate us like this, and I wouldn’t play into his game, but it was William. Was it worth dying over? How could I give up everything, deny myself the genuine love that he had for me, just out of principle? It seemed foolish. If it were anyone else it might be a worthy battle, but to give in wasn’t necessarily defeat. It was perseverance in the name of love.
“We’ll find another way,” William insisted with little hope. I chuckled to myself at his noble suggestion, and turned to him with dry and confident eyes. I found his lips, kissing them gently.
“What are you doing?” he whispered. “It’s not worth losing you.”
“It shouldn’t be like this,” he said, shying away from my affection.
“Just forget Christoph, forget this place, what it means. I won’t let him take this from us. It’s not like the oracle would be born tomorrow. This doesn’t mean he wins, it means we win, because we aren’t doing this for him, we’ll be doing it for us.”
“I don’t see it that way.”
“Why? We’ve both wanted this for a long time, and I’m tired of holding out because I’m scared. I won’t let Christoph control us.”
He brushed his hair back out of his face. “If we give in, he will be controlling us.”
“How do you know? Maybe he wants us to resist. Maybe he’s just looking for any reason to kill us. We have to stop thinking about Christoph, and what he wants. We need to decide for ourselves.” I laced my fingers between his. “If this was our last day together,” I said, “if we were never meant to survive this, what would you choose?”
His eyes softened at the thought. “You.”
“Then kiss me because you want to, not because you have to.”
He looked at me for a moment before he gave in. His warm palm slid against my cheek, his fingers settling on the back of my neck as he inched closer. Goosebumps crawled across my shoulders, and the feel of his lips made me breathe deeply, like I’d thirsted for his kiss for too long. “Are you sure?” he asked when our mouths parted.
“Yes, I’m sure,” I answered.
“Okay, just wait one second,” he said with a renewed sense of acceptance. He reached around to the back of my head and gently loosened my ponytail, letting my hair down. With the hairband in his hand he came to one knee yet again. “I’ve always known I’d marry you, Elyse, but I have to ask. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I answered through a smile. Despite the circumstances, I was determined to let myself feel joy, as if the feeling alone was a victory. “Absolutely, yes.”
He wrapped the black elastic band around my ring finger, twisting it until it fit. “I was planning on giving you my grandmother’s ring. This doesn’t quite do it justice.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He took my face in his hands again and kissed me softly, but this kiss was different. It was our end and our beginning in one. My chest heaved with breath as his pillowy lips slipped against mine. His fingers grazed the skin of my shoulders, taking in every inch, every feeling like it was the last moment we’d ever know.
With a hand against my waist he moved me to the center of the bed using the pressure of his kiss to guide me. My body trembled knowing this was it. We’d lost, but giving in was a freedom I’d never felt before. My fingers shook and fumbled with the buttons of his tuxedo shirt, peeling it over his shoulders. His face, freshly shaven, slid like silk into the crook of my neck, and I closed my eyes. I breathed deeply as he reached for the zipper of my dress, but before he pulled it down he stopped, holding us in that last moment before everything changed.
“I love you,” he whispered, his face inches from mine. Our eyes connected. “I love you, too,” I said, pressing my mouth into his. Defeat never felt so good.
***
I woke up to silence. The room was dark, but my eyes were used to it, and I could see the white sheets glowing against William’s back. At first I smiled to myself. He was there, next to me, safe. I slid my hands over the sheets across my flat belly. Blood pulsed under my palms and the feeling made my chest flutter. I swallowed down the nervousness. Maybe it didn’t work. My eyelids slammed shut. I didn’t feel any different. Please tell me it didn’t work.
Without warning, the door flung open. It crashed against the wall, startling William out of sleep. He jumped and rolled off the bed, taking the top cover with him and leaving me with the sheet.
Adrianna sighed, and her eyebrows climbed up her forehead. “I’m guessing I’m too late,” she said. William and I stared at her, afraid to move, and she looked back at us with wide expectant eyes. “Well? Get up. Get dressed.” Her voice was sharp and demanding and had us on our feet in seconds.
I held the sheet to my body as I scrambled to find my clothes. William buttoned up his shirt with quick fingers and was by my side to help me pull on my dress. My eyes drifted to the black cloth bag Adrianna held as she knelt down and began feeling under the bed. She lifted a key from around her neck and slid it into a lock hidden discretely under a wooden panel on the leg of the bedframe. The floor began to groan and the entire bed turned on an axis creating an opening in the floor.
“Move,” she urged, beckoning for us to take the stairs that led down into the opening. “Quickly.”
She followed us, sliding her key once again into a lock somewhere in the dark wall of the tunnel. The floor creaked and strained again, sealing us up in darkness below.
I couldn’t see, but I felt her body brush against me as she pushed past us. “Follow me.”
9.
THE AIR WAS DAMP in the narrow corridor, and the walls were sharp with jagged rock. I thought about resisting. She had no weapon, but something told me not to test her. A distant glow coaxed us onward, toward the end of the tunnel.
When we got there, she opened the wooden door, flooding the passage with a dull light. I felt William’s hand on the small of my back, urging me forward.
Cast iron cells lined the length of each wall of the flame-lit room, but only one woman was being held here. I figured we were next and wondered which would be ours. The woman stayed quiet, and watched us through loose strands of shiny blonde hair as we passed. Though she looked healthy and well kept, both her feet and hands were chained to the floor.
I heard William’s footsteps stop somewhere behind me. “Lilia?” he whispered.
“Keep walking,” Adrianna warned from ahead. “Don’t push your luck, William.”
He glared at her with disdain, but kept moving.
“Here.” She thrust the black bag into my hands. “I’ll restore your power within the hour.”
I stood taller, facing her in the dim light. “Why?”
She opened a cell door, the hinges creaking with rust. “Because I’m letting you go,” she answered. “Help me lift this.” Her eyes fell on a stone-carved bench that sat against the wall. “Behind it there’s a hole that leads to the storm drain system.”
I didn’t move at first. I didn’t believe her, but William must have because he stepped forward and gripped the edge of the bench with his fingers. The muscles in his forearms and back flexed as he braced his body to counter the weight of the stone. It crackled against the rough granite floor as he slid the seat far enough out for us to squeeze our bodies through. I stepped forward and saw the opening, an ominous black hole that led into the wall.
“Thank you,” William said to Adrianna as he tugged at my hand. I didn’t budge.
My eyes focused on her. “Why are you doing this?” I couldn’t trust anyone blindly. Mac had
drilled that into our heads.
She smiled, and shadows elongated her features. “It’s just my little way of paying back Christoph.”
“For what?”
Her eyes tightened, but her lips smirked as she answered. “A lovers’ quarrel. What is it they say? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
I stared past her into the opening. It could lead us anywhere. This could be a trap. “How do we know we can trust you?”
“You don’t.” Adrianna sighed impatiently. “Look in the bag.”
I opened the black satchel and stuck my hand inside. The familiar feeling of my dart gun graced my fingers, and I found my bracelet near the bottom.
I didn’t know what to say, whether to hate her for who she was or thank her for her help.
“What about William’s ability?” William stayed quiet, but I felt him standing strong against me. I was pushing it by asking.
“That is up to Christoph.” She shrugged. “But he is weak. He has many enemies, and the more power we take, the sicker we get. Every Council member has their limitations. He’ll give it up soon enough.”
I glanced at William. I hadn’t known that fact. “Good luck.”
William insisted on going through first. Adrianna had put a flashlight in the bag, but its single ray was lost easily in the blackness. His feet tested the rungs of the flimsy metal rebar that protruded from the cement as he lowered himself deeper.
My eyes floated toward Lilia while William climbed. She was the key, the only Council member who tied them all together. Without her, none of the Council’s abilities worked. Adrianna cleared her throat to get my attention. She was watching from a distance and had to know what I was thinking. If I could get Lilia out and away from them it would strip their power. Christoph wouldn’t lose his authority, but he would lose his ability. He’d be vulnerable. How fast could I load my thickest dart and shoot her?
“Okay,” William spoke from below. “The ladder ends short. We’ll have to jump.”
I heard the echoing splash as his feet hit wet ground. If I decided to take the risk, I was on my own. There was no way back up. He pointed the light at me and I squinted back. I had to try.
Uprising (Children of the Gods) Page 9