by N P Hector
There were nods around the table and no one moved. Roger was the first to speak. “Romulus, we’ve all grown fond of Selene. How could she have been removed from the Order’s Estate without an alarm being triggered?” Roger was responsible for the technical portion of the estate’s security and bristled at the thought that someone could have evaded his alarms and cameras. Lucinda, the woman responsible for the magical border around the estate, was also intense. She ran a hand through her thick curls and addressed the table, “no one on my team registered any magical interruption in the barrier. It took three mages to build that network. How could this have happened?”
Romulus looked every member of the council in the eye. “Someone on this estate is a traitor. A mole. That person broke into Selene’s apartment, set fire to the cottage, and now they’ve taken her. You are all suspects.”
Everyone shifted uneasily at the prospect that someone among the top echelon of the Order could have made such a stinging betrayal. Honor and strength were core values of their society, so the prospect that someone would be so underhanded and deceitful was disturbing. Their sect honored strength and honesty -- a fighter who would face their foes openly. Who among them was the mole?
Romulus was stern, “I want Selene found within the hour.” When the head of the mage division went to speak, he interrupted “everyone is to assist, Lucinda, take whatever resources you need to track her. This is our top priority.” When no one moved to ask a question he dismissed them. “I’ll see you all back here in an hour. Find her.”
The room cleared out apart from Dougall, Joan and Cullum. Joan spoke first, “when did she go missing?”
“From her room. I’m not sure of the time. I checked in on her this morning. Katrina came when she heard me slam the door open.”
Dougall stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Rom, you know what this means.”
He nodded in response and clenched his jaw. “Kem has her.”
Joan slammed a fist on the table. “I knew I should have stayed the night with her. But she wanted to be alone.” This is all your fault, Rom! Hung in the air. His Commander at Arms would not be so insubordinate as to say it aloud, but he knew that she thought it. He also knew that if he had named Selene his fated and bonded with her that he’d be able to flash to wherever she was. But he hadn’t, because he had been a fool.
“This is my fault. We have to get her back.”
He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he couldn’t get to her in time.
Chapter Twenty
I saw that you were perfect, and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.
– Angelita Lim
When Selene gained consciousness again her foot was chained to the floor and she was in the middle of a large room. It was concrete, cold, and entirely eerie in its silence. She turned in a full circle in an attempt to get her bearings. There was no one else around.
Testing the strength of the chain at her ankle, she pulled her foot. The chain rattled and lay heavy on the floor. The bolt pinning it to the ground held fast. She briefly considered trying to slip her foot out. But the ankle cuff was too small and tight. Even then, she couldn’t see a single door in the large concrete dome. There was a ring of water that appeared to follow along the wall. Perhaps that could be an entrance or exit of sorts.
Her throat was sore and dry. Feeling around the base of her neck she flinched at the tenderness. The idiot who had tackled her had not done so gently.
That means they’re probably not too concerned with my health.
Selene resolved to fight tooth and nail for her freedom. If they were that willing to bruise her severely when they had magik at their disposal then she needed to fight for her life. Realistically, she acknowledged that there was nothing she could do but bide her time and gather information about her surroundings.
Damn it, if they were going to kill her because they thought she was Sorcha then it would be helpful to at least have the woman’s powers as well. If her great, legendary powers were going to emerge then now was the bloody time, wasn’t it? Some Fae descendent she was.
She needed to stretch her legs. So, she paced in a circle as far as the chain on her ankle would allow. She wished that she had been kidnapped in something other than her pajama shorts and tank top. She would have loved to have a sweater.
On the third round of her pacing she came face to face with a tall man with brown hair. He was wiry and looked like a scholar, with his small glasses and oxford shirt. She stumbled back and couldn’t stop an expletive from slipping out. After a moment of tripping over her own feet she righted herself. On a second glance, she might have mistaken him for a kindly professor from her days at school. But her time as a negotiator had honed her perception abilities, and she sensed something menacing from this man. But then again, it didn’t take a seasoned negotiator to determine that the only unchained being in this concrete trap could be threatening.
The man smirked and clasped his hands behind is back. He circled her, in the opposite direction she had been moving, and she whirled to keep her eyes on him. “I wondered when you’d wake. Nico hit you a bit harder than intended. Didn’t he?”
Selene refused to respond. She knew that the best way to get people to talk was to just listen. So, she wrapped her arms around her waist to keep the chill away.
The man tsked. That motion combined with the white peppered throughout his hair made the man seem somewhat regal. He appeared to be affronted that she, his guest, hadn’t been offered a sweater. A light blue sweater appeared at her feet. Part of her wanted to kick at it. But the negotiator in her told her not to spurn this peace offering.
He continued to circle her as she slipped into the sweater. “So, you’re a smart girl. I hear that you’re a doctor. By now you must know who I am.”
Selene knew a test when she was presented with one. So, she bit back her ego and refrained from answering. She didn’t want to give him insight into how much she knew, how dangerous her knowledge could be. So, she bit her tongue and did her best to keep her instinctual urge to correct him at bay.
He hummed at her lack of response. He stopped pacing and stroked his beard. “Mm, a very smart girl indeed.”
Step one: establish your negotiation stance.
“Given the giant marble dome and the chain attached to my foot, I can safely assume that you’ve been preparing for this for some time. So, my question is: what do you want with a short girl from Connecticut?”
He chuckled and two wooden chairs appeared beside each of them. “Please, have a seat.” There was something unnerving about his adherence to old world charm despite the chain at her foot and the concrete around them. But Selene sat anyways.
It’s a bit better than the cold concrete floor.
The man crossed his legs and placed his hands on his top knee. “I am here”, he began, “because you, girl from Connecticut, are supposed to be this ethereal being with amazing powers.”
Selene resisted the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Here she was, in her pink silk pajamas and a blue sweater, barefoot and chain to the floor, and she was supposed to be this ethereal being? She blinked at him.
“Ah, don’t look at me like that. I almost let your youth fool me the last time you slipped from my grasp.” Selene continued to blink. He sighed deeply, as if she had put a great burden upon him. “So, I need to overthrow the Order. They’ve got all of these pesky rules, I’m sure you’ve noticed?” Still nothing. “Anyways, I need your power to do that.”
Selene was growing tired of this. She pointed to her chained ankle. “I must not be very powerful if I’m chained here.”
“Sorry about that...unpleasantness. But I’ve been waiting centuries for you to be reincarnated so I can trap you again. Basically, you’re still too young to mature into your powers. So, I either keep you here until you’re 26, or I kill you while you’re bonded to Romulus the Relentless. Or, as I knew him, Adrian.” He paused for dramatic effect. “But, if I ki
ll you before you’re bonded, I get the dual benefit of knowing that you and Romulus will never find each other again.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“When Gideon bonded you two at the last minute it was just delaying the inevitable. The last time you died, it was because you took an arrow meant for Rom. So, this lifetime is your second chance to let Rom take a bullet for you, you understand? And if he doesn’t -- if fate doesn’t course correct-- then you will be thrown back into the constellations and will never find each other again.”
“So, you’re going to keep me here until I turn 26, get my powers, and then kill me?”
Kem clapped his hands together and laughed. “Yes! That’s it exactly. What a smart girl you are.”
“But there’s just two issues. I’m not Sorcha, and I don’t have any powers. So, if you kill me you’ll just be murdering an innocent person.”
“Ah, I don’t believe that. Romulus the Relentless is going to come for you. But he’ll be too late. And then I’ll have all of your prophesized powers.”
“I feel so powerful chained to this floor.” She murmured sarcastically. Looking around, she tried to find any indication of what date it was. “What day is it now?”
The man smiled knowingly. “Would it be more or less cruel to tell you?”
“Just tell me.”
He uncrossed his legs and slapped his palms on his thighs. Standing, he adjusted the collar of his shirt. “You are going to be a very happy birthday girl in--” he stopped to look at his watch “--12 hours.”
Selene felt it like a punch in the gut. She tried not to show any outwards fear, but the knowledge that she might be murdered 12 hours from now was unsettling. And that was even if Kem was telling the truth. Her birthday could very well be six hours from now and she’d have no way of knowing if he was lying or not.
Rom’s not going to come after me. I’ve got to get out of here.
Joan was prowling Selene’s room, trying to find any clue as to where she could have gone. There was no doubt in her mind that her friend had been taken. Rom was right, it wasn’t like Selene to just disappear. That girl faced down criminals with guns. She wouldn’t just whimper away because Rom broke her heart. Add that to the fact that she wasn’t stupid enough to go off on her own when she knew someone had put a mystical hit on her head. And, her birthday was tomorrow. No, the timing was entirely suspicious.
She was in the midst of looking under the bed when something yanked at her leg. Flipping to her side and round housing her free leg to whomever held her foot, she stopped just as soon as she realized it was Rom.
Rom willed the doors to the room to close silently and silently locked it. The tv turned on and sound increased. She watched silently as Rom shut the blinds. “Joan, I need you to listen to me. I know for a fact that you aren’t the mole. But I need you to help me find out who is.”
Ever the devil’s advocate, Joan hopped up from the ground and stretched her ankle. “What makes you so sure of that?”
“Aside from the fact that you’ve been with Selene for every incident and have also been attacked? She’s your friend. I know that you could never hurt her.”
“Well maybe I want your throne.” Joan crossed her arms across her chest.
“Joan, you’ve been my Commander at Arms for decades now. You could’ve moved onto having a sect of your own if Cullum wasn’t here. You don’t want to leave Cullum no matter how it hurts, but you don’t want this sect. If you did you could have taken it a thousand times when we fought back to back in the thick of it”
Joan nodded and grudgingly admitted that he was right. She hated that about him sometimes. “So, who else is safe?”
Rom snapped his fingers and Cullum and Dougall appeared at his side. “They’ve already been briefed.”
Dougall stepped forward. “We’ve narrowed it down to three candidates. Three potential traitors.”
“So, what do we do now?” Cullum looked between the three of them.
As Commander at Arms Joan spoke first. She looked to Rom to confirm what she was saying. “We give everyone an irresistible piece of information. Then we each watch one of the three potential moles to see who makes a run to the foxhole.”
Cullum was confused. “What piece of information?”
Rom smiled and crossed his steely arms across his chest. “That’s where you come in, Cullum.”
Three minutes later Rom was marching Cullum through the hallways and to a convoy of trucks outside. Cullum’s hands were tied behind his back. A purple glow and golden rope circled his wrists. He was throwing his shoulder into Rom and using his bullish body to try to evade capture. As a result, picture frames fell from the wall, and Rom had to rough him around. They tried to make as much noise as possible.
As they stormed through the great hall and stepped across the foyer, everyone appeared around the grand staircase and door to watch the dramatic exit. “You arse! I didn’t do it! You’ve got it all wrong! Rom!”
In response, Rom roared, “silent! You will tell us where Selene is or you will die.” Rom practically dragged the other man over the gravel and towards the great iron gates where an armored SUV was waiting. He delivered a punch to Cullum’s stomach. When Cullum gasped and bent over Rom took the opportunity to shove his crouched form into the vehicle.
Eyes flashing silver and fists clenching, Rom stormed back into the Estate and called the Order to the council room. Like worried sheep they followed him into the room. It was there that he made the announcement. “Cullum has tried to entrap me and overthrow me by kidnapping Selene. I want his entire room searched and an exhaustive list of his whereabouts during the last 48 hours.”
Roger spoke next, “but why do you think it’s Cullum?”
It was then that Dougall stepped forward. He held up an opal pendant. “When Gideon left he acknowledged that Selene also possessed incredible powers. She’s not Sorcha, but her powers cannot be awakened without this necklace. Gideon gave it to Selene shortly before he left. Cullum kidnapped Selene and when he heard of the necklace, he returned to steal it from Rom.”
The entire room was in a state of shock. Katrina spoke up, “I did see him around Selene’s bedroom two days ago. I just thought he was looking for Rom.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe that he would do this.”
“So, what happens next?”
Joan took this one. “We guard the opal necklace and search for Selene. We start with properties Cullum owned.”
The energy around Rom was electric. “Are we all understood?” When no one spoke, he placed the opal necklace on the desk, abd he dismissed everyone with a nod of his head. Everyone filed out of the room. Shocked murmurs of Cullum’s betrayal punctuated the air.
Rom made eye contact with Joan and then Dougall. Follow your marks. One of them will lead us to Selene.
Chapter Twenty-One
Did you ever stop to think that even if I am a monster, I might be your soulmate anyway?
– Julie Johnson
Selene had rested for a few hours on her side. She had curled into a small ball to regain some of the sleep she had lost when she had been kidnapped. But the concrete was hard and unforgiving and bit into the bones of her hips and shoulder. She had no way of knowing how much time had passed.
Giving up on the thought of sleep, she rolled onto her other side and was met with the image of black clothes on the floor. The ball of black clothes moaned slightly, and Selene realized that it had red hair. Her heart began accelerating, and she moved as close as she could to the lump. As far as the chain would allow. She stretched so far that the chain bit into her leg. But still, she persisted. “Katrina? Katrina!”
She slapped her palm on the concrete and the sound echoed throughout the dome. “Katrina! Can you hear me? Are you alright?” She stretched as far as she could, desperate to reach her friend.
Her shouts must have gotten through to Katrina because she moaned slightly and rolled onto her side. Like Selene, she too was bound by
a chain cuffed to her ankle. “Selene? Oh, my goodness, we’ve been looking everywhere for you?” Rubbing her head, she flinched when she touched a tender spot. “What happened?”
Someone had left her a water bottle at some point during her captivity. She rolled the water bottle to Katrina. “Here, take some of this. It looks like they might have hit you on the back of your head. Kem got the both of us. I don’t know where we are.”
“Kem? But they arrested Cullum.”
“Cullum? But it’s not him! Rom should know that!”
Katrina took a swig of the water bottle and coughed. She had tried to swallow too much at once. She clutched her black cardigan closer and looked around. “I’ve heard stories of this place.”
“Did any of them mention how to get out?”
Katrina snorted and rubbed at her head again. Selene fished for more information. “What time was it when you were taken?”
“The last time I can remember was going to the garden for 11am. After that, I don’t know. Why?”
Selene’s voice was a scratchy whisper. “Because I turn 26 in a few hours.”
Katrina reached as far as her restraints would allow and then reached her hand out in an attempt to reach Selene. Their fingers barely touched. “Oh Selene, I’m so sorry. But don’t worry, I have your opal necklace.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out an opal on a golden chain.
Selene’s brow furrowed. “My opal necklace? I don’t have an opal necklace.”
“But didn’t Gideon give you one? To release your powers. You can’t get them without it.”
Selene shook her head vigorously. “No, I don’t have powers. I don’t have an opal necklace. That’s not mine. Even if it were I don’t have any powers to unlock. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell Kem.”