Chapter 19

CHAPTER19

Abraxas had made a mistake.

He hadn’t known it at the time, of course. He’d thought that Beauty knew about Zephyr’s situation, or at the very least, she knew that he was being kept in a dungeon and tortured for information.

The girl knew what Margaret was capable of. She’d worked with the woman for years, so why would she think Margaret wouldn’t want to keep Zephyr quiet? Torture wasn’t a new tactic, and it certainly wasn’t something that Margaret had never used before. Beauty herself had seen people tortured!

Of course, he hadn’t thought about the fact that they had been in the dwarven kingdom for days now. Very close to being able to save Zephyr and yet still here. He wasn’t even sure why Lore was hesitating. Perhaps it had something to do with talking to the dwarf about an army. She wanted to make sure that the dwarves would be there to fight with them this time.

They would fight if they wanted to, but Algor wasn’t interested in risking the lives of his people for nothing. They were going to need some ground rules, and those were rules that Lore had to negotiate.

It left Abraxas and Beauty on their own a lot. And unfortunately, he’d never been able to keep his mouth shut very well with this little human.

She wriggled her way underneath his shell, somehow. Perhaps because she reminded him a bit of Nyx. Or maybe it was just that she was so innocent that it made him nervous.

Whatever the reasoning, she’d gotten the information out of him about Zephyr. And now she was spitting mad.

“Why wouldn’t Lore tell me?” she snarled, pacing side to side in the cave room. “She knows how much he means to me. She knows everything that Zephyr and I have been through!”

Actually, she didn’t. Abraxas didn’t want to point out that Lore had been dead for an enormous part of Beauty and Zephyr’s relationship.

Of course, Beauty hadn’t even told him if their relationship had gotten very far. He’d been too afraid to ask. Thinking about his two friends even kissing made his stomach turn a bit. Let alone what they had likely gotten into while it was just the two of them and no one else to make fun of them for it.

Making a face at his thoughts, he tried to wrangle his attention back to the present. “She has no idea how close you are. She knew you were closer than the rest of us, but that doesn’t mean she knows you two were actually in love!”

“She knew.”

“She could guess! It wasn’t like you two told anyone. You thought you were being so sneaky gallivanting off with each other.” Abraxas crossed his arms over his chest and took a seat while staring at her like a disappointed father. “You should have told us if those feelings were stronger.”

Beauty snarled again, baring her teeth at him like she was a dragon as well. “I wasn’t aware I needed to disclose my relationship with the two of you. You aren’t my parents!”

“No, but we are your friends.” He refused to back down in the wake of her anger. Besides, he found it rather adorable that she thought she was terrifying. “How are we supposed to guess when there is a person out there that makes your heart skip a beat? You have to tell people for them to know that, Beauty. I’m not in your head.”

“You noticed enough!” She threw her hands up in the air, obviously exhausted from the conversation already. “Now where is Lore? I don’t want to yell at you. I want to yell at her.”

Neither of them would be yelling at Lore. Abraxas might like the little human, but no one talked to his mate like that. He’d rather Beauty get it all out on him, and then be too tired to actually scream at Lore.

Sighing, he looked up at the ceiling. “Beauty. What are you actually angry about?”

“That you two thought it was appropriate to keep secrets from me when we finally got back together again? That you thought I wouldn’t get angry when I found out that you were keeping such secrets that affect my life!”

“Is that why you’re upset?” Arms crossed over his chest, eyes filled with disappointment, he watched her with the critical eye of someone who knew when another was lying. “Or are you upset because Zephyr is in pain and there is nothing you can do to help?”

There it was. She exploded again. Lit off like a firework, Beauty launched into an angry rant. “How dare you? You think I can’t help him? I would tear this world apart if I could get to him. Not a single one of those soldiers would know what hit them if I knew where he was. And now I do! Now I can go get him because I never thought Margaret would stoop so low that she would actually hurt him to keep him where she wanted him. That bitch. That horrible, stupid, heartless... bitch!”

Ah, yes. The only insult that Beauty could say without hating herself afterward.

She was upset that she couldn’t help him. She was upset with Margaret for everything that had happened. And she was even angry at Abraxas and Lore because the two of them had done nothing to help their friend, either. He understood it. He’d have to be dead not to see that she was hurting.

“And how will yelling at Lore about any of that help?”

“It will make me feel better. And maybe it would show her she can’t just toss people aside because they aren’t useful anymore.” Beauty glared down at him, her hands on her hips and her cheeks bright red. “Aren’t you mad at her for not telling me?”

“I also did not tell you.”

“You do whatever she tells you to do.” Beauty waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing the idea of being angry at him. Even though she’d yelled at him just a few minutes before. “This isn’t between you and me.”

“I resent that you think I’m Lore’s puppet.”

Beauty’s face crumbled as she realized her words were insulting. “Oh, Abraxas, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that! I just mean, I know you would have told me if you could, and that you never would have left me out of the loop like this. You are always thinking about me.”

He lifted a hand and interrupted her, forcing her to stop talking for a few seconds. “I very much supported Lore’s decision to not tell you, Beauty. In case you are unaware, you’re a little impulsive. And you love that boy. If you knew he was in danger, you’d have done something foolish.”

Indignation made her shoulders straighten again and that anger flare to life once more. “I wouldn’t have done anything foolish. I’d have gotten him back. Which is more than I can say for the two of you.”

“We’re working on it.”

“You’re not doing anything! We’ve been down here for three days, Abraxas. Three days when he’s been chained up, beaten, starved. Who knows what they’ve done to him? I know Margaret well enough to know that if she wants someone to hurt, they will bleed for years before they die.”

He saw the worry on her face. And it made his heart twist because he’d been there before. He knew exactly what it was like to have someone he loved in danger and not to know if they were going to come out of it alive. But he also knew that rash decisions wouldn’t help.

Beauty was too young to understand. Zephyr would last a few more days. They wouldn’t break him because they needed him alive. He’d be well enough when they did get to him.

“Lore has spoken with him,” he said. “He knows we are coming for him, and I know Zephyr well enough as well. He won’t give up now that we’re so close to him. He’ll hold out as long as he has to.”

Tears thickened Beauty’s voice and danced like diamonds in her eyes. “That doesn’t mean he should have to wait any longer, Abraxas.”

Silence stretched between them. Abraxas saw the shadows shift behind Beauty’s shoulder, and he suddenly sensed her. Lore had heard them talking, although he didn’t know how long or how much she’d heard.

A blush burned on his cheeks and he was ashamed to feel it. He had nothing to hide from the love of his life. He had no reason to fear what Lore would say. After all, he’d been defending her. And yet, he still felt like a kid who had been caught trying to steal from his parents.

Lore stepped into the room and he saw her face before she cleared it of emotion. The heartbreak. The anguish in knowing that her dearest friend didn’t trust her. She had to have known this was coming, though. She had to know that Beauty would be angry to find out that they both had been lying to her.

Still, it hurt. And he was certain that it would be a wound Lore carried with her for a long time.

“So,” Lore said as she stepped fully into the light of the room. “You think we’ve been doing nothing, is that it?”

All the blood drained out of Beauty’s face. For all her bravado in front of Abraxas, she didn’t actually want to yell at Lore. Abraxas had only a few moments to be relieved about that before it stuck in his gut that Beauty feared what Lore would do now.

He supposed they all had a reason to be. None of them knew the extent of Lore’s power, but they had seen what she could do with just a flick of her wrist. Changing people’s appearances. Giving light to a dark room. And the way she carried herself now? Beauty was right. Lore was different, with a confidence that she’d never had before.

Now, she looked at the world through a lens of certainty that none of them could ever hold a candle to. She knew she couldn’t die unless she wanted to and that... well. That was terrifying.

Clearing his throat, Abraxas moved between the two women. “I’m sure that’s not what Beauty meant.”

“That’s exactly what she meant,” Lore said, her voice pitched low and calm. “She thinks I’m wasting time here because I either am too afraid to save Zephyr, or I think Margaret is right in what she’s doing. Is that it?”

“It would be easier to keep Zephyr at your side if he was already tired.” Beauty tried to remain proud and strong, but her void warbled at the end. “Wouldn’t it? I don’t know what your end plan is, Lore. None of us do. For all that Abraxas said I should have been more truthful with you two. That goes both ways. You should tell me what your plan is as well.”

He glanced over at Lore to see what she was feeling. He had no intent on agreeing with either woman, because they were both right. Neither of them had been truthful, and that was a good way to end in all of them dying.

But he also would not go against what Lore wanted. Not because he was a puppet, as Beauty had so cruelly suggested, but because he believed in her. Lore knew how she wanted this kingdom to grow and change, and he believed it was the right direction. Not because he was blinded with love or because he was only crafted to follow his mate. But because he knew what was in her heart, and he knew how much she wanted this kingdom to flourish.

Lore nodded. “Yes, I should have told you the plan. If I had one. But I will stand by not telling you about Zephyr. You would have disappeared in the middle of the night. I would have had to save you, and then none of us would have gotten Zephyr out. Margaret will move him the moment she realizes we’re coming for him. If she hasn’t already.”

“If she’s moved him, it’s because you waited too long.” Beauty jabbed her finger in the air at Lore. “You. You waited and we’ve been standing here arguing when we could be saving him. We’ve been stuck underground for days now, giving Margaret all the time in the world to move him and to hide him again in a place we cannot find him.”

Lore tilted her head to the side and for a second, she didn’t look human or elf or anything else. She looked like an ancient being who had seen far too much. “We gave Margaret nothing. She likely already got wind that we were here, and that we were in Tenebrous. She’s smart. She’ll piece together that we wanted to get you and so she will send someone to investigate that. We are here because we’re giving her time to check in on Zephyr, to build more guards around that area, just in case. We’re lulling her into a sense of security. I want her to think we do not know where he is.”

Even Abraxas almost said, “oohh” because he hadn’t realized what they were doing either.

Of course that’s why they were lingering. Lore wanted to go into hiding, so Margaret did not know where to search for them.

Damn it, that was a fantastic plan. Why hadn’t he thought of that? It was so simple and yet exactly what all of them needed.

Beauty let out a huff of breath and rolled her eyes. “Why not just tell us that? And what’s next?”

“Because I’ve been busy. The dwarves would not let us stay unless I put on a show for them. Algor is a good king, despite all of his odd tendencies. He knows that as long as we are here, I am beholden to him. The armor. The gifts. They did not give any of that for free. I have to indulge him and his people while we are safely inside their walls.”

Lore tossed her hands up into the air and stalked past them. That confidence leaked a bit out of her, shoulders curving in as she made her way to the beds in the back where most of their things were.

“Now what are you doing?” he asked, amused, as she took a seat on top of the bed and crossed her legs.

Lore gave him a look, one that he knew very well by now, and said, “I’m going on a walk.”

Ah. So she was going to scope out the situation. “So soon?”

“Like Beauty said, we’ve made him wait long enough.”

“Wait...” Beauty rushed forward, standing in front of Lore while practically vibrating with emotion. “You’re going to look for him? Now?”

Lore met her friend’s gaze with a dead-eyed stare. “I’m going to rescue him, Beauty. We were always going to get him back. Now, later, it doesn’t matter how long it takes us. But first, I want to make sure we’re not walking into a trap. Margaret is smarter than anyone gives her credit for. I want to make sure no one will get in our way.”

“Do you think you can?” Abraxas asked, settling down next to her for his long watch as she meandered away from her body.

Lore’s haunted expression smoothed into something like glass. “I don’t think there’s much I cannot do anymore, Abraxas. I’ll let him know we’re coming.”