Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

SELAS

I always wondered why these guest quarters had bars on the window. Now I know. This room is a holding cell, a comfortable, cushy one, but a prison regardless.

I could break the bars if I could shift, but the cuff on my wrist mutes that ability. It's technology that's new to me. But it makes sense that it exists. Goyles are powerful beings, and where there is power, there will always be someone who strives to harness and control it.

I can't shift. I can't fly. The bars are an unnecessary precaution because with my leg still healing, I can't run either.

"Please talk to me, sweetheart," Father pleads.

Why is he still here? I don't want him here.

"Look at me, Selas. Please."

But I can't. I can't look at his traitorous face without wanting to tear it off. Instead, I focus on the thick iron bars on the only window of my comfortable prison.

"I did what any father would," he says. "They say they can fix you. Your sight…you can have it back and?—"

"You're a traitor." There's no heat in my words. Just a weary resignation because we've had this chat over and over as he tries to convince me to see things his way. But I'll never condone his actions. "You actively worked with the enemy to eliminate our only hope against our biggest threat."

"I did it for you."

And this is the part that makes no sense to me. He knows I've adjusted. That I've made peace with my disability, embraced it even. This is about more than my sight. "What do they have on you? Tell me." I finally turn my head in his direction, taking in his shadowy form and the tumultuous aura surrounding it. Guilt, grief, and…fear.

He lets out a ragged sigh. "Everything…" he says finally. "This…all this. My station, our wealth…it's all built on the back of one favor."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know. They could be anyone, anywhere. They find you when they need you, and before you know it, you're a pawn. I made a mistake, sweetheart, and I've been paying for it ever since, but this time…This time I was able to secure a benefit for you and?—"

"No! I don't want anything from them. I won't be a party to this."

Them . They . A faceless organization that's somehow connected to the graynites, that works for the graynites, pulling strings and gathering allies from within our ranks. They must be stopped. But how? How can we stop them if no one speaks out?

"They don't have to know that you know," Father says. "You can have the procedure without?—"

"Stop! Just stop it! You need to let me go."

"I can't do that. If they find out that you know…if anyone finds out, then everything we've built will be torn away."

"You think that matters? You think that your wealth, this house, and your status will mean a damn thing if the graynites win the war?"

The colors in his aura shift and flatten out as he reins in his emotions. "You will stay here until I have word that the objective has been achieved."

My pulse spikes. "You said they failed, that the elite team was safe."

"They are. For now."

Which means they're still in danger. That this organization will go after them again.

He rises from his seat and heads for the door. "Get some rest and eat the food that Benny brings you. Stubbornness will achieve nothing. Once this is over, we'll talk some more."

The door closes, and the sound of several locks being engaged follows.

I close my eyes and lie back against my mountain of cushions.

Impotent rage washes over me, and I breathe to dissipate it. There is nothing I can do. No way to contact my friends. No escape.

The locks click and clack as they're opened again, but I don't look at Benny as he enters, rolling a trolley laid with my next meal.

As far as I'm concerned, his betrayal hurts the most. I love my father, but Benny…Benny is like a mother to me. The person I share my secrets with, the person who stayed up late with me drinking cocoa when I was plagued by nightmares or suffering a broken heart. He'd stayed by my bedside night and day after my accident.

And now…Now he's helping my traitorous father hold me hostage.

"You must eat something," he says, setting a tray on the bed beside me. "You must keep up your strength."

I don't want to look at him. Don't want to see the conflict of emotion in his aura that tells me he hates this as much as I do but is trapped, just like me.

"Selas…please…"

I sigh and face his bright aura filled with love, and my heart aches.

He gently takes my hand. "Everything will be all right." He presses something cold and metallic into my palm. He leans in and brushes a kiss across my forehead. "At midnight," he whispers. "The door will be unlocked at midnight."

My heart skips a beat then settles into a canter. "Benny…"

"I love you, child." He retreats with the dinner trolly. I wait for long seconds after he's gone, heart thudding painfully against my ribs before slowly opening my hands to trace the object inside with my fingers.

A small key.

He's given me a key to my cuff.