Chapter 55

Aiden

Lillian quickly changed into the outfit Keir had made for her then met us at the elevator.

She looked stunning. Mavis had helped braid her hair to the side, and it looked 3-D, like it was coming from her head. Stray hairs framed her beautiful face, and her eyelids were lined with black, making the green of her eyes pop.

That's new .

I liked it. It gave her a certain edginess she didn't necessarily need but clearly wanted.

She was wearing an outfit quite similar to the one from the first trial, including the intricate purple designs, but this one had straps and thicker, armored pieces on it. It was clear Keir was trying to prepare for anything. He'd also found a way to hide a dagger in this outfit, though looking at her now, I had no clue where it was.

"Fucking hell, little one," I growled as she stopped in front of me.

"Agreed." My twin whistled at her.

I circled my finger in the air, telling her to spin for us. She shot Mavis a self-conscious look, and I almost felt bad, but then she spun—of her own free will—and I forgot all about that.

Holy mother of Hell, we had the most gorgeous woman in existence.

Her little spin gave us the perfect opportunity to take in every fucking curve. I wanted to throw her up against the wall and peel the suit from her skin, no matter if her friend watched or not.

"She looks hot, right?" Mavis asked us, proud of her work.

"She looks good enough to eat," I answered.

Nicholas gave a grunt of agreement. "Maybe we can spare a few minutes?"

Keir huffed at our comments, though Lilly looked like she wouldn't mind the excuse to be late. "As amazing as our girl looks…" He paused to give her the once over, grinning from ear to ear, which only made her cheeks flame. "We have somewhere to be, and I want to get there early to find Ida and see what she found out last night. Lillian needs every advantage she can get." He grabbed Lilly's hand and pulled her to his side. "Are you ready to go?"

She gave him a solid nod, a fierce look of determination accompanying it. "I'm so fucking ready to get this over with."

"That's my girl," he praised her, making her smile.

" Our girl," I teasingly reminded him, earning an eye roll.

"Yeah, I am on team ‘let's go'," Mavis said while eyeing us like we were nuts.

We probably were. All in love and sharing the same girl. Shamelessly flirting and complimenting her no matter where we were. If Mavis only knew the things we'd done with her friend, the lengths we'd go for her…

We were fucking crazy.

For her.

We all loaded into the elevator, the four of us surrounding the person we treasured most in this moment, knowing here in a few short hours, things would be very different.

"No, I don't think so," Lilly said to Mavis as her friend tried to scurry toward the front doors. "You're riding with us, right?" She looked at me and my brothers, a plea in her eyes.

"I think that's a good idea, Mavis," Keir responded, my twin and I nodding in agreement. "We're going to look for your mom the moment we get there. You may as well arrive with us so we can stick together."

"We should split into groups when we get there," Nicholas suggested. "Cover more ground faster. We need to find her as quickly as possible."

I opened the back door for everyone as we headed to the waiting limo. "Keir and Mavis can go one way, and we can go the other."

"Well, where am I going?" Lilly asked.

"You'll stick with the twins," Keir told her. "There's two of them; better protection in case something happens." He looked at Mavis and winced. "No offense."

Mavis shrugged. "None taken. I'm just ready for this nightmare to be over." She ducked into the car.

"You and me both," Lilly said as she followed her friend.

"Don't let her out of your sight," our older brother warned.

"As if we would." I clapped my hand on his shoulder. "We are all coming home today, safe and in one piece. Nothing is going to happen to her. I'd sacrifice myself before it came to that."

Nicholas's hand came down on both our shoulders. "We all would."

We all nodded, the silent agreement exchanging among us.

When we climbed into the car, Lilly and Mavis were already on one side, laughing about something and whispering while eyeing us suspiciously.

"What's so funny?" I asked, narrowing my eyes on them.

"Oh, nothing," Lilly answered, giggling even harder.

"Girl talk," Nicholas said in a hushed tone. "I hate it. It makes me feel like they're talking about me."

"Don't get a big head, brother. They're definitely talking about me." I playfully shouldered him.

We took our seats on the other side, and Keir sat in his seat in the back. I was almost sad we didn't get one last chance to be alone with our girl, especially after the show Keir gave us before the last trial, but seeing her smile and laugh with her friend made up for the loss.

She looked happy.

I liked that.

The girls whispered the entire way there, the whole fucking forty-five-minute drive. I just wanted to know what she was talking about. I would've given anything to borrow Keir's telepathic connection if I could just get one little peek inside that head of hers right now.

She seemed totally fine, not scared, anxious, anything. She was her usual bubbly self, whereas I was a fucking wreck worrying for her. We had no idea what we were about to walk into. The need to keep her safe was driving me mad. I didn't like the unknown, especially if it meant she could get hurt—or worse.

"Remember the plan," Keir reminded everyone as we got out.

We walked into the giant stone arena, the air buzzing with deadly energy as people walked by, pointing at Lilly like she was a damn spectacle.

She sort of was, and I hated that so much.

It didn't seem to bother her much, though. Good.

"Lillian, do not leave their sides. Promise me that." Keir held both her hands, looking right into her eyes with a passion I'd never seen in him before, a passion only she brought out.

"I promise." She hugged him tightly, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head before letting Mavis give her a hug as well.

"Just in case I don't see you before things start…" She gave her one more tight squeeze. "You got this."

Lilly watched as Keir and Mavis walked away, both already scanning the crowds for Ida.

"Let's go this way." Nicholas pointed in the opposite direction.

We walked with Lilly between us, each of her hands wrapped securely in ours. No way were we risking losing her in this chaos.

The Mors Arena was the largest arena in Hell, more than capable of holding hundreds of thousands of spectators, and there were easily that many people here. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. He had a plan, a nasty one, but we were flying blind, with so many people watching.

Lilly's hand clutched mine tighter as she anxiously searched the crowd, looking for Ida. Leave it to our girl to be worried about someone else when she was literally about to fight for her life.

"Do you see her yet?" she asked us nervously.

"I don't," my twin answered.

"I don't either," I spoke with disappointment. We'd walked all the way to the midpoint, where Keir and Mavis should have met us. "Maybe they already went up," I said as I pointed to the stairs.

We walked up the stairs to the next floor, repeating what we'd done on the first: walking hand-in-hand, looking for any sign of Ida. When Mavis and Keir didn't meet us at the midpoint on that floor, we went up another level.

By the sixth floor, we were getting antsy, worried we hadn't run into Mavis or Keir or found Ida. Nicholas and I tried reaching them on our phones, but no one was answering.

"I think I see her!" Lilly yelled, wrenching her hand from mine to point somewhere in the crowd. "Come on." She ran ahead of us, letting go of Nicholas's hand too. "There she is!" we heard right before she disappeared into the crowd, even though we were right behind her.

"Do you see her?" I asked my twin, shoving people out of the way so I could follow our girl to wherever she'd run off.

"I don't see her, Aiden." Worry was etched into his voice, and my heart pounded loudly in my chest.

"Fuck!" I yelled. "Lilly!"

"Lilly!" Nicholas echoed.

We yelled as we worked our way through the crowd, looking frantically for her. Every second that passed without her in our sight was a second too long. Anything could happen here, especially since she was separated from us.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

It was as though the crowd was glued together, impossible to move through without extreme resistance. My twin and I pushed and pushed, but we both knew she was slipping away.

I had no idea how much time passed, and we were no closer to finding her.

"Aiden! Nicholas!" I froze as Keir's voice reached us, my heart sinking as I came to the realization we had to tell him we had lost her. "Mavis kept looking on the top levels, but she insisted I find you before the trial." His face morphed into confusion. "Where is Lillian?" He looked around for her, and when he didn't find her, his face fell. " Where is she ?"

"She thought she saw Ida," I started.

"We were holding her hands, Keir," said Nicholas.

"She got lost in the crowd. We tried following her." I shook my head, guilt already eating through me.

He looked around desperately, panic creeping in. "No… No, no, please, no."