Chapter 107
Lirael
The tranquilizer gun wasn't where I'd left it.
I couldn't sleep and went to the bathroom, but when I came out ,ice flooding my veins. Someone had been in here.
Move. Right now.
I backed into the hallway and caught movement—Sebastian's silhouette disappearing down a corridor I hadn't seen before, one that led toward the back of the estate. The way he moved, quick and purposeful, made my gut twist.
He found it. He's telling Victor.
I should have run. Should have grabbed Elwin and tried whatever desperate escape we could manage. Instead I followed, keeping to the shadows, driven by some masochistic need to know exactly how fucked I was.
The corridor ended at a heavy door, slightly ajar. Stone steps led down into darkness. I could hear voices echoing from below—Victor's measured tones, Sebastian's lower rumble.
Basement. Of course this place has a basement.
I descended carefully, each step taking me deeper into what felt like a tomb. The air grew colder, damper. At the bottom, I found another corridor lined with doors that looked like they belonged in a prison, and at the far end, light spilling from an open doorway.
I pressed myself against the wall and listened.
What I heard in the next ten minutes destroyed any remaining hope.
Victor had known from the start. The real Sophia had been intercepted three weeks ago, sent to the prohibited zones. The entire invitation had been a trap—poison in the food to test my reactions, the lockdown designed to force my hand. And Sebastian had suspected since the airplane, had been playing along just to see how far I'd take the charade.
They've been hunting me this whole time.
Worse—I heard Victor casually discussing marriage prospects for Sebastian. The Hartfield girl. The Ashford daughter. Anyone but the "creature from Black Reef Island" that Sebastian had been treating like an interesting pet.
Then Berger's voice crackled through a radio, reporting that Elwin and I weren't in our rooms. Victor's response was ice-cold: find them, alive if possible, but one would do for questioning. The other could serve as an example.
I was already backing away, every instinct screaming to get out, get Elwin, run.
I made it back up the stairs and found the kitchen. Elwin materialized from the shadows, his face tight with fear.
"We need to leave," I whispered. "Right now. Victor knows everything."
"I heard alarms starting." He was already moving. "I found a route to the east wall—"
"Wait." I grabbed his arm, remembering Victor's words about exits being monitored. "They're expecting us to run for the perimeter."
But we were fucked. The estate was already locked down, every guard activated.
"Then what?" Elwin's voice cracked. "We can't stay here."
"The walls. We check the perimeter, find a weak point."
We didn't have a choice. When the immediate danger passed, I grabbed Elwin's hand and pulled him toward the service exit.
We made it to the east garden before Elwin reached for the ivy-covered wall. Electricity arced through the vines and threw him backward with a scream that echoed across the estate.
I dropped beside him, hands hovering over burns already blistering. The walls were electrified. Every surface wired to kill.
We're caged.
Alarms started wailing. Boots pounded closer. I hauled Elwin upright, half-dragging him toward a small equipment shed.
We barely made it inside before guards rounded the corner, their flashlights cutting through where we'd been seconds before.
"Can you move?" I whispered, examining his hands. The burns were severe.
"I think so." But his voice was weak.
The door exploded inward. Rough hands grabbed me, yanking me outside. I saw Elwin being hauled up, his cry of pain making something furious rise in my chest.
Then I was on my knees, cold metal pressed against my skull.
This is it.
The pressure suddenly eased. I heard a wet thump, and my captor grunted. I twisted to see him crumpling, tranquilizer dart in his neck.
Sebastian stepped from the shadows, expression somewhere between fury and dark amusement. He fired twice more, and two more guards dropped.
"Lord Sebastian!" One remaining guard started forward. "Sir, we were securing the subjects as Lord Victor ordered—"
"Were you?" Sebastian's voice was silk over steel. "Because it looked like you were about to execute a houseguest without authorization."
The dart caught the guard in the chest. The last guard tried to run, but Sebastian's aim was faster.
In thirty seconds, all five were unconscious, and Sebastian stood over them, beautiful and terrible in the searchlights. His eyes found mine, gold blazing.
"You lied to me again, little one." His voice was quiet. "How many times is that now?"
I couldn't find words. Could only stare at this man who'd just taken down his own father's guards.
"Get up," he said, the tranquilizer gun now pointed at my chest. "Both of you. Before more arrive."
Elwin struggled up, cradling his burned hands. I rose slowly, every instinct screaming. Sebastian kept the gun trained on me as he pulled out his phone.
"Marcus. North garden, now. Emergency medical for a burn victim and cleanup on five tranquilized guards. This conversation never happened."
He ended the call and turned back. "Those were Father's men. If they'd taken you, you'd be in his interrogation facilities. Understand?"
I understood. Had just come from those basement corridors, had heard exactly what Victor planned.
"Why help us?"
"Because you're mine." Flat, absolute. "Not his. Not anyone else's. And I protect what belongs to me, even when it's stupid enough to try escaping through an electrified perimeter."
The possessive should have terrified me. Instead I felt twisted gratitude mixed with understanding that I'd traded one cage for another.
"The boy needs medical attention." Sebastian nodded toward Elwin. "And you need to make a choice. A real one this time."
"What kind of choice?"
He moved closer, close enough that I could smell whiskey and winter. "You can stay here and take your chances with Father's interrogation. See how long you last in his basement." He paused. "Or you can come with me. Be with me. Properly. No more running, no more games, no more lies."
"That's not a choice. That's an ultimatum."
"Call it what you want." His smile was predator satisfaction. "But those guards won't stay unconscious forever, and Father's mobilizing everything to find you. So what's it going to be?"
Behind us, more footsteps approached, radios crackling. Elwin leaned against me, reminding me this wasn't just about my survival.
"If I agree," I said slowly, "what exactly are you offering?"
"Everything." Simple, but it sounded like promise and threat. "You want out of here? Done. You want doors and windows instead of cages? Done. You want to walk outside, breathe fresh air? I'll give you that."
"In exchange for what?"
His smile widened. "In exchange for being my woman. Properly. Completely. You sleep in my bed every night. You stop running. You stop lying. You accept that you belong to me."
I looked at Elwin's burned hands, at the unconscious guards, at the electrified walls boxing us in.
"And Elwin?"
"Medical treatment. A room in the east wing. Freedom to leave when he wants, if he keeps quiet." Sebastian's expression hardened. "But he's not part of the deal. Just you. Just us."
It's a trap. Obviously a trap.
But it came with medical care for Elwin, with not being tortured in those basement cells I'd just seen, with some slim chance of survival. And beneath the rational calculations was something else—a traitorous part that whispered I was tired of running.
No. Don't give in. There has to be another way.
But what way? Victor wanted me in his basement. Sebastian wanted me in his bed. Either way, I was fucked.
"I need time," I heard myself say. "I need to think—"
"You don't have time." Sebastian's voice went hard. "In about thirty seconds, more guards arrive. In five minutes, Father mobilizes the full security apparatus. In ten, you're in a cell being prepped for interrogation." He stepped closer. "So choose. Now."
"Swear on your brother's memory," I said desperately. "Swear Elwin walks free with medical care and money to disappear."
"On Derek's memory." The seriousness in his voice made me believe him. "The boy walks free. You have my word."
He held out his hand.
I stared at it, understanding that taking it would change everything. That there would be no going back. That I'd be trading one form of captivity for another, one monster for another.
But at least this monster had just saved my life. At least with Sebastian, I knew what I was getting.
Do you? Do you really?
Behind us, I heard shouts. Flashlights sweeping closer. Radio chatter about securing the perimeter.
Sebastian's hand remained extended, steady, waiting.
And I stood frozen between impossible choices, between Victor's basement and Sebastian's bed, between torture and possession, between the devil I'd just learned about and the devil I thought I knew.
"Lirael." Sebastian's voice dropped lower, almost gentle. "Choose."
My hand trembled as I reached toward his. Stopped. Pulled back.
I can't. I can't just give myself to him. There has to be—
"Miss!" Elwin's voice cracked with pain and fear. "Please. I can't—the burns—"
I looked at his blistered hands, at his young face twisted in agony, and felt something break inside me.
Not for you. For him. You're doing this for him.
But even as I thought it, I knew I was lying to myself.
Sebastian's hand was still there, still waiting, and the searchlights were getting closer, and Victor's guards were converging, and in about ten seconds I wouldn't have a choice at all.
My fingers brushed his palm, hesitated.