Chapter 109 Ch. 79
A burning feeling had been keeping her awake at night. She would spend hours under the shower, allowing the ice cold water to drench her for hours but nothing helped. And by day, when the burning stopped, sleep would find a way to escape her.
Lorenzo had kept to his promise— helping with her recovery but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had gotten a woman he called Imogen. But Imogen hadn’t wanted to be there so they had to drain her of powers and it would take at most a week before Imogen could tend to her.
Her days were mundane, no contact with the outside world— just watching the TV almost every time and reading books.
Lorenzo wouldn’t oblige her when she asked about Ethan even though she tried to bait him into thinking Ethan might be feeling that same burning.
“It’ll be a nice addition to his punishment,” Lorenzo had said.
She knew about her mother now, and sometimes at night she would see flashes similar to the pictures she had seen of her. She could not imagine how hard it would have been having to run all her life just because she was born in the wrong bloodline.
And she had spent years blaming her mother for abandoning her.
Guilt ate her up everyday.
The door opened and she shot up, walking towards it immediately.
Lorenzo stood there, his eyes had gotten distant lately and he was more scarce.
“Imogen is ready to see you,” Lorenzo commented stepping further into the room. He glanced towards the wall where she had painted it with pink and purple flowers and then gave her a look, a ghost of a smile barely flickering across his face.
“Okay.”
“Well stop by the basement first,” Lorenzo grunted, not looking at her. “Ethan has been requesting to see you.”
Warmth flooded her chest.
They walked out of the room together and then down the stairs that seemed to wind on forever. Her hands gripped the golden railings shakily.
When they finally got there, relief flooded her in an instant.
She had expected to see them starving or covered in dirt, but the basement was cleaner than she imagined. Ethan was chained to the wall, and so were Jace and Dylan, though they all looked healthy enough. As soon as she saw Ethan, she broke into a run and threw her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck. A strange sensation flared in her chest, like a knot finally coming undone, and she held onto him as if she might fall over if she let go.
"I am going to get you out of here, I promise," Ethan whispered into her hair, his breath warm against her skin.
"It is not safe for either of us," she murmured back, pulling away just enough to look at him. “And I don’t think yiur dad will let you out anytime soon.”
Lorenzo cleared his throat loudly from the doorway, making them both jump. She looked over at Jace and Dylan, who were watching her with tired but kind expressions, and she gave them a shy smile.
"Thank you," she said softly, nodding to them both.
Before she could say anything else, Lorenzo grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the stairs. She stumbled a little, trying to look back at Ethan one last time before the heavy door shut and blocked them from view.
"What was the point of that if you were not going to let us talk?" she asked, her voice shaking with anger as they walked down the hallway.
"I am just making sure neither of you run mad from being apart for too long," Lorenzo said, keeping his eyes fixed on the path ahead. "Not that there is much of a difference, since you are still close to him even when you are in your room."
She stopped walking, forcing him to turn around and look at her.
"Wait, run mad?" she asked, her heart beating a little faster. "That can actually happen?"
"Being apart does strange things to people like you," he replied, giving her a vague look that did not explain anything at all.
He started walking again, and she followed him because she didn't have much of a choice, even though she wanted to scream at him for being so vague. They reached a different part of the house and he pushed open a door to a large, brightly lit room. A woman was standing by the window with her back turned to them, her long hair falling straight down her spine.
“She is here," Lorenzo said, stepping aside so she could enter.
Imogen turned around slowly to face them, a smile spreading across her lips. It was a creepy expression that didn't reach her eyes, and Zara felt a sudden chill. Lorenzo moved closer to the woman, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the floor where the heavy metal chains were lying in a messy heap.
"What did you think, Lorenzo?" Imogen asked, her voice had a mocking tone to it. "Did you really believe I wouldn't be able to escape if I didn't want to be here?"
Lorenzo clenched his jaw, looking from the chains back to her face. Imogen let out a dry laugh and smoothed down her dress, acting more like a guest than a prisoner.
"I only stayed because I was curious about the girl," Imogen said, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Zara. "I see you look just like her."
"Who?" Zara asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Your mother," the woman replied, her smile widening just a little bit more.
Zara stood there awkwardly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
Lorenzo stepped forward and sighed.
"Imogen is going to help us with specific spells," Lorenzo said, looking at Zara. "She knows how to work with the blood of a catalyst without creating a permanent bond."
"What does that even mean?" Zara asked, looking between the two of them.
"Dylan’s girlfriend used your blood and she isn't bonded to you, is she?" Lorenzo asked, giving her a pointed look.