“The King gave me these in that room,” she spat, her eyes sparking with fury. “They left me in there for two days waiting for him to come back before moving me to the Indigo Room.”
A horrible thought swept through me, and I touched her shoulder, sending my Soma healing energies through her body.Shit. She was pregnant.
I couldn’t do anything about it right now. We’d have to talk about it after we escaped.
“Are there any other rooms that we wouldn’t have seen from the spying area?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. I heard one of the slaves say that the Gold Room was built specifically for those VIPs that Hestus wouldn’t have dared spy on,” Maia said.
Elex just nodded grimly. He knew his father’s penchant for violence first-hand. He tapped the microphone attached to the front of his shirt.
“Luke, can you hear me?”
For a moment I was afraid the system the Prometheus team provided hadn’t worked, then I heard a strangely strained sounding Luke respond.
“Yes.”
Elex smiled in relief.
“We need you. We’re coming for you now.”
We heard a soft intake of breath and the microphone cut out.
“Luke? Luke!” Elex hissed into the microphone, but all that came back was static. He slammed the received down.
“I have to go find him.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, interrupting him before he could continue.
“What the fuck do you mean?” he demanded angrily.
“You’re needed here to protect the Mageia. Luke can block any Suppression field that comes his way, but the Mageia here needyou,” I said earnestly. “If they are caught here without a Tesseris Mageia to protect them…” My voice trailed off. We both knew what would happen.
He glared at me for a moment before slamming his fist into a wall. I saw the Mageia around us jump and I was glad we’d had the forethought to have them shield us from sound.
“Fine. You go. But that fucker doesn’t leave this House alive,” he said.
I nodded.
Vengeance, thy name is Elex,I signed back at my Bonded with a grin.
He grabbed me and pulled me down into a long, slow kiss, surprising me with his tenderness.
“Be careful,” he breathed.
I nodded, then headed back up the hall.
Chapter 35
Luke
The Gold Room certainly lived up to its name.
Aurelius led us to the room, his familiarity with the layout of the House apparent. He pulled a key from the pouch at his waist and unlocked the door, throwing it wide before entering.
Every surface of the room was some shade of gold. White marble covered the floor, with veins of gold shot through it. The mirrors were gold plated; the tapestries were embroidered with shades of gold. The bed bore layers of sheets and comforters in varying shades, all in accord with the room’s name. A low table sat between two chairs with a bottle of wine and some wineglasses nearby. Even the fireplace had a gold-plated screen, tongs and shovel.
I swallowed hard before entering. Ihadto do this. My friends were counting on me. I had to keep him busy long enough for the others to work. Whatever that entailed. I had no expectation that Aurelius would leave this room alive, it was just a matter of how long it would take me to kill him.
