“One can never be too careful, dear,” Viola said while she stood and smoothed out her clothes.
The guard bound my hands, this time in front of me. Duncan opened the door and lowered the steps. All but one of the guards went out to stand on the tarmac, followed by Viola. One guardremained behind, holding the stupid hypodermic gun in the small of my back. He pushed me toward the doorway.
As I stepped out, Duncan nodded to me. “Enjoy your stay, Miss Sutton. Perhaps we’ll see you again.”
I looked at him incredulously. “Yeah. I’m sure I will. I’ll make sure to fly Douchebag Airlines again real soon.” I rolled my eyes and turned away.
I stomped down the stairs and walked toward the car waiting for us. Instead of a stretch limo, it was a massive stretch SUV. Something I’d never seen before. The guard behind me ushered me toward the back door and helped me get in. This time I was able to help myself and not get shoved in like a sack of potatoes. The interior was a U-shape of plush leather seats. Instead of an opening into the driver’s area, there was a wall with a small LCD TV and a bar lined with liquor bottles secured with black satin ribbons so they wouldn’t fall over during the drive. If I hadn’t been scared for my life, I would have enjoyed the luxury I’d been experiencing the last few hours.
Viola got comfortable and pressed an intercom button. “We’re all here. Proceed to the estate.”
“Yes, my lady,” the driver replied. A moment later, we pulled away.
Again, I spent the ride looking out the window, doing my best to act like everyone else in the car wasn’t there. Despite my circumstances, I had to admit that the countryside we were driving through was beautiful. We passed through a few small villages that looked like they’d been cut directly out of a fairytale. We then went through a much more urban area, which must have been Hamburg. It seemed to be as big as a medium-sized city back in the States, but many of the buildings looked to be hundreds of years old. There was a sense of foreboding to it. Many of the buildings had dark gargoyles that hung out overthe streets, all of which seemed to leer at me as we passed—as though they already knew what fate awaited me.
After Hamburg, we again ventured into the outward countryside. Eventually, we came to a fence that was over nine feet tall and ran for over a hundred yards with a steel gate in the center. The driver pulled up and must have punched in a code, for the gate slowly slid aside, and we entered the grounds of whatever estate the royals used as their base of operations.
Through the window, I watched as we took a winding driveway up a hill, and then the building was visible in the distance—a massive castle. Upon seeing it, my wolf spoke for the first time in almost a full day.Home?she growled. I frowned at the building. This couldn’t be the castle my wolf grew up in. It was in the wrong country.
Finally giving Viola my attention, I asked, “What is this? My…” I caught myself before mentioning my wolf. “It seems familiar.”
Viola smiled. “Ah, yes. I suppose it would if you’ve done your research. This is Edemas’s castle.”
My brow furrowed as I looked at her. “But his castle was destroyed in the… the Purging, or whatever you call it. It’s nothing but ruins up in Norway.”
Viola chuckled. “Oh yes, that’s the original castle. When we migrated away from those lands, we built an exact replica.” She shrugged and looked a little irritated. “Over the years, we lost much of our social standing, but not our money. My ancestors were savvy enough to make sure we never lost that. Part of this was opened as a tourist destination, similar to your Biltmore Estate in America.We make millions each year as greasy, fat foreigners pony up their money to walk through the few corridors we have cordoned off for them. Other than the location and a few… shall we say… special additions, this is exactly the same castle as the one Edemas ruled from in Norway.”
I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around the sheer amount of hubris these people had. We pulled around the building, leaving the big visitor parking lot and the front of the castle behind, along with its ticket gate, gift shop, and restaurant. To the side of the castle was a secondary gate that we passed through. The driveway took a turn, and we drove toward a large building set back from the castle. It looked like a small mansion. The driving path curled around behind this building until it dipped down into an underground garage. The car parked, and we disembarked. It seemed like all I was doing for the last day was getting into and out of vehicles.
The guards prodded me along behind Viola. We crossed the parking lot, our steps echoing through the cavernous concrete garage. Eventually, we headed into a long hallway lined with doors.
“In,” Viola said when I hesitated to step into the hallway.
These were prison cells. Nothing else they could be. They walked me down to the furthest cell. Viola punched in a code, and the cell door popped open. It wasn’t metal, but it was incredibly thick, likely reinforced, and heavily insulated.
A guard shoved me into the cell and spun me around. In one quick motion, he cut my bindings, turned, stepped out, slamming the door behind him. There was aclackas the locking mechanism slid into place, and just like that, I was alone.
The room was eerily quiet. It was as thickly insulated as I thought. There wasn’t even a hum of air conditioning or water running through pipes. I was fully set away from the world here. A quick glance around showed me what I had. A small cot with a pad and one thin blanket and pillow. A single chair was bolted to the floor, and a strange toilet and sink combination and a security camera were in the corner. Other than that, the only other thing in the room was a TV monitor positioned so high on the wall I couldn’t reach it even if I jumped.
As though someone knew I was looking at it, the TV suddenly clicked on. I was sure I’d see Viola’s awful face smiling back at me, but instead, all I saw was a video feed of another cell that looked exactly like mine. A woman was pacing back and forth in that cell. From her body language, I could tell she was pissed. I stepped closer, craning my neck to see this person. Eventually, the other woman seemed to get bored of pacing and stopped where she was, jabbing her hands onto her hips. Then she glanced up at the camera, and my stomach sank.
My jaw dropped as I stared at the furious face on the monitor. It was a face I’d not seen in years, but one that was immediately recognizable: Doctor Stanford—the woman who, at one time, had been known as Gabriella Karson—my birth mother.
71
NICO
Idrove the first hour, but my nerves were shot. After we got through New Brunswick, I had to give Luis the keys and let him drive. All I could think about was the time we were losing. The full moon was on the horizon. What if the royals had already taken what they wanted from Maddy? Thankfully, I didn’t let myself dwell on it too much. Mostly, the guys talking kept me from falling too deep into my own thoughts.
“Seriously, man. I don’t think it’s gonna happen,” Luis said.
Marcus chuckled and shook his head. “I’m telling you. ‘Bama is gonna win the Natty again. I will say, yes, Florida will get to the SEC Championship, but my Tide are gonna roll you boys. Just like usual.”
Luis groaned and rolled his eyes. “You guys. One day, you all won’t be so cocky. You can’t be good forever.”
Darren burst out laughing. “True! But until that day? Roll tide, roll!”
“Oh god, I’m gonna puke. I should stick with soccer,” Luis muttered.
