“You’ve got her from here?” A man asked, dropping what looked like a syringe on the hard floor next to Bellamy. Her vision was dark. She heard shuffling, and then strong hands hauled her off the floor. When the man spoke again, it was further away, distorted. Her ears felt stuffed with cotton. “Good, I’ll get the other one. We’ll find the girl soon.”
When Bellamy woke up, she could barely see anything. A faint light from above was the only visual. Her head was pounding, her throat dry and scratchy. Blinking rapidly, she tried to clear her still-blurred vision. What the fuck happened? And where the fuck was she?
An acute pain pulled her attention away from the ceiling when she tried to move. Her shoulder burned. She hadn’t been stabbed again, had she? Fucking Cedar. Heavy iron chains prevented her from moving, and her back ached from the metal chair underneath. Whoever had taken her was clearly going through some precautions to keep her there. She couldn’t easily burn through any of the material in her vicinity.
She had to get out. Vesper would be worried. She’d come for her. She would. This was Cedar’s doing. What if Cedar had gotten to Ves? Told her lies, sunk her claws in, made Vesper doubt Bellamy again. It wouldn’t be hard—she already didn’t fucking trust her.
Bellamy’s lungs constricted and her eyes burned. No, she couldn’t think about it now. She had to focus. Get the fuck out. Kill Cedar.
“Bellamy?” A gravelly voice to her right broke her out of hersingle-minded thoughts. She squinted against the dark but couldn’t see anyone. How the fuck had they seen her?
“Who are you?” she rasped, her throat dry and scratchy. Everything hurt.
“Shit,” the person hissed under their breath. “Where’s Cy?”
Of course Cedar was here.
“Fuck you,” Bellamy spat, struggling uselessly against the iron holding her in place until the effort made her short on breath and she stopped.
“Don’t be such a fucking bitch. What happened? Is she safe?”
Bellamy tried to laugh but it came out weak and shaky. Like Cedar didn’t fucking know what she’d done. “What the fuck did you give me?” She groaned, rolling her neck and bringing the pounding headache back with a vengeance. “Should have known you were working against us. Told Ves we didn’t need you,” she mumbled, the world swirling in and out of focus.
“What are you talking about?” Cedar’s voice was distant now, almost twinged with worry, but that couldn’t be right. “Bellamy! Is Cy okay?”
Bellamy groaned. She might have gotten something out that sounded like “urhmmf” but she could barely hear anything anymore, quickly losing consciousness again.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Vesper
Vesper hadn’t let go of Cypress. Three more men had entered. They were outnumbered, especially since the girls and Cypress couldn’t hold their own in a fight—it’d be too risky. Someone might take an accidental hit. It didn’t mean she’d just give up and let them take Cypress. Now, she could only hope they were taking them to Bellamy.
Even more fucking frustrating was that they were being transported under cover of Illusion. She couldn’t tell where they’d gone. Everywhere she looked was just a shimmery white mist, swirling around her and covering her eyes. The air was thick with the watery scent of the magic, fogging up her nose, clouding her senses. Only sound made it through—the rush of trollies on tracks, the low murmur of hushed voices surrounding them, doors slamming, and footsteps echoing off concrete.
Vesper remembered Cypress telling her years ago that her dad was an Illusionist. Given the opacity of the cloud surrounding them now, it was clear he was fucking powerful. It would explain how he got to be such a big deal. The Embunuh Organization was known to collect powerful people—everyone suspected it’s how they had such a chokehold on this world.
When the illusion finally dropped, Cypress and Vesper werestanding in front of Thoai and a woman who looked shockingly like Cedar. Her red hair was pinned behind her head in a tight bun, her petite form accentuated with a perfectly tailored dark-mauve suit. The incredibly stern look on her face would put anyone to shame.
Cypress was practically shaking, trying to hide herself behind Vesper.
“Where’s Bellamy?” Vesper asked, breaking the tense silence that settled while they sized each other up.
She gripped Cypress’s hand tighter—in encouragement and to make sure she wouldn’t be ripped away. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked like she was being watched from behind. The concrete room they’d been brought to held little hope for escape—aside from the tall, steel door behind Cypress’s parents—and she didn’t see any furniture she could spark up with her magic. No furniture at all actually. They were in a concrete fucking box.
The woman’s dark gaze bore into Vesper with intensity, her eyes narrowing and assessing.
“So,” she said slowly, her deep voice reverberating through the room. “You’re the person who hid my child from me for all these years.” She looked Vesper up and down, and the corner of her lip curled up and she scoffed.
Vesper frowned, what the fuck was that supposed to mean? Did they really not know who they employed? Or was she just trying to insult Vesper into attacking? As if Vesper hadn’t had years practicing self-control when riled.
“Where. Is. Bellamy?” Vesper asked again, enunciating each word carefully.
The woman rolled her eyes and nodded at Thoai who waved his hand with a dramatic—and entirely unnecessary—flourish. Part of the wall shimmered white, rippling as the concrete surface fell away to reveal Bellamy and Cedar, both chained to metal chairs. Cypress gasped behind her, and it took everything in Vesper not to rush over to Bellamy.
She was breathing, but that was about the only sign of lifeVesper could see. There wasn’t any blood, no black in her veins, her chest rose and fell in slow movements. They’d just knocked her unconscious, that was all.
“Let her go,” Vesper demanded, not taking her eyes off Bellamy.
