“You can’t break them.” My voice sounds hollow. “You need a key.”
She pauses, breathing hard, then looks straight at me. “We have to try,” she says fiercely.
“Don’t you know what I am?” The question is out before I can stop it. “I’m a hybrid. They’re going to execute me.”
“You’re our friend.” Anne’s eyes blaze with determination. “That’s all we care about.”
Friend. I’m overcome by a sudden warmth. They came here, risked everything, because they consider me a friend.
“Does Darius know?” Anne shakes the bars, looking around frantically. “Does he know where you are?”
My throat tightens. “I’m not sure.”
“I’ll tell him.” She reaches through the bars like she might be able to touch me, as if that will help. “He’ll save you. He’ll—”
“No.” The word comes out sharp. Desperate. “Don’t tell him.”
“But he’s your—”
“He hates my kind.” I look away. I can’t take the pity in her eyes. “I don’t want to see him happy when they execute me. I don’t want to watch him stand there and do nothing because finally, finally, the hybrid problem is solved.”
“Violet…” Anne’s voice cracks. “He cares about you. I know he does. Maybe—”
“Maybe what?” Tears slip down my face before I can stop them. “Maybe he’ll make an exception? You haven’t heard how he talks about hybrids, Anne. The disgust in his voice. The moment he finds out what I am, everything will change. He would never protect someone like me. Never.”
Anne opens her mouth to respond, but suddenly, she looks over her shoulder.
Sienna appears next to her silently, her expression shifting from shock to fury in the span of a heartbeat as she takes in my condition.
“We are not giving up on you,” Anne insists. “If we can’t break you out now, we’ll find another way.”
Sienna joins in with Anne at the bars, both of them yanking with everything they have.
“Stop.” The word comes out louder than I thought I could still speak. “You can’t. You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it to us.” Sienna’s voice is gentle but insistent.
“Alaric will kill you.” My chest heaves with the effort of speaking. “Both of you. If you try to help me, he’ll execute you, too.”
“We don’t care about—”
“You don’t know how deep this goes.” The words pour out desperately now. “If he’s willing to execute me and his mate to keep his secrets buried, two more wolves will mean nothing to him.”
Sienna’s face hardens. “What are you talking about? What secrets?”
“I can’t tell you. He’ll kill you if he suspects you know anything.” Tears stream down my face. “And I don’t want you to die because of me. You’re my friends.”
“Violet—”
“Get out of here.” My voice breaks. “If you care about me at all, you’ll go. Forget about me, and you’ll be safe.”
They don’t move. They just stand there, looking at me like I’m something precious that’s slipping through their fingers.
Anne crouches down, her hand reaching through the bars. She slides a small object across the stone floor toward me.
A pen knife.
“This will help you get out of the restraints,” she says quietly. “You’re a hybrid. That means you’re strong, Violet. Stronger than you know. Don’t stop fighting.”
