The color drains from Rory's face as he splutters. “She needed to realize that this world was real and fast, otherwise she was going to wind up dead.”
“They tortured me,” Elodie snaps, her hand deathly tight around mine as I recall carrying her from that room.
It feels like a lifetime ago until it flickers on the back of my eyelids as if it just happened.
“They tested you,” Rory corrects, and that's where I reach my limit.
“Not like normal,” I snarl, and he freezes, his gaze tilting in my direction as guilt swarms his face.
I refuse to offer him further information that hedoesn't deserve. Not when it really did feel like torture, and I wasn’t even the one to endure it.
Besides, Elodie doesn't need to relive it, and her parents definitely don't need to understand all of that right now.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs the words said directly to Elodie, but it's Odie who replies.
“You haven't heard the last of this,” he promises, and his shoulders slump.
“I wouldn't expect anything less.”
“Now, back to the Forresters,” Rikard says, shaking his lapels as he tries to regain control over the conversation.
Ellie struts to Odie’s side, wrapping her arm around his as Ocean nestles her head between Elodie and me. “Your parents are really fucking cool,” she whispers, loud enough for everyone to hear, and Elodie blushes, making Ellie grin, her smile running from ear to ear.
Elodie shakes it off, turning her attention to me, and I raise my eyebrow, the question silent in the air. But she understands, offering me a nod before I return my attention to the two men across the hallway.
“Take me to them right now,” I command asRikard scrubs at the back of his neck and that familiar look of guilt flashes in his eyes even brighter. “What?” I grumble, and he clears his throat.
“I think it's only fair that I remain open and honest,” he starts, churning the air even thicker with tension, and Rion grunts, breaking his silence.
“Just spit it out,” he snaps, clearly reaching his limit with the slow unraveling of information that we need if we’re going to move forward.
Rikard nods, but Rory manages to speak first. “Someone else has a relative being held there too.”
Confusion drifts over the room, each of us looking at one another in confusion before we all turn back to the men who seem to struggle to get the goddamn point.
“Who?” I ask, and his gaze settles on my friend.
“The heir to the Strachan pack.”
Rion's eyes are darker than I've ever seen them before. The usual hazel glow is gone, and in its place lurks a darkness so deep, it’s enough to challenge Thorne’s onyx eyes.
His head is dipped, his chin settled against his chest, but he seems hellbent on seeing this through.
For me.
That's what the loyalty of a brother should feel like.
Funny how it looks nothing like what I've ever experienced with the blood brother I have.
One final nod, another silent bow of communication between the group, and I turn toward the portal that Rikard has produced.
I hate to admit that we're following him blindly, but for my parents and the answers I feel are owed to all of us, I put one foot in front of the other, throwing caution to the wind.
A shiver runs down my spine when I'm fully through the portal, but not because I feel betrayed or lied to… it’s the exact opposite. Alert, I take in my new surroundings as the sound of water crashes in the distance. It’s so loud, it’s enough to leave me seasick, especially since I can't see the sky, only damp, wet rock.
That’s all my vision is filled with, no matter which direction I look in. It makes up the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, with lit torches lighting the path. The hallway goes on forever in eitherdirection, and I already know I don't like it here. I'd prefer to leave.
Instead, I take a few steps forward, making sure to create enough space for everybody else to step through the portal before watching Rion, Thorne, Elodie, Odie, Ocean, and Ellie step through. Each of them wears the same confused and dreary expression I felt when I first arrived, taking in the confined space, or the lack thereof.
