“Simon—” I felt my chest tightening as the men stepped into the room, obviously moving on some unseen signal. “Please don’t do this to me. Give me the day to regroup, and we’ll talk more in the morning.”
“Dr. Simmons will help you regroup,” Simon said. “When you’re ready to behave, you’ll be allowed back.”
“Simon!” I paused as the men stood on either side of me. “Mom. Dad. Please, don’t let them do this.”
“It’s for your own good,” my mother said. “Just listen to them, and it’ll be easier.”
“Dr. Simmons is very good at what he does,” my father reiterated. “Trust the process.”
Then both thugs grabbed my arms, and I screamed. Not out of fear, but out of anger and rage and sadness. My past, my home…these people I called my family—it was worse than I’d ever remembered.
They were putting me back in my cage.
Let them try.
“She’s not going with them.” The voice came from behind my parents, out in the hallway. “Get your hands off her.”
My parents broke apart, startled by the enormous figure behind them. Silas stepped between them. Simon gawked at him. Something flashed in my ex’s eyes—he remembered.
Simon’s expression buckled, like he was trying to fight against the memories that had been wiped. Like some part of him recognized Silas. Ultimately, Simon wasn’t strong enough to break through the barriers of magic holding him captive, and he eventually succumbed to a frown, like it had all happened in a dream he couldn’t quite place.
“Who are you?” Simon barked. Then, to Dr. Simmons, “Where’dhecome from?”
“He’s not one of mine,” Dr. Simmons said. “I’ve no clue who that is.”
Silas took a step into the room. Wind whipped around us, fluttering my hair. Dr. Simmons’s blazer flared with the breeze from Silas’s silent storm. My mother blinked in shock.
Silas didn’t stop moving until he was in front of me.
The bodyguards still hadn’t let me go. They each had one of my arms in their grasp. I was pretty surprised their arms weren’t cut off yet.
“Don’t let them take me.” My eyes smarted with tears as I looked up into Silas’s face. “Take me home.Please—I’m begging you.”
Silas licked his lower lip, calculating. Rage and anger were barely controlled beneath the surface.
“The Isle is my home,” I said. “I will breathe its air until the day I die, whether that’s tomorrow or millennia from now. Take me with you, Silas.”
“Is this who you’ve been shacking up with?” Simon seemed annoyed, like Silas was another prick in his perfect plan. “Really, Allie? What a cliché. When’d he get out of prison?”
Silas cocked his head and looked at me. He had a question in his eyes, and I was pretty sure it was something like,Can I get rid of them already?
I shook my headno.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “You’re better than them.”
Silas looked slightly disappointed, but he nodded. Reluctantly.
“Remove your hands from Alessia,” Silas instructed the guards. “Or I’ll remove them for you.”
One of the guards snorted. Silas was bigger than both of them, but there were two guards and only one of Silas. What they didn’t know was that Silas could snuff them out with a breath. The only reason he’d leave them alive was per my request.
A second later, the sound of breaking bones confirmed my theory.
Both security guards crumbled over, grunts and curses and groans of agony following as their arms bent at vulgar angles. Silas didn’t even bother to look in their direction as they collapsed in fits of pain.
As a tear slipped down my cheek, Silas lifted my chin and studied the droplet like there was a whole world encased in that watery shell.
“Are you ready to go?” he murmured softly. “With me, for good?”
