Amari’s dark eyes met mine, his expression grim but determined. “There’s always a weakness.”
I shook my head, running my fingers through my hair, now loose and tangled. The secret passage mocked me with its proximity. What good was a secret passage when I couldn’t even get out of this cell?
My gaze drifted to Val’s prone form in the cell next to Amari’s. He hadn’t stirred since they’d tossed him in. Blood matted his dark hair where Edmund had struck him, and even in unconsciousness, his face was tense with pain.
“He’s been out too long.” Worry gnawed at my insides, unwelcome but persistent. “Head wounds on vampires usually heal quickly.”
Amari paused his efforts to study Val. “The cuffs must slow healing.”
I stood again, unable to keep still. Anger and frustration bubbled in my veins like poison, demanding release. I grabbed the bars and shook them, knowing it was futile but needing to do something that wasn’t just waiting to die.
“I should have seen this coming.” This hadn’t been spontaneous. Someone had planned this and carefully maneuvered the pieces into place. But why? Was a woman on the council really that much of a threat?
“Nico will find help.” If he hadn’t been caught by the lion shifter.
A soft groan from Val’s cell pulled my attention. He shifted slightly, one hand moving to his head.
“Val?” I pressed my face against the bars, straining to see him better.
His eyes fluttered open, disoriented at first, then sharpening with recognition as he took in our surroundings. He pushed himself into a seated position, wincing.
“What have I missed?” He touched the wound on his head.
“Nothing yet.” I gestured to our grim surroundings. “Just the comfortable accommodations courtesy of Edmund.”
Val’s gaze traveled around the dungeon before settling on me, something unreadable flickering in their depths. “Are you hurt?”
The genuine concern in his voice made my chest tighten. After everything we’d been through, he still worried about me first.
I glanced at the feather-strewn floor of my cell. “No. Just my pride and possibly my future.”
Now what? Even if Nico came to our rescue, we had targets on our backs. It was possible that Val’s family could help, but one family against ten other powerful families wasn’t exactly good odds.
Amari sat on the floor of his cell and brought his knees to his chest. “I can’t change into a gargoyle.”
Val cursed under his breath.
If Amari couldn’t change into his gargoyle form, then what would happen to him?
I started pacing in the cell again, kicking at the feathers on the floor. What the hell had gone on in this place? I bent down and picked up one of the white feathers that had a silvery tint to it.
There was a sense of wrongness in holding something so pure in my hand. I spun it between my fingers, letting thefaint light in the room play on the silvery hints running through it. It was beautiful, and I knew it wasn’t from Inferna.
Suddenly, I was being pulled, and then there was a pop in my ears. My feet hit something hard as if I’d jumped from a wall, and I was blinded by the brightest light I’d ever seen.
Loud sounds invaded my ears, and I frantically looked around me, wondering where the hell I was.
A large carriage stopped abruptly in front of me, making a screeching noise like a really pissed-off hell serpent. The loud, shrill noise that came from it made me nearly jump out of my skin.
“Move out of the fucking street, you crazy bitch!”
I scrambled out of the way until I stepped up onto a different surface where there were people walking. The same guy who had just yelled at me did it again as he moved forward in his carriage. “Next time, I’ll run your ass over!”
More carriages moved along what I assumed was the road. I slowly turned around in a circle, my eyes wide and my heart in my throat. There was a large sign in the distance on the side of a hill that read ‘Hollywood.’
I grabbed a woman’s arm as she walked past me. “Please, where am I?”
She shrugged my hand away and sneered at me. “Are you high?” She had dark glasses covering her eyes and was clutching the strap of a bag on her shoulder while holding something against her ear. She was wearing so many colors that my vision swam.
