“Let him go,” I shouted, kicking and jerking. I just didn’t have the physical strength to fight my way free. “I’ll kill you. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you.”
Atlanna’s eyes narrowed menacingly. “No, you will not. You will help me breed more.”
I stilled. “I’m your daughter, and you would do that to me?”
“Absolutely. I hoped to gain your willingness, but if you will not give it, I will take it by force. Lock her up,” she snarled to the guards who held me. “Perhaps some time alone will help her adjust to her new fate.”
I fought for my life, Lilla’s, my agents’, and most importantly Kyrin’s, as six Arcadian warriors dragged me into a cold, dank cell. A cot lined the far wall, the only piece of furniture. No blankets, no toilet. This prison was nothing like Terrence Ford’s. His had been meant for seduction. Mine was meant for punishment. Perhaps death.
The door slammed closed. A lock clicked in place, and red lasers formed bars, illuminating the small area with an eerie cerise glow. Alone now, I felt terror slice through my mind. Escape. I had to escape. The walls were closing in, faster, faster. Darkness all around. I heard a woman’s screams, and realized moments later that they were mine. My throat was raw, my hands aching from clawing at the walls.
To my surprise, I felt a comforting presence enter my mind. I knew instantly that Kyrin was reaching out to me. He was alive.
“I’m here,” he said inside my head.
Peace settled over me, as warm and welcoming as a winter coat. I am a fighter, I reminded myself. Atlanna would not defeat me. She would not break me. I patted down my body. The weapons I’d strapped to my thighs and waist were gone, taken during the trek here. I traced my palm over the edge of my boot, and a relieved sigh slipped from my lips. I still had one blade, small but just as deadly as any other.
With only one knife, how was I going to win this war?
The answer came to me like a gift from the God I’d thought I had forgotten. I straightened my shoulders, determination working through me. I knew what I had to do.
Hours passed, and still I remained calm. When I felt my energy had returned sufficiently, I stood directly in front of the door, the glow of the lasers nearly blinding me. They produced no heat, but I knew they’d burn the skin from my bones if I touched them.
I closed my eyes and allowed my powers to flood me. Stronger. Stronger still. I became saturated with it, and my lids flew open. I saw the blink of the lasers, realizing they vanished every other second. One, two, I counted, then shot out my hands and worked the blade into the lock. One, two. I jerked back, barely missing the flash of lights. One, two. I repeated the action many times before disabling the metal barrier.
I felt a flash of victory. Waiting until the lasers had disappeared again, I shoved past the thick doors and leaped into the waiting hallway. Just as I steadied myself, the lasers returned.
I zoomed through the house in search of Atlanna. I found her moments later. Too self-assured to require a guard, she stretched atop the black velvet couch in the same mirrored room she’d occupied before, her eyes closed. For one prolonged moment, I remained at the threshold. My God. She needed time to recuperate. After using her powers, she became weakened, just as I did.
My movements still quickened, I quietly shut and bolted the main door, as well as the mirrored door, then rushed at her. I struck her with my fists, toppling her to the floor before she had even opened her eyes. Then I sprang on top of her and hit her again and again. She kicked, hit, bit, and scratched, unable to concentrate long enough to gather her powers.
I drew back to punch her, and by luck or precision, she landed a kick to my stomach. Air burst from my lungs in a mighty heave as I was propelled backward. My arm hit a marble vanity table, and I would have cried out if I’d had the breath. A vase crashed onto the floor, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.
“Where is Kyrin? Where are the others?” I gasped, laboring for every molecule of oxygen.
“Dead,” she shouted, jumping up. “Dead.”
From a mirror panel, a man rushed into the chamber.
The moment I saw his features, I forgot about everything else in the room. My mouth floundered open and closed, and I was unable to stop the motions. Dare. My beloved brother was alive. Not Kane, as I’d assumed, but Dare. It was like looking into the past. He was tall and strong and possessed the same dark curly locks and wide-spaced blue eyes as he had at eighteen. The same high cheekbones and straight nose. The same innocence.
My momentum slowed, as did my speed. I shook my head, certain if I cleared my vision, I’d realize this couldn’t possibly be my brother. After all, I’d seen his dead body all those years ago. That was perhaps my first mistake. I shouldn’t have allowed my speed to slow, for already I was growing tired again. I fought against it.
“Dare?” I said. My first instinct was to rush to him and wrap my arms around him as I’d done as a child. Atlanna’s words stopped me. My second mistake.
“That’s right,” she said. “My blood saved him, and in return I have his devotion.”
Devotion? My eyes narrowed. No, she controlled him with her mind. His features were blank. Unemotional. The same look Isabel had worn when she’d shot Dallas. Atlanna had controlled her as well, I realized. The woman’s sins increased with every minute that passed.
Dare didn’t spare me a glance, but watched Atlanna. “Are you hurt?” he asked her.
Even his voice was the same. Familiar, only slightly different from the loving laughter I remembered from fourteen years ago.
“Never.” Atlanna wiped a small trickle of blood from her lip. Already the wound was closing.
Dare finally glanced in my direction. Not a single spark of happiness touched his eyes. I stood frozen, wondering what to do, what to say.
“Shall I whip her?” he asked Atlanna.
I spied the three-pronged, bloodied whip draped across the edge of the couch and, without thinking, dove for it. I knew what I had to do.
“No,” Dare shouted, realizing my intent.
Before he could react, I was on my feet and advancing. I knocked him aside, kicked out my foot, connecting with Atlanna’s ankles. All in one motion. Atlanna tripped and launched to the floor, her back to me. As she screamed and tried to crawl away from me, I gathered every force within me and whipped her until the fabric of her gown was torn, until her blood flowed around her. Until Dare grabbed my arm and forced the whip from my grip.
Panting, I blinked down at the floor. Her body was slumped in unconsciousness. Disgust—for myself, for Atlanna—filled me. I’d only just found my mother, only just found my brother, and I’d lost them both. I swallowed back a lump in my throat. My hands shook, and I pressed my lips together.