Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 73 - Choose

I'm going to admit that this isn't the most cheerful chapter I've ever written in my life... *whistles innocently* so be warned, children.

The evening was wearing on. I'd spent most of it creeping around the edge of the woods, trying to find the place where my connection to Jess was strongest. It turned out to be the far-right corner. We could talk properly there, and I could even use her eyes.

In a grainy, hazy sort of way, I could see a room. The walls were dark grey and damp, like someone had rinsed the place down at some point today. That wasn't encouraging. Iron rings were set into the walls at waist-height, and each and every one of them was coated with blood rust.

Alex was chained to one of those rings. He was unconscious, his shirt soaked with blood and dripping into a puddle which already looked far too deep. Evie crouched beside him, hands pressed to the bullet wounds in his stomach. She wasn't chained, and neither was Jess.

But the thing which caught my attention and held it was the door. It was a simple, wooden door with a gap beneath and a keyhole, and yet there wasn't any light coming from the other side. When Jess got close, I could even make out something shiny in those gaps.

"I'm assuming you can't link Bran?" I asked her.

"No."

"If they open the door, even for a second, can you try? I need to know where they're keeping the kids because it's looking like we're going to have to blow something up."

Jess hesitated before replying, probably because she liked the idea of an explosion even less than I did. The chaos it created might work in our favour, but if it didn't...

"Hey ... about Eira... She's okay, right?" Jess asked me. "And Lee? With everything going on, I nearly forgot, I guess."

"Lee's fine. Eira's fine. You don't need to worry about them right now," I told her, not ungently.

"No, but I want to know that you have someone sensible with you."

I had Vik, who was even more reckless than I was, and I had Tom, who was too submissive to stop me doing anything, but I didn't think saying that would reassure her. So I didn't say anything at all.

"They're here?" Jess murmured, more insistent this time.

"Yes."

The bond went very quiet for a moment.

"You know, Rhodric, I can still tell when you're lying to me."

I couldn't help my wince. And that, of course, told Jess everything she needed to know. She would have seen it already had the bond not been so strained. The few words we were exchanging were making my splitting headache even worse.

"When you're safe, we can talk about Lee and Eira," I said wearily.

"Okay."

I was surprised she wasn't going to contest that, but the little I could glimpse of her thoughts suggested that she was too worried about our kids to care much about anything else. The concern was constant and all-consuming and hounded at her so viciously that she couldn't seem to sit still for a second.

I knew how that felt. I knew only too well how that felt. And once combined with the overwhelming fear that I was going to make a wrong decision and get all of them killed, it was a miracle I was able to function at all.

A sharp pain splintered through the base of my skull, and I knew I'd held the link too long. Reluctantly, I told Jess, "I'm waiting for the sun to go down. Can I check back with you in an hour?