Seduced by Darkness by Alex Lux Page A

If he'd done anything at all.
    They hadn't started torturing me yet. Unless you counted the thirst. And the madness. I did count both. But I hadn't been beaten. Just starved.
    And deprived of any news of my wife and child.
    Was Sam okay? Did they really release her? What happened to her after I was taken away?
    I had only one consolation. That they took me in her place. That she wasn't executed on the spot. I'm not sure I could have gone on living had they taken her life. I had to hold onto the hope that she was still alive and safe and free.
    And that she wouldn't do anything stupid.
    Like try to rescue me.

T WENTY S EVEN
     
To Mourn A Mischief
     
S AM
     

     
     
    To mourn a mischief that is past and gone Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
    — William Shakespeare, Othello
     
     
    ROSE PACED THE stone room, her hands fluttering before her as she glanced at the door. "Derek should be back by now. He wouldn't stay away this long, no matter how mad he was."
    Talon sat in a meditative pose in the corner. "He said he couldn't be part of this, that it went against his conscience. I don't think he's going to come back until it's over."
    "I should go look for him," Rose said, stepping toward the door.
    I didn't know what to do. "I understand if you need to go look for Derek. I really do," I told her. "But from our surveillance, the shift change is about to happen at the Stone Prison, and we need to act soon if we're going to rescue Drake. If you can't come, I get it. I'm okay with that. But we have to go now."
    Talon walked over to Rose and smiled. "Your husband is strong and sensible. He's just cooling off. He will likely be here waiting for us when we return with your friend. But Sam is right, if we are to do this, it must be now."
    "This is a safe place," Beleth said. "No harm will come to him within the walls of the Forbidden City."
    Rose nodded. "I'm in. Let's go."
    I squeezed her hand. "Thank you." I knew the sacrifice she was making.
    Beleth carried Rose, who still couldn't shift, and Talon and I flew through the night toward the prison. It floated in mid-air like a giant rock, or an asteroid that stopped and froze above the ground. Doors and stairs were carved into the outside. Beleth explained that the inside is carved into tunnels. We made good time and arrived moments before the shift change of guards.
    Beleth set Rose down on a cliff that overlooked the prison and was close enough that she could see everything we were doing. She drew symbols around herself that emanated golden light and disappeared, leaving her skin lightly aglow.
    "Nothing can come in or out of this protection," she said. "I'll be safe alone."
    I nodded. "I'll stay in contact mentally so you can warn us if something goes awry."
    She squeezed my hand and I could feel the magic buzzing around her like living electricity. "Let's hope nothing does. Be safe."
    I took a deep breath, nodded to Beleth and Talon, and we each left to initiate our part of the plan.
    Beleth and Talon would take out the guards during the shift change while I went straight for the prison, to break Drake out.
    I heard Beleth and Talon fighting as I snuck around the back of the prison. "Rose, am I clear?"
    "Just give it another minute or two," she said.
    A minute or two was a very long time, suspended in the sky, in an area forbidden to us, where we could be put to death just for being here.
    "Now?"
    "Almost," she said.
    My wings thrummed behind me as I waited.
    "Now!" she said.
    I didn't hesitate.
    I flew straight for the entrance of the prison and met Beleth there, who acquired keys from the prison guard he took down.
    "Did you get the keys?" I asked quietly.
    He pulled out a set of silver keys and tossed them to me. "We don't have long until they find the guards' bodies."
    "You sure this will work?" I asked.
    He shook his head once. "No, but we have few options."
    I nodded and shoved a key into the door.
    We got it unlocked. Talon was nowhere to be seen, but we couldn't