Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(42)
“Thanks for the pep talk,” Sofie said with a wry smile. But then she sighed and with it, raw pain shone through. “I’m working on it, darling.” She placed her hand over mine. “I did have an idea but … we’ll see if I can pull it off. I’ve got that to worry about, you to worry about …” For the first time, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Sofie. I’m safe here.” Except that the love of my life came close to losing control again; I’m linked with your sister who’s out of her tomb and being tortured; I have a toxic magic flowing through me that is turning me into a nocturnal yellow-eyed demon; Julian is a secret Sentinel, and for some reason, a child vampire enjoys maiming me ... safe as a baby in a cradle.
Sofie let out a loud guffaw. “Safe? Are you nuts? In a blink of an eye, before any of us could stop her, Lilly cut you open! With Caden holding you, and all of us around, she got to you. And worse! I can’t heal you, Evangeline. I can’t do anything! I’m useless where you are concerned, and it’s driving me crazy!” Her fingers rifled through her mane of red hair, leaving it in disarray. “Safe, mon dieu!” she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.
I studied my newest stitch work, Ivan’s words jumping out at me. “At least I’ll have character,” I repeated, earning the flattest look I’ve ever seen on Sofie’s face. I gave her a sheepish grin. “So, what are you going to do about Lilly?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. Now, we wait. Let them stew on what we’ve shown them. Lilly’s a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. If nothing else, she’ll be curious enough to come back. She’ll come to her senses and it sounds like, when she does, she’ll have plenty to tell us.”
“She’s not going to pledge her allegiance to you, Sofie. You realize that, don’t you?”
“It’s the only way I can trust her. Lilly’s dangerous, Evangeline. Extremely dangerous. More so than Viggo in some ways. She’s trapped in a child’s body and mind—she’s reckless and stubborn; she lacks long-term vision. But she has the power and speed of an ancient vampire. From what I understand, she’s about twelve or thirteen hundred years old. Her size is her advantage. She’s so small, she’s hard to catch. And she’s sharp as a tack in ways that surprise even me. She sees things as a child that many of us don’t detect as adults.”
I stifled a yawn, exhaustion suddenly weighing me down. Must be all the blood loss … “What do you think she’ll do?”
“That’s not for you to worry about, Eve.” Sofie voice grew distant and my legs began to wobble. A hand gripped my good forearm as I stumbled and she led me toward the door. “You need your rest now. It’s been a busy day.”
“I’m not,” I fought to get out but an enormous yawn cut in. This couldn’t be blood loss. Why was I suddenly so tired? The white pill! “Sofie, Ivan gave me a sleeping pill …” My words were becoming garbled, blending into each other. Things began to sway and shift and blur.
“So they do listen to me sometimes …” she said, and I could hear the smile in her words. Great, Sofie can’t use magic so she’s drugging me now … “Can you take Evangeline up to her room? I don’t think she’s going to make it on her own,” Sofie said to someone. I have no idea who. And then my body felt like it was folding into itself as utter relaxation took over.
I cracked open my eyes and instantly raced to squeeze them shut, to secure them against the blinding light shining over me. Still, the light burned, penetrating the thin shroud of my eyelid, threatening to roast my corneas. I rolled my head to the side to fight against it and crippling pain shot along the back of my neck, triggering a domino effect of agony. From head to toe, every inch of my body throbbed, every nerve felt like it had been tested. What the hell had happened? The last I remembered, I was with Sofie in that room, talking about Lilly … Then I realized she drugged me … and I must’ve fallen asleep.
That’s when it hit me. I wasn’t there anymore. I was with Veronique.
A loud clunk sounded and the burning light disappeared. Relief. With great effort, I rolled my head back and lifted an eyelid to see the culprit—a giant fluorescent bulb hovering a foot above my head. My fingers slid along the surface beneath me. Based on the cool, smooth feel, I was on a metal surface. Perhaps a table of sorts.
“Veronique?” I whispered and then coughed, the word scraping against my dehydrated throat. I had never been so thirsty in my entire life.
“Yes?” she croaked. A gasp followed. A gasp for water.
I struggled to swallow a few times but couldn’t even form the saliva needed for that. “What happened to you?” I finally managed to force out.
Of its own accord, or Veronique’s accord, my arm lifted to meet my line of vision. It held there, trembling, long enough for me to see the gauzy sleeve—no doubt once a pristine white but now tattered and stained with dry blood—slide away to reveal blue and yellow mottled skin peppered with burn marks. There was more damaged skin than not.
“Oh my God!” I cried out, triggering an excruciating coughing fit. They were going to torture her to death. I had to get her out. How did I get her out?
My head flopped to one side to take in large concrete blocks and no windows. Underground, but was she still in Viggo’s place?