Chapter 406

“Please,” I say, stepping away from Ben and smoothing my hands over my dressing gown. “I don’t have a long time and they certainly can’t find me here. What are you ambassadors doing here? How can I help?”

“We came under the veil of peace talks, or at least a ceasefire,” Ben says, stepping forward towards me. “But Ari…” he glances around, as if worried the room might be bugged. I wave him forward and he steps close, cupping his hand to my ear and whispering quickly that the real plan is to find a way to get me out of here, and to break down whatever forcefield is around the palace, to cripple the Atalaxians in whatever way they can.

“Wow,” I whisper, staying close to Ben and looking up into his face. “Dad is…pissed, isn’t he?”

Ben smiles, laughing a little. “An understatement, Princess.” He continues to keep his voice low. “But he’s also taking advantage of the fact that you crippled the hell out of Atalaxia in that battle. They’ve been hemming and hawing, buying time, to regroup and rebuild. Your dad and Roger want this done now, to strike while the iron is hot. If there’s anything you can do…”

I nod, wringing my hands anxiously, considering this. Because if the thing in the way of my father’s plans is Gabriel then…then I guess it’s time for me to take out Gabriel.

Something I’ve been turning over in my mind all week but…

Is it even possible? God, if I only had something mildly toxic…

“Do you have a plan?” I whisper, all hushed, whipping my face back up to him. “To get us out, if we can…lower that magical protective barrier?”

Ben hesitates. “We do, but…” he shrugs. “It would all happen very fast. We need…we need to be quite careful, Ari.”

I nod, understanding, anxiety churning within me even as I nod.

“Ari,” he snaps, reaching out and grabbing my arm, even – I think - despite his intentions to do so. “Please, is…“ Ben just shakes his head, unable to ask the question I can tell his wolf his howling for him to utter.

“Elias is wonderful,” I say, my face breaking into a smile. A groan slips from Ben’s mouth and his eyes flutter shut. As Ben takes a long, deep breath I’m quite struck, actually, by the fact that Ben’s reaction to the news that Elias is safe is quite similar to Elias’s own. But then I remember Pippa. “Benny, it’s more complicated than you think –“

He opens his eyes and frowns down at me.

But before I can continue, there’s a clatter out in the hall.

“I have to go,” I whisper, stepping away from him. “I probably won’t be able to come back like this – I’ll be in trouble. Oh, and if you see me again, don’t be surprised at all if I act just…very different.”

Ben smiles and nods, letting me know he understands.

“I love you, Benny,” I say, pressing my hands to my chest. “Just pretend everything is normal and that you didn’t see me.”

He nods, bending down to snatch his cookie off the floor. “You got it.”

“Oh Ben, don’t eat that,” I sigh, sticking my tongue out a little. “Just get a new one.”

He’s still laughing as I disappear into that other world.

Immediately when my feet hit the dirt in the Land of Darkness, I start to run. I just turn and dash, rather desperate, for the furthest edge of the cage. Not because I want to escape – bizarrely, now, that is the last thing on my mind. But just because I need an excuse for being outside of my room and I do not, at all, want Gabriel thinking that I am anywhere near Ben and the delegation from Moon Valley.

To my surprise, it’s fairly easy to reach the furthest edge of the cage, the one that surrounds the entire border of the castle. I begin to run alongside it, searching for any flaws in the structure that might be useful to me, thankful suddenly to Rafe and Jesse for torturing me every morning for the past few months. Interestingly, I do pass two gates which open out into the Land of Darkness – presumably the sort of place where Gabriel brought me into the castle after driving me here in that weird little cart – but they’re so locked up with chains that they don’t present any immediate solutions.

I make it about a mile around the perimeter when suddenly I hear my name shouted angrily in the air.

I spin immediately towards Gabriel, knowing that it’s him – that it can only be him. I was expecting him eventually, after all. For a second I consider flitting back to the Castle and evading him more but…no. It’s not necessary. This encounter is going to happen, and I don’t need any more information within the Castle to elongate the chase.

He’s still quite a distance away, though, so I turn and keep running, both to keep up my façade of trying to escape as well as to put him through his paces a bit. Gabriel – he’s annoying, and I think I’m fitter than him, so the more I can make him work to catch me the better.

It doesn’t last long, though. I never had a chance – as with Rafe and Jesse and Luca and Jacks, I can’t outrun those long Alpha legs. Plus, I am wearing slippers, which are very impractical for running.

“Ariel!”

Gabriel snatches my arm, pulling me backwards to him, snarling with his rage.

“Let me go!” I shout, trying to rip my arm from his grip.

“God damn it, Ariel!” he shouts, smacking me hard across the face. I gasp, a hand flying to my cheek as I glare up at him.

“Stop doing that, you fucking coward!”

“Stop being disobedient, you tiny whore –“

I narrow my eyes. “How dare you. How dare you speak to me like that. How dare you hit me.”

“You are my Luna,” he growls, leaning dangerously close, his canines elongated and ready to bite. “You will do as I say and obey me.” I flinch back despite myself, knowing that he’s lost his tempter enough now to be dangerous, and with his wolf corrupted by darkness he’s doubly unpredictable.

Still, I push, knowing that my only chance to keep his mind off of whatever I was really doing outside of my room is to distract him. “Why would I obey a pathetic little Beta prince like you,” I hiss, stepping forward like I’m the one in charge.

He flinches at this, his pride clearly hurt. God, it’s just…too easy to see the flinty chips in his façade.

“You want your Luna to obey?” I ask, my voice dripping with condescension. “Then be a real Alpha and give me a reason to want to obey you. You’re pathetic, Gabriel – you’re so weak that you need to cage your Luna instead of giving her a reason to want to stand by your side. And you can’t even build the cage right.”

I turn away from him, intending to stalk away.

But he just grabs me back and hits me again, this time not with his open hand. I moan a little as my head snaps to the side, as I stumble a few steps, seeing stars. I lift my hand to my jaw where pain blooms, moving it experimentally, hoping to my grandmother the Goddess that it hasn’t cracked.

“You will obey,” Gabriel snarls, grasping my arm and pulling me close again. “Or god damn it, I’ll make you.”

He moves fast, then, ducking low to throw me over his shoulder, and I do nothing to protest. I’m distracted by the pain but also – honestly – he’s taking me back to the room, which is where I wanted to go anyway. I have plans to make, after all.

The blue light manacles appear on my wrists as Gabriel strides back in the direction of my cage, and I bounce so roughly against my mate that it makes me suddenly aware of how gentle Jackson always was with me. After all, he’s carried me over his shoulder like this a thousand times. And even when I was bleeding from an arrow in my gut, I’d swear I was more comfortable than I am right now.

God, but my new mate sucks. I scowl, wishing heartily for my Jacks, but knowing that I have a long way to go before I can get back to him.