Page 100 of Beautiful Forever
Alana peers down into the crib and lovingly tucks Fénix’s swaddling blanket around him like a human burrito. “How much do you love him?” she quietly asks.
Well, that definitely answers my previous question.
Going to the window, I look out over Cillian’s grand estate. The outside of the house is lit up like daytime but after a few feet, I can’t see much more of the grounds in the dark or the men with guns patrolling it.
Alana’s arm slips around my shoulders. She still smells like roses. That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up in the hospital. Not the pain of the burns or the cloying, acrid stench of hospital disinfectant, but the sweet smell of roses. And when I was able to open my eyes, I saw her sitting right next to the bed and thought she must be the seraphim He sent to take me to heaven to be with Mama and Papa.
“I don’t want to argue anymore. There’s enough yelling going around downstairs.”
“Please answer the question.”
Saying it to a baby fast asleep is vastly different than admitting it out loud to the woman who has been my mother for over a decade. So, I give her another truth.
“It’s my fault. I stopped him when he came here to take out Viktor, and now he has Aleksander because of me.”
And I hate myself for it. The things that Viktor is doing to him right now keep playing on repeat, and I’m trying so hard to hold myself together and not fall apart.
“It’s not your fault, sweetheart.”
My fingernails score into my palms with how tightly I’m fisting my hands, the rage and anger twisting inside me that want to unleash upon the world and burn it to the ground.
“If anything happens to him…” Goddamn the tears that fall. They make me weak, and Aleksander needs me to be strong. He needs the monster.
Alana takes my face between her delicately strong hands, forcing our eyes to meet. “You want to lay blame on someone, then blame me. I kept the truth from you and forced you to suppress who you are. James raised Aoife to be a weapon, but Syn is a protector. Aleksander doesn’t need one or the other. He just needsyou. And when you find him, I need you to promise me one thing.”
I take in a shuddering breath and force the tears to stop. “Anything.”
Alana clasps my hands to her chest. “Viktor Androv. Kill that son of a bitch.”
Alana faked her death and fled from the life Francesco forced upon her. But she will always be a daughter of the Society.Omnis Magna Potestas Ex Sanguine Et Morte Nascitur. All great power is born from blood and death.
Tristan appears in the doorway, concern playing over his handsome face.
“I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”
“Mom?” She turns around, and I sign,I love you.
Her smile wobbles with teary emotion. “I love you, too.” When she gets to Tristan, I hear her tell him, “Fénix is safe here with me and Cillian. No one will get within a mile of him. You do what you need to do to bring our brother home.”
After Tristan checks on Fénix, he joins me at the window. Our arms automatically band around each other, and I burrow my face in his neck. He holds me like he never intends to let me go.
“Aleks is strong. Viktor can’t break him.”
Viktor is going to torture him.Istorturing him. Aleksander isn’t going to come back the same man if he survives.
“We have to find him.”
“Baby girl, look at me.” He gently cradles the back of my head and lifts my face. “I swear to you that we will paint the streets reduntil we do. And right now, we control the narrative. That buys us some time.”
Not enough time, and we’ve already wasted four hours of it.
I notice him wince and am immediately concerned. Taking his hand, I press on the Hegu pressure point between the base of his thumb and index finger. “How bad?”
“I’m good, Red.”
I know he doesn’t want me to worry. Tristan suffers from debilitating migraines that incapacitate him. He hasn’t had one in a while, and I didn’t think to make sure he brought his medication with him before we left Darlington.
“How bad?”
