Have No Mercy (25 page)

Chapter Forty-Nine

We made a plan, and I said my
goodbyes. I felt better about leaving my family and friends since they knew
where I was and that Sebastian could come for them.

As Tristrom created the orb in
the foyer, Mom, David, Maggie and Tom watched in disbelief.

I stepped through with the
scepter. It was a risk. Mom and David wanted me to leave it, but if I needed a
bargaining chip for Flynn, I would use it in a heartbeat. We stepped in my room
at Winter. Since Madeline sent me away, we thought this was the best choice. It
was likely no one would be in there. Plus, I wanted to get my phone if I could.

The room was dark but without
much in there, the wardrobe was easy to find. My phone lay on a shelf. Molly
must have put it there when she’d taken my shredded clothing off. I snagged it
and pushed it in my back pocket.

I hurried to Tristrom where he
waited at the hidden passage. We wouldn’t take a chance at being seen. I
followed him to his room, which was also dark, and we peeked in the hall. He
crossed first, and once he had the room door opened and determined empty, he
gestured me to hurry over.

A mad dash across the hall left
me a little breathless, and I knew it was time I got back to training. Just as
he closed the door, we heard voices.

“Where is Flynn?” I recognized
Morgana’s voice and immediately I began to worry.

“He’s fine.” Larrison sounded
smug even through the door.

“That’s not good enough. Tell me,
or I’ll tell mother.”

“Like I said, he’s fine.”

They stopped a few feet passed
the door and the urge to go out and hit the bastard over the head nearly had me
out the room and doing just that.

“His isn’t to be harmed.”

“No, harm, permanently at least.
I’ll return him to you, a little worse for wear, after I get the information I
want.”

My bat signal was ratcheting up.
He had Flynn? Which meant he wouldn’t be in his room?

“That is not acceptable. The girl
is gone. She preferred that gorgeous Summer Prince over you. Maybe you should
be exploring why you seem to turn girls off and not on.”

There was a crack and from the gasp,
and based on the sounds, I assumed Larrison had struck her.

“You keep quiet. If you think for
one second he’s going to get you with child—”

“You bastard! How do you know it
hasn’t happened yet?”

Okay, my stomach revolted. The
little I’d eaten before we left was definitely heading back up. I actually had
to cover my mouth as my body involuntarily did the lurching movement of one
about to puke. I tried to breathe through my nose hoping it would stop.
Tristrom saw me in distress and rubbed my back. I swallowed after a while and
breathed when the violent stomach contractions stopped.

Pounding feet had long since
passed. I got up. “Where do you think Larrison would take him?”

Tristrom did what he did best. He
thought a moment. “The towers.”

He held up four fingers. Then he
reduced them to two and pointed at me. I got the message. We were to search
separately. He pointed to the back wall.

In the passage, in a whispered
voice, he said, “You head that way. Two lefts, then a right all the way to the
end. If he’s not there, when you come down, go left, and it’s a straight shot
to the other.”

I nodded. “And if I find him?”

“Try to hide in the passage near
the tower and wait for me.”

And he left. I moved on rubber
sole shoes. I didn’t make too much noise, but I couldn’t go as fast as my body
wanted me too, especially past rooms that were lit. One had two Fey that were
very happy to see each other. With long sighs and other noises I wanted to
forget, I avoided peeking in but couldn’t run past as they weren’t making
enough noise to cover my footsteps.

When I finally made it to the
first tower, I marveled how big the place was. The climb loomed dauntingly and
reminded me of a trip to Sebastian’s bedroom in his castle.

Thought shifted to the
possibility of Flynn hurt had me dashing up the stairs two at a time. My legs
burned, and so did my lungs, but I pushed on to the top. What I found there was
an empty circular room with a speculator view and no Flynn.

Weren’t dungeons in the basement?
I asked myself heading down just as fast as I’d gone up. But Tristrom wasn’t
here to give me the scoop. I was just happy that I had a straight shot to the
next tower. Based on my internal navigation, I assumed I was running along the
back wall of the fortress. I got within twenty feet of the second tower when
Larrison stepped out of that staircase.

It was dark with no peep holes
into room down this corridor. But it wasn’t dark enough.

“You?” he sneered.

He raised a hand, and it was too
late. My feet were like lead in blocks of ice. “How’d you find out about my
passages? It took me years to build, room by room, creating space where there
was none. And here you are. Looking for your boy toy? He’s a screamer that
one.”

“If you hurt him—”

“Too late for that. He’s hurting
alright. All he had to do was tell me about you. But no, he wanted to hide
behind his bargain with Mother. But I know he’s yet to bed one of the females
in the fortress. Not one, including my sister. So I called his bargain for what
it is was. What do you humans say… Shit, that the word.”

“You lying little sack of
haughty, perfidious, anachronistic, artifice swindler.” I tried very hard not
to use any words I used on Flynn because Larrison was good enough for those.
But my mind was racing with what to do. Larrison had power and I called winter
forward in me and felt an only flicker.

“How can I possibly resist that
brain of yours? Our child would be gorgeous and smart. That’s hard to find in
females these days.”

“I will never.”

“Never say never. I’ll bargain
with you for his life.”

They say silence is golden. I let
it hang in the air.

“You bear my child and I’ll set
both of you free.”

I quickly shut that down. “Never
going to happen.”

“Fine then. You’ll be put on ice
until you change your mind.”

His hand rose again and that time
I raised my own in defense. Everything went surreal after that. The blue light
that I hadn’t seen the first time, slowly came forward as my hand moved to
shield my face. The scepter that I held moved into position without thought.
The blue light hit the golden pole, and blue light sizzled like lightening up
to the orb where it wound around it like blue flame. And things went nuclear. A
blast left the orb freezing everything in place except me. My feet had
dislodged, and I high stepped it in place putting everything together. Larrison
looked like he was doing the robot man with hands perfectly angled and raised
with one of his legs bent. He was totally encased in ice.

The hallway had become a winter
wonderland. And I knew that Madeline, if she didn’t already, knew we were
there. I moved slipping on the ice a bit for the stairs when someone came
around the corner.

“Holy Winter.”

“Rowen,” I said. “What are you
doing here?”

“You left two days ago and I had
to come find you to keep you safe. I know marrying me scared you off. But I
made you a promise. And I intend to keep it. I knew if Madeline found you, most
likely you would be put to death.”

“Two days?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve only been gone hours.”

“Time can be crazy. I suggest we
get a move on if we want to save your Flynn.”

He didn’t seem to connect the
dots that I’d gone back to the human realm. And I didn’t correct him. He helped
me over to the stairs as we did the slip and slide thing. The trip up wasn’t
much better as the stairs were coated in the thick ice as well.

“Maybe you should let me hold the
scepter.” He didn’t seem at all angry that I’d taken it.

“That’s okay.”

“I guess Madeline put you up to
stealing it.”

There was no point in lying. I
nodded.

“I’d hoped you could get over
him. But it seems that love has bound the two of you tightly together.”

“I’ll always love him,” I
admitted as we closed on the top. The ice hadn’t reached that far, so I picked
up the pace. When I walked into the room of horrors, I nearly fainted.

Flynn was hung on the wall by
spikes of ice in his hands and spread feet. He was bleeding from cuts down his
beautiful chest, and it lanced at my own heart.

His eyes were closed, and it
didn’t appear he was breathing. The scepter fell from my hand as I moved to
him. Distantly, I heard it clatter to the floor.

“Flynn,” I cried out as tears I
didn’t think I owned anymore fell in a drumming beat on the ground. I climbed
up the short ladder so I could reach his face. “Flynn.”

His head turned towards me giving
me a bit of relief. He was alive. His eyes were bruises of black, blue, green
and everything in between. His blood marked almost every other part of his
face. “I’m doing a good job of being dead if you’re here.”

His words were rasped as if he
hadn’t swallowed in days.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so so
sorry.” It felt like that was all I was saying these days.

“Nothing to be sorry about.”

“Yes, there is. There is so much.
I can’t lose you Flynn. And not because you’re my friend or Luke’s best friend.
But because you’re mine. And I can’t live without you.”

“I must be nearly dead for you to
say that.”

I pressed my mouth to his bloody
one, uncaring. I once again tried to will anything and all of me into him to no
avail.

When Rowen’s hand touched my
waist, I jerked.

“I think you should let me.”

I had planned to tell Rowen never
to save my life at the expense of others. Because I figured that’s how his
power worked. He’d killed that Fey girl and later he’d saved me. But this was Flynn.

“Take what you need from me,” I
said, allowing him to help me back down the ladder.

“No,” Flynn cried, sounding
stronger than he had moments earlier. “Just let me die.”

“No! I have a letter from your
Dad. And I made a promise to give it to you. You will read it, or I’ll kill you
myself. Plus Tom's in trouble, and he needs your help.”

He chuckled, and it turned into a
cough. “My Dad and Tom? How’d you manage that?”

“I’m not telling you right now.
But I have the letter with me.”

Rowen bounced his eyes between
us. Match point to me. “Do it,” I said to him.

His hand landed on my face, and
it felt like I was being stung by a hundred jellyfish. I bit back a scream, and
then dropped to the ground when he released me. Everything was hazy. I watched
as he got on the ladder. I had to trust he would save Flynn and not kill him.

He had a cloth and wiped Flynn’s
face before I closed my eyes only for a minute.

“Ice me,” a voice called out. It
took a bit for me to figure out it was Tristrom. “What happened?” He was by my
side. “Mercy, are you okay.”

I tried to nod, but my head
wasn’t working. “Is Flynn okay?” My voice worked, I just felt woozy like I’d
given too much blood.

“Help me get him down?”

“How’d you get here?” Tristrom
asked. He was breaking out of his think first, talk later pattern unless I was
coming in and out of consciousness.

He set me down, and I saw his
mouth move. Then Flynn and I were lying next to each other.

Another moan came from a darkened
corner. Feet moved. “Molly.”

And then we were three.

Rowen was in my face. “Sorry
love.” And his palm landed on my face, and I had no idea if he was giving or
taking until my vision cleared.

“Can you help Molly?” I heard
Tristrom repeat as the mumbled sounds started to make sense.

I started to feel better.

“Well, well, well.” The voice was
distinct. And it was too late. I saw Madeline pick up the scepter. “I should
say congratulations for bringing me my prize. But freezing my son to death,
kills the spirit of cooperation.”

“Madeline,” I said pushing up on
my arms, leaning on my elbows as a wave of dizziness washed over me. I felt
nauseous and needed to be sick, but again the timing was wrong.

“Silence,” she bellowed. “Get up
the lot of you.”

There were moans and groans but
with Rowen helping Flynn and Tristrom helping Molly, we managed.

“Who will pay for the loss of my
son, Mercy? Choose wisely and quickly.”

I didn’t have to think. “Me.”

Flynn reached for me, but I
stepped forward. In his weakened state, he could get me. Rowen also looked
anguished.

I held up my hands. “Let me just
give this letter to Flynn from his father.” I half turned so Madeline could see
the envelope protruding from my pocket. I reached for it and handed it back to
Flynn before I returned to my cactus impression with hands palm out.

“How very sweet of you.” But the
annoyance in her voice sold it as sarcasm. “This I’m going to enjoy. I’ve
imagined it each and every time I saw you. Morgana will be happy to know she
has her prize all to herself.”

“Everyone knows you are Morgana.”

She gave a silent gasp. I’d
figured it out only when Larrison told me Flynn hadn’t slept with anyone.

Flynn was trying to martyr
himself for me. He wanted me to leave him so I would be free to find and be
with Luke. When I’d asked him if Morgana been in his room, he hadn’t answer.
Flynn was not without words. He didn’t say it because he didn’t want to lie. It
was easier for him to move his head than to speak the lie to me.

“So now you understand that by
killing my only child I have to do this.”

She pointed the scepter at me and
again I held out my hand in involuntary defense. I waited for the pain only to
open my eyes as the staff leaped out of her hand and into mine.

“What?” Madeline called out.

I was tired and hurt. The staff
heavy as it was landed point first because I could continue to keep it held off
the ground. At the moment the end point touched the ground, ice shot forward,
and a wave blew out much like before. Madeline was encased in a block of ice.
It reminded me of the Star Wars trilogy, when Hans was frozen in led.

But we had no time to breathe. A
crack immediately formed.

“Tristrom, it’s time, but wait.”

 I moved over and kicked the ice.
Madeline was in the perfect position so when the domino shaped block fell back;
it slid with momentum down the stairs.

“Now,” I called to Tristrom.

Tristrom’s portal formed, but the
orb was smaller than before. “Hurry, I’m not sure how much juice I have,” he
called out.

Rowen and Flynn went first as I
grabbed Molly from Tristrom arms. By the time I went through the orb was
closing, I reached for Tristrom’s hand as we jumped through to land on the hard
ground outside my house.