Uprising (11 page)

He had given me time to process everything, but my silence might have gone on forever.

“Elyse, I know you’ve been plotting against me, made to believe I am your enemy, so you can’t see that my intentions are good.”

He waited to see if I had taken the bait. I hadn’t.

“The oracle is a precious and powerful ability, and I can’t simply let her be born into a world of conflict, tainted against me as you’ve been. The consequences of my father’s decisions are undeniable. Letting the oracle do as she pleases has divided our people with talk of prophecies and war. We are a people of superior being, and we should not be in conflict. I’ve done my best to keep us protected from human prejudice, but I hope for peace amongst ourselves. Peace comes with a price you will never understand.”

I hated him for his ability to persuade. He had such a slick tongue, like the serpent in the grass tempting Eve to eat the apple.

“Don’t ever say I didn’t try things the easy way,” he concluded.

“Go to hell.”

“Oh come on now. I’m not all that bad. I’ll even have Adrianna restore your power temporarily so you can heal William.”

I glanced back at the door, desperate to leave. “What’s the catch?”

“Well, like I said, things always have their price.” He pulled a syringe from his desk drawer, removing the sterile cap. “I need a vial of your blood.”

“Why, so you can kill someone else?”

“The healing side, actually.”

He waited impatiently for me to speak, but I couldn’t. All I could think about were the reasons I hated him, the proof that he was evil. The murders of innocent people, Kara’s forced involvement, Anna and Chloe, William shot and bleeding, his need for my unborn child.

“I hate you,” I said through gritted teeth.

He smiled. “That may be, but I’m the only one who can help him.”

I didn’t really have a choice, and it was the healing side. William needed me. I looked away and thrust my bare arm toward him. “Take it.”

He knocked the wall behind him with his knuckle, and a part of it swung open—a hidden door. I recognized the woman who emerged as Adrianna. At first her dark brown eyes stared into mine, but when I didn’t look away she let them drop.

“It’s done,” she said, standing at his side.

His cold hands grasped my arm firmly. I couldn’t watch, so I didn’t see his face. Only when he was done did I look up, catching sight of something below his nose. Blood. I wouldn’t have thought it strange, but it dripped from both nostrils, a deep scarlet. Something was wrong with him.

“Your nose is bleeding,” I said, waiting for his reaction. He looked alarmed for the briefest moment, but I saw it—vulnerability. He grabbed a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and held it to his nose, no longer concerned with me. With a nod of his head, the fat man had me by the arm, yanking me onto my feet. “Make sure she gets what she needs,” Christoph said as I was pushed out of his office, back into the hallway.

“Hope nothing’s wrong,” I yelled from outside his door, a smile starting to sneak past my lips.

I held on to Christoph’s words as I was followed by the man once again, gun pointing at my back.
Make sure she gets what she needs
. I needed to get back to William, I needed a shower and food, but when I heard the sound of a knife sliding out of its holster, I realized there was one thing I needed more—blood.

Before I had time to ready myself, he stuck the knife through the fleshy part of my right side. The shock alone stole the air out of my lungs, and I doubled over, too overcome by the searing pain to react. I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move or breathe or scream. No air, no sound, nothing would come, until finally he yanked it free, and I inhaled sharply, like coming to after the wind is knocked out of you. Every muscle tensed in resistance to the throbbing wound, and although I wanted to fight back in retaliation, I felt grateful for the blood slowly seeping into my dress.

I stayed still and hunched as he unlocked the door and ushered me into the room. I tried not to moan as I hobbled in. William sat slumped against the foot of the bed, pale from blood loss and pressing a balled-up pillowcase against his bare shoulder.

“What did they do to you?” he demanded, mustering energy from somewhere, and suddenly hopping to his feet.

“Nothing. It’s fine,” I said through staggered breaths as he helped me to the bed.

“Nothing? This looks like something.”

The door locked behind us. “The fat man stabbed me.”

“He what?” William raged.

“It’s so I can heal you.” I sat still for a moment, bracing myself against the edge of the mattress. “We needed the blood.”

That didn’t seem to satisfy him.

“Don’t defend him. There are other ways . . . this is . . . How deep is it?”

He laid me down and peered through the sliced fabric of my dress, wincing at what he saw. “Oh my God, Ellie.” His eyes closed with a sigh. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Not if I beat you to it,” I joked, struggling to laugh with my muscles constricted from pain.

William smiled, though I could see he was worried. “What should I do?”

“Come here.” I pulled at his hand, and he leaned forward so I could see his shoulder. “We need to get the bullet out right?”

“It hit the soft part,” he said, turning to show me the exit wound. “I think it went all the way through.”

“Good.” I touched his taut skin gently, examining the wound with care. I pressed lightly against his firm muscle, and rich red blood oozed out easily. He gritted his teeth, but let me test the flow. “It’s still bleeding well enough.”

As the shock started to wear off, I was confronted with the pain head on. It made me cringe and shake, as I put my head back on the pillow.

“You’ll be all right,” William promised, bringing his face close. He brushed my sweaty hair out of my eyes and touched his lips to mine with the slightest kiss.

It was a relief to give up control, to know that he would take care of me, and it would be over soon. He rolled me gently to one side, unzipping my dress, and I moaned when I returned to my back. Tears slid into my ears as he pulled the straps off of my shoulders.

“Did I mention I’m going to kill him?” he said, trying to distract me.

I smiled, not wanting to tense my muscles by laughing, and nodded, still shaking. He peeled the blood soaked dress down to my hips, leaving me in my bra and exposing the wound, then climbed onto the bed positioning himself over me.

“The pressure will probably hurt at first,” he said, without acknowledging his own pain. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” I answered, and clenched my jaw to brace for it. He laid his body on top of mine, matching his shoulder with my side to seal our injuries together. He was gentle, but the weight of his torso was excruciating, and I cried out in agony.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, but stayed held in his position, head resting on my chest. “It will feel better soon.”

As we waited for our wounds to heal, giving in to emotional and physical exhaustion, we drifted off. Without food or water, our bodies demanded only one thing of us— sleep. At some point we folded into each other like flower petals pulling close together to endure a cold night.

8.

I WOKE UP ALONE. My skin was healed, and a tray of breakfast sat untouched, but William was gone.

I did my best to resist the food, telling myself I would accept nothing from Christoph, not even if my belly was twisting with hunger. I cringed at the sight of his fancy silver platter. Did he really think nice things would make me forget I was a prisoner? It was probably laced with something anyway.

“Alaximandrios,” I whispered over and over under my breath, but no matter how many times I tried to call him, he never came.

I couldn’t keep from growing anxious as each minute passed that William didn’t walk through the bedroom door. What if I never saw him again? I had no way of knowing where or why they had taken him, what they were doing. What if William was dead? My chest tightened. If so, I hoped they would kill me next.

I tried to put myself in Christoph’s shoes, to imagine what I would do if I had finally captured the two most valuable people in a war set against me. We had something he wanted, we wouldn’t cooperate, what other use was there for us besides death? The death of the last healer and the new mother and father would be the ultimate blow to a people already wary of revolution. What better way to reestablish his stronghold than killing us both?

When the door finally swung open, I had already come to terms with what it would mean. I didn’t know if it would be Christoph or one of his many pawns who would do the job, but I was ready. Without William, I couldn’t muster the will to fight for any cause. As far as I was concerned, without him, there was no prophecy, no war, no oracle, no future.

“It’s you,” I uttered in disbelief as William was shoved into the room. I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around him. Our eyes met, but his were no comfort. “I thought they killed you.” His face was pained as he looked into me, like maybe they were still going to.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He looked away. “You didn’t eat your food.”

“I don’t want it,” I said, falling for his distraction. “I don’t want anything from him.”

He lifted my arms from off of his shoulders and headed for the platter. “You should eat, Elyse,” William insisted. “He isn’t planning on letting us go any time soon.”

His somber expression was daunting. “What happened when you were gone? Did you talk to him?”

He hung his head, recoiling from his own thoughts. “Come here,” he said when he finally worked up the courage to look at me. “Eat, and I’ll tell you.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and wheeled the room service cart close enough to use as a table. My mouth watered at the smell of bacon and eggs as I lifted the lid covering my food, and I couldn’t resist. I grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite. “Did you eat anything?”

“I had breakfast with him.” My eyes fell into a scowl.

“His idea, not mine,” he clarified. “I didn’t have much of a choice.” He sat close to me on the bed, watching me eat. “Elyse, I need you to know that I love you.”

“I know,” I said, my heart clutching at the suspicious way his words were colored with sorrow. “I love you too.”

“I’m so sorry, for everything. I was supposed to protect you, and it was me who . . . this is my fault. I know you don’t see it that way, but I do. I just hope you can forgive me. You don’t blame me now, but you might later, after . . .”

“After what?”

“Even if you can forgive me, I’ll never forgive myself,” he continued.

“William?”

“I have to ask you something, before I tell you. I need you to know that it comes from the heart, and even if it were a different situation, and we were free, I’d still feel this way. I’ve always wanted you and nobody else, like I’ve known you forever.” He fell to one knee and my heart shot up into my throat.

“What are you . . . Why are you doing this now?” This couldn’t be right. It wasn’t like William to be so careless with sentiment. If this was his proposal, something was wrong. “Is he going to kill us?”

“If we don’t do what he wants. Yes. He’ll kill us.”

I shook my head, trying to deny what I knew was inevitable from the moment we were captured. Christoph wanted one thing, the next oracle, and unless we gave him what he wanted, we were as good as dead.

“I won’t do it,” I said without thinking.

“Then he’ll kill you, Elyse,” William said in distress. “He’ll kill both of us.”

“This isn’t your fault, it’s hers,” I sneered in anger. “Who?” he asked with surprise.

“The oracle. She’s been working with him. She told him we would be here. She meant for us to get caught.”

He rose to his feet and sat next to me on the bed. “How do you know?” he asked, ready to defend her.

“He told me,” I answered. “Think about it. She wants her bloodline to continue. This makes sure it happens. How else would he have known we were here?”

“But why would she put her trust in Christoph? It doesn’t make sense. She’s on our side.”

“Is she? What if she kept me alive this whole time for this moment? She gets what she wants.”

He shook his head. “Ellie, Christoph killed Iosif. Why would the oracle side with someone who killed her husband? Christoph manipulates. Whatever he told you isn’t true.”

“Maybe,” I answered, not sure what to believe.

“What should we do?” he whispered into the silence, his eyes pleading for a miracle answer, one I didn’t have.

When I thought William was gone, death was an easy thing to accept, but with him sitting inches away from me, I couldn’t give in that easily. If I refused to cooperate, it would be my decision that took William’s life.

I turned to face him. “I don’t think we have a choice.”

“I don’t want to force you,” William said, releasing his guilt. “He tried to convince me it was the right thing to do, that I’d be saving your life, but I just can’t do it.” We looked at each other, both pained by the decision. “I can’t take that from you, not if you don’t want it.”

“It’s not that,” I pleaded. “I do want it. I just . . .” Tears began to form, but I refused to blink. I would not let them fall.

He nodded. “Just not like this.”

A thousand things were telling me to stand up for myself, for my virtue and my future child. I couldn’t let Christoph manipulate us like this, and I wouldn’t play into his game, but it was William. Was it worth dying over? How could I give up everything, deny myself the genuine love that he had for me, just out of principle? It seemed foolish. If it were anyone else it might be a worthy battle, but to give in wasn’t necessarily defeat. It was perseverance in the name of love.

“We’ll find another way,” William insisted with little hope. I chuckled to myself at his noble suggestion, and turned to him with dry and confident eyes. I found his lips, kissing them gently.

“What are you doing?” he whispered. “It’s not worth losing you.”

“It shouldn’t be like this,” he said, shying away from my affection.

“Just forget Christoph, forget this place, what it means. I won’t let him take this from us. It’s not like the oracle would be born tomorrow. This doesn’t mean he wins, it means we win, because we aren’t doing this for him, we’ll be doing it for us.”