MIDNIGHT DIVINE (The Helio Trilogy Book 1) (32 page)

“You said to find the
razor
. I’m finding the
razor
!” I fidget in
frustration.

“If Lucian sees you
twitching, he’ll know what you’re up to. You can’t move your body around. Not
even an inch.”

Really, Alice? This is
fucking bullshit.

I spend the next ten
minutes trying to locate the razor without really moving, which is almost
impossible. After several attempts, I succeed in reaching the razor. Alice
moves in to untie me, removing the razor from my grasp, "That's good. I'm
sure
you
can cut the rope without problems."

“Wait,” Eric interrupts,
coming over to us with Solas.

“What?” I marvel.

Solas flashes Eric a
knowing look, and Eric’s mouth splits into a huge shit-eating grin as he
replies to Solas' telepathic message, “I think your right. Alice?” I narrow my
eyes as they ignore me and rise to my feet with my hands still retrained. “You
hungry, babe?”

“I can eat. How about some
pizza?” she cheers.

“How about you go order
that. Chief and I will be right up.” Eric stands before me with his arms
crossed over his puffed out chest. The grin on his face falls to a serious
scowl. Solas doesn’t seem fazed by it.

I chuckle incredulously
like a newly sprung leak—timid at first, stopping and starting. I shake my head
in disbelief, “For all that is holy, you bastards better untie me.”

“But that wouldn't be fun,”
Eric sneers, and fear creeps through me. “Tell me. What are you going to do if
you can’t get to a weapon to
free
yourself?”

I growl through my gritted
teeth, “I'll make you pay.”

Eric gives Solas a
meaningful glance. Solas’ face falls, clearly not happy with Eric's thoughts.
Eric directs a sinister smirk at him as Solas tries to take a step back. Eric
follows with his fists clinched at his sides and crouches low for an attack.

“Hey!” I yell to get Eric’s
attention. “What the fuck's going on!”

Eric lunges and barley
misses as Solas rolls away. My vision narrows again, and all I see is Eric.
He's an immediate threat. I charge his side as Solas grabs a sword from the
wall. Eric sees me coming and takes to the ceiling. He glares at me from above,
and I know I have to find a way to get to him. He changes direction and dives
at Solas. I chase after him as he slams Solas into the wall. Plaster explodes
in chunks around Solas' unconscious form. I run up the side of the wall and use
it to spring board. Flipping backwards, I cartwheel with my legs, kicking Eric
across the face. He's back on his feet before I land. He rushes to me as I
storm towards him, and brief surprise cross his face. He thought I would cower
in place.
I'm not a coward.
I
cartwheel again with my hands still tied behind my back, then change direction
to flip backwards over the top of him. He grabs my legs as I'm jumping over,
and the pull brings us tumbling to the ground. As our momentum slows, I realize
he'll land on top. On my back, I kick my legs strait up until my feet meet his
ribs and throw him over my head. Eric grunts as his back
meets the floor
.

I rush to Solas against the
shattered wall, sword still in his hand. I crouch in front of him protectively
as Eric stalks towards us. I rub the rope binding my hands on the blade. When
they start to split one by one, I run out of time. I roll away from Eric’s
progression and pull my arms away from each other with as much angelic force I
can muster. Eric pounces on me as I hear the bindings rip. My body's crushed
into the wall as the rope falls away, and I smirk in arrogant triumph. Placing
both hands on the wall at my back, I slam my head into Eric’s nose—signature
Ivy move when I'm in a bind. I hear the bone crack and blood gushes from his
face. He stumbles backwards. At once, I spring on him pinning him to the ground
with my legs. Just as I bring my fist back to punch him in the face, both of my
arms are restrained, and I'm pulled off of him.

Solas' broad arms wrap
around me tight.
Pride, passion, power.
He whispers gruffly into my ear
while I struggle to escape, “You got him, princess. Easy. Easy. We were just
testing you. We knew you wouldn’t attack if it didn’t look real.”

“What?” I scream, jerking
to view him over my shoulder.

Eric coughs on the floor
and raises to one knee, pinching his nose. “Damn, Ivy. You broke my nose,” he
whines in a joking tone as he wipes his face with his arm.

I lurch from Solas and
storm into Eric’s face, pointing my finger at him as I sneer, “You fucking
deserve it. I thought you turned on us. I thought you were going to kill him!”

“That was the point,” he
says, giving a dismissive shrug.

I spin on Solas and glare.
And
you! Letting me think you were out cold! I know Eric's strength rivals with
your own. What the
—

“—I’m sorry. It was the
only way to see how you could manage in that kind of situation.” I cross my
arms over my chest and cock my hip out. “We only needed you to think you were
in danger.”

My tension and anger
deflates, “So, you’re ok?”

Solas holds the sides of my
face, “I’m perfectly fine.” He kisses me in hungry passion. I wrap my arms
around his hard body and melt into his powerful embrace.

Eric clears his throat, but
we ignore him. He passes us to ascend the stairs as he asks over his shoulder,
“You guys coming? I’m starving.”

“Don’t ever fucking do that
to me again,” I growl for them both to hear.

“You got it,” Eric mumbles
at the top of the steps. Solas kisses my temple, and we follow Eric upstairs.

I get cleaned up while we
wait for Alice to return with the pizza. As I'm towel drying my hair, there's a
light knock on my bedroom door. I open it to find Evelyn standing on the other
side. Her hands clasp together in front of her as she stands resolute.
“Evelyn?”

“Can I speak with you,
dear?” The tone in her request makes me nervous. I know what’s coming.

“Sure. Please, come in,” I
open the door wider to let her pass, and close the door quietly behind her. I
take a deep breath as she crosses the room with her back to me. Tension builds
inside of me. “Is everything alright?”

Her shoulders sag, and she
turns to me with her hands still clasped in front of her. “It’s Solas,” she
states sadly.

I knew this was coming. I
don’t want to hurt her. I don’t want to feel more treacherous than I already
do. I love Solas, and our bond deepened during my capture. I don’t know how to
explain to her how I feel. I take a tentative step towards her and stop. “I
don’t know what to say, Evelyn.”

“You don’t have to say
anything. Just listen.” Her eyes begin to gloss over, “I know you have a strong
connection to him. I was shocked at first, but I understand your need to be
comforted by him. He's been there for you through the roughest of times.”

“I—”

She cuts me off with the
wave of her hand. “
—
Just listen.” She takes a deep breath. “He's
very protective of you. I may be reclusive around the manor, but I’m not naive.
I know things have escalated between you two.” My heart begins to pound in my
chest. I know this is where she'll admit being disappointed in me. She takes a
step towards me and reaches out to hold my hands between us. I feel her
nervousness, sadness, hope, and love. What I don’t feel is anger or discontent.
I’m confused to what she's trying to
say
. I don’t say
anything and wait for her to tell me what she feels. “Jack loves you, Ivy.” A
tear betrays me, and she wipes it away with her thumb. “I know he wants you to
be happy. I know he wants you to be protected. I'm not angry or disappointed
with you. I noticed the connection between you and Solas the first day you
arrived with him.” She pauses, and I see hesitation cross her face. She seems
afraid to say more.

I urge her on, “But?”

“But… There are things
about him, Ivy, which you need to be aware of. He's Fallen for a reason. I
don’t want to see you hurt.”

I’m saddened with her
words, yet angry all the same. I can’t understand why everyone's so
apprehensive about him. I know his heart. I know his intentions. He may be
Fallen, but in my gut, I know it's a mistake. “I know what he is. It doesn’t
change how I feel about him. I trust Solas with my life. He would never hurt
me.”

She lets out a breath of
resignation, embracing me. “I hope you’re right, dear. I hope you’re right.”
I'm glad she understands—somewhat—about my feelings for Solas. Her peace and
calm settles over me and fields my anger.

“Pizza’s here!” I hear
Alice call from downstairs. The spicy Italian confection assaults my senses,
and my stomach growls in response.

Evelyn releases me from her
embrace. “You should go eat, dear. You worked up quite an appetite today,” she
says with a forced smile.

“Are you coming?”

“No, dear. I have a meeting
with Michael. I’m to update him on what we've discovered so far.”

“Ok.” I turn to leave and
pause with my hand on the doorknob. I glance over my shoulder, “Thank you,
Evelyn.” She nods, playing with the pearls of her necklace.

Descending the stairs, my
stomach grumbles again. I round the corner to the kitchen where three large
pizza boxes are stacked on top of each other on the marble island. Eric lifts
the lid of the top box and takes a big whiff of the heated steam rolling off
the pizza. “Mmm.”

Alice takes plates out of
the cabinet and I hug her
from behind
. “I love you,
Alice.”

“Only because I feed you,”
she chides.

“No. You’re my best friend.
I’m sorry about earlier. I would never hurt you,” I tell her.

She turns to me with loving
eyes, “I know.” Her eyes avert to Eric
,
and she snaps at
him, “Hey! Use a plate!” She marches to the island and thrusts a plate in his
hands.

Solas kisses my cheek. “Are
you ok?”

I let out a breath and fake
a smile to ease his worry, “Yeah.”

As we scarf down the pizza,
we discuss my animalistic fury during training. I explain the protective nature
that overwhelmed me, and Eric voices how proud of me he is for not letting my
emotions hinder my ability to protect Solas during their ruse. They laugh at my
appetite as I finish off an entire pizza by myself, comparing me to the
Griffins.

Solas' new cell phone
buzzes on the table
,
and the screen lights up with Beckett’s face.
Solas looks confused as he puts him on speaker, “Hey. What’s up?”

Beckett’s voice resonates
with desperation, “Chief. We’ve got a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” Solas
prompts.

“Theodora's briefed us. Her
connection in Sheol notified her that one of the soldiers escaped after the
ceremony. They know Ivy destroyed Beleth. Their coming.”

“Shit!” Solas shouts. “When?”

“Soon.”

Solas commands with
militant modulation, “Gather the Griffins. Bring what you can of the arsenal,
and get here as soon as you can. Brief me on any further information as it
comes. Get here. We'll set up a parameter. Our top priority is protecting Ivy.”

“Yes, sir.”

He disconnects with Beck.
Alice grips Eric's bicep as she address Solas, “What do we do?”

“I need to speak to Evelyn.
We’re about to have a legion of Griffins descending on the manor. I need her to
understand the necessity of their presence.”

“What do you want us to
do?” Eric asks, and I realize that while he and Solas have taken lead on our
strategies thus far, Solas has remained Chief Commander even outside of The
Keep. Though they respect each other equally, Eric's become his second in
command.

“We can’t let them know
someone's blown the whistle. We keep going on as we have. Act normal. Someone
stays with Ivy at all times. In the afternoons, we train. It'll take the
Griffins two days to arrive. Eric, you'll work with me and the Griffin's
General to strategize defenses when they arrive.” My anxiety peers its ugly
head with the intensity of Solas’ voice. He reads
the
emotions clearly written across my face and takes my
hand in a comforting gesture. “In the meantime, I need you and Alice to gather
as many weapons
as you can.”

Eric smirks, a wicked glint
behind his violet eyes, “We’ve got that covered in spades.”

“Good,” Solas states before
addressing me. He squeezes my hand once, “You’ve got practice Saturday. We have
to keep up the pretense that we're oblivious. I need you to be careful when you
go shopping with Alice.”

“We’re going shopping?”
Alice tilts her head.

“I need a costume for the
Ball. You promised to help me find one,” I remind her.

Her excitement builds as
she adds, “Well, maybe it'll help distract us. You need more than a costume.
You need a whole wardrobe. I doubt they're coming back with your belongings now
that they have to bring weapons.”