Viola's Risk (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 2) (23 page)

As they started walking toward the entrance of the maze, all
of a sudden they were surrounded by guards who didn’t hesitate to step in to
back them up. For a fleeting moment, Cora understood what Liam had been trying
to tell her in Viola’s room that morning. She didn’t waste time dwelling on it
though, there were much more important things at stake so she had to keep her
mind focused and her senses sharp. It wouldn’t surprise her if Anna was waiting
inside of the maze for them to attempt a rescue for Sage. Maybe that’s even
what Anna was hoping for.

“Does this feel like a trap to you?” Viola whispered to
Cora.

“Yeah, but what choice do we have? We can’t leave Sage in
there. He wouldn’t leave either one of us behind,” Cora replied in a whisper.

“I know. I think what bothers me the most is my complete
lack of fear right now. I’m worried about Sage, yeah, but knowing Dominic’s
safe and being taken care of gives that woman no power over me. Whatever’s in
there, we can take it and beat it,” Viola whispered with confidence.

Cora was quiet for a moment, assessing her own feelings
about entering the maze and found nothing but calm and confidence, like what
Viola had described to her. She smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

“You’re right. We’ve been through so much at Anna’s hands,
I’m not afraid of her anymore. I don’t underestimate what she’s capable of, but
as long as we’re together, we’re stronger than she is, so I’m not worried about
anything she throws at us. I just hope we can get to Sage before any permanent
damage is done to him,” Cora said, a bit of worry creeping into her voice.

“Sage is strong, don’t underestimate him either. We’ll get
him out of there,” Viola said, reaching over and giving Cora a quick,
reassuring hug just as they entered the maze with their team.

It was pitch black inside. One of the guards in front of the
girls pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on. Viola remembered what Dominic
had said about the maze being designed to give the person entering it hope of
escape at the beginning so she didn’t put much stock in the hallway that had
multiple doors on both sides. What was inside of those rooms was nothing to
look forward to, she was sure of it.

“Fan out, start checking each of these rooms. We are not
leaving without our man. I want you in teams of two and be on guard, this is
the maze of insanity, you will find things in here that no one should ever be
subjected to. Keep your cool and don’t let it get to you,” The guard with the
flashlight ordered the rest of the team. They paired up and fanned out in
immediate response. As the twins headed off together to try to help, the guard
who’d given the orders to the team stopped them.

“We are here to help and protect you. Please stay with me so
I can provide you with assistance whenever you may need it,” the guard
requested respectfully. What the girls appreciated was that he didn’t bark out
orders at them or demand it of them. With a quick look between them, they both
nodded their heads in agreement.

The three of them moved forward. As each room was searched
and cleared as being empty, a cold feeling began to grow in the pit of Cora’s
stomach.

“If these rooms are all empty, where’s Sage?” she asked
Viola.

“He’s here. We just have to keep searching. Hey, do you
think you can use your connection with Liam to try to sense his location?”
Viola perked up when the thought occurred to her and she asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried,” Cora responded, turning
the idea around and around in her head, trying to figure out a way to do such a
thing.

“You are only connected to your mate, not your mate’s
family,” The head guard told them with a glance over his shoulder.

“Well, it’s at least worth a shot. It would save us valuable
time in saving him if I can figure out how to do it,” Cora snapped at him for
his negativity.

“You will be wasting our time, and his, if you try,” the
guard replied, his voice becoming sharper.

“Get over it,” Viola said, anger in her voice. “Don’t pay
any attention to him Cora, you can do this.”

Cora nodded and stopped walking. She closed her eyes and
searched out Liam’s energy. Hers was so in tune with his now she found it
without a problem. Then she searched out Viola’s energy and found it without a
problem either.

Taking herself deeper, she brought up the memory of Sage
comforting her in the medical center when Liam was still unconscious from
Anna’s torture. That was when she’d first felt the brother and sister bond that
they’d formed begin and her body had registered his energy as well at that
moment.

Using the memory, she brought Sage’s energy into her main
focus. She let her body become in tune with it and then sent out a search with
her mind to find where his energy was. It was so faint that she almost missed
it when she found it. Without thinking, she latched onto it and tried to feed a
bit of her energy into his to help strengthen him as her feet started moving
forward.

Cora felt Viola’s hand on her arm to help prevent her from
running into anything or tripping as she kept her eyes closed to maintain the very
fragile connection she had with Sage.

Wordlessly, she led the team through the maze of insanity.
They passed through rooms that had spiders and snakes crawling or slithering on
every surface that could be seen, but with her eyes closed, Cora had no idea
what was going on around them. She kept all of her senses focused on Sage and
his fading energy.

After passing through hallways and several more rooms, they
reached the room Cora knew Sage was in. She opened her eyes and put her hand on
the doorway.

“Please, allow us to go in first and make sure the room is
clear,” the head guard gritted out. Cora ignored him, but Viola could tell he
was pissed Cora had proven him wrong. Viola couldn’t help the smirk that
crossed her face at his reaction to Cora’s powers.

She was slowly learning that each person seemed to have a
power that was unique to them and how they used it. For a brief moment, she
wondered what hers was and then brushed it off because rescuing Sage was a much
higher priority.

Cora reached down and turned the knob, throwing open the
door. Both girls couldn’t help but be creeped out by what was inside.
Everywhere they looked, there were clowns. Big ones, small ones, pictures, it
was something that would drive anyone mad if they were in there too long. Viola
shuddered as she entered the room with Cora. Now was not the time to chicken
out, Sage needed them to get him to safety fast.

“He’s in here?” Viola asked to make sure.

“Yeah, I’m guessing he just couldn’t go any further and
collapsed. The kind of pain he was in, I’m surprised he made it this far,” Cora
said, a tear running down her face. She’d tuned out the clowns and was focusing
solely on Sage’s fading energy.

“Fan out and find him.” The head guard ordered at Cora’s
words. Without hesitation, the rest of the team flooded the room and began
searching. After a few minutes, they found him lying on the floor with a pile
of stuffed clowns covering him up. He was unconscious and barely breathing. His
skin was cold and clammy. The paleness of his face sent a shiver of fear down
Viola’s spine.

“What did Anna do to him?” Viola whispered in horror. So
far, this was the scariest thing they’d encountered, in her mind, through
the entire maze.

“I’d be happy to show you my dear Viola,” Anna cackled out
from behind the girls.

“Get him out of here now!” Viola shouted as she turned
around and used her powers to knock Anna backward. It didn’t budge her much,
but she wasn’t trying to kill the woman.

Cora spun around and attacked as well. Each of them took
turns as most of the team picked up Sage and hurried out of the room with him,
back the way Cora had led them through. The head guard and several other team
members stayed to aid the twins however they could in the fight against Anna.

“Is that all you girls have got?” Anna taunted them with a
laugh.

“Cora stop,” Viola ordered her sister at Anna’s statement.

“Why? We can’t let her get away with this,” Cora said,
shocked at Viola’s demand.

“Don’t you get it? If she’s taunting us, she’s setting us up
for something. She wants us to use our powers against her. We can’t give her
what she wants,” Viola told Cora in a rush. Cora seeing her twin’s point,
stopped her attack on Anna. The rest of the team did their best to take up the
twins’ slack, but were too weak to do any damage to the woman.

“Oh, so you think you’re so smart do you?” a cruel voice
came from behind the group. “You both will give me your powers or everyone here
will die. Your choice.”

The twins looked over their shoulders to see the old hag
that had shown up at their unbinding ceremony, the woman who was supposed to be
their maternal grandmother, Camilla. They watched as she moved around to Anna’s
side.

Cora and Viola looked at each other and between the two
women who were out to destroy them. They didn’t need to discuss it to know
there was no way they were giving up their powers.

“You leave my girls alone!” Angelica shouted as she entered
the room. The energy surrounding their mother was enough to make Cora and Viola
take a step backwards out of her way as she stalked forward and placed herself
between the twins and their enemies.

“Get out of the way you useless girl,” Camilla sneered at
her daughter. Anna laughed at the scene.

“What do you think you’re going to do dear sister? Do you
think you can beat us?” Anna laughed out as Angelica narrowed her eyes at the
two women.

“You’d be surprised at what I can do. You can’t have my
daughters’ powers and you won’t be winning this war. Leave now before I make
you regret everything you’ve ever done to my family,” Angelica responded in a
low and dangerous voice.

“We are your family,” Camilla responded with such an evil
smile it made Viola shudder.

“You are no family of mine. I disowned you a long time ago,
after you killed my father the night Thomas and I were mated. Thomas and my
girls are my only family now. You will leave them alone. Besides, I thought the
two of you hated each other and would never work together?” Angelica declared
with a confidence the twins had never seen in her before. They had to admit,
they were proud to have her for their mother in that moment.

Camilla scoffed at Angelica’s words, while Anna continued
laughing at her sister. Cora couldn’t help but to think that this was one
twisted family reunion if she’d ever seen one.

“Step aside and let us handle our business. We’ve got no
business with you at all and our alliance is none of your concern,” Camilla
sneered at Angelica which made her straighten her back even more and stand her
ground.

“If you have business with my daughters’ then you have
business with me because you are not getting to them unless it’s through me,”
Angelica stated. Without orders or a word from anyone, their team of guards
moved into formation in front of Angelica and the girls.

There seemed to be a standoff going on as Camilla and Anna
weighed their options. Viola hoped they would choose to retreat so nobody else
would be hurt, but was pretty sure that wouldn’t be their choice. After a few
minutes, Cora and Viola started to get nervous. They knew they couldn’t use
their powers against Camilla and Anna because Camilla was trying to syphon them
off. They didn’t know how else they were going to fight them without the use of
their powers. They also knew they were the only ones in the room who were
strong enough to do any damage against the two older women.

Thomas came striding into the room and assessed the
situation as he moved over to his mate’s side.

“How is Dominic my dear?” Angelica asked Viola’s most
pressing question for her.

“He will be fine. He’s been taken to the medical compound,
along with Sage, who’s in a much more dire condition. It looks like I arrived
just in time,” Thomas said updating Angelica and the twins,
before turning his attention to the current
situation.

“You can run along Thomas, you don’t have any more business
here than Angelica does,” Camilla said in a derisive voice.

“As long as you’re threatening our daughters then I do have
business here,” Thomas stated, squaring his shoulders. Both Cora and Viola were
extremely worried for their parents and everyone else here. This situation
could explode in a moment and so many people would be caught in the crossfire
yet they didn’t know what to do to put an end to it. Surrendering their powers
to Camilla wasn’t an option.

From behind Anna and Camilla, Cora saw movement. She steeled
herself not to react when she saw one of the people moving up behind the two
women in a stealth attack was Liam. Her heart sped up to the point where she
almost couldn’t breathe.

Catching Cora’s reaction, Viola looked and saw what had her
twin so distressed. It was a good thing they were so far behind everyone else
that their enemies couldn’t see Cora’s reaction to Liam’s presence. Before she
could blink, Liam had Anna in a choke hold while another team member locked
onto Camilla in a similar move.

Both women fought against their attackers with no success.
They tried using their powers but couldn’t fire a successful attack because
their attackers were behind them. Both men were careful to keep the women
turned so they couldn’t fire attacks at the other’s captor to get free.

Viola noted how well coordinated the attack was as she
watched two more guards move forward and place the women in specially made
shackles, which prevented the use of their powers. Heaving a huge sigh of
relief, Cora broke rank and raced through the crowd of guards. Reaching Liam,
she threw herself into his arms and kissed him with a passion that made Viola
uncomfortable. All she wanted at this moment was to be in Dominic’s arms.

“Let’s get them back to the prison,” Thomas ordered and the
guards holding onto Camilla and Anna moved forward. Both women were screaming
profanities at Thomas, Angelica and everyone within earshot and vowing to exact
their revenge. Walking ahead of the group, anxious to get back to Dominic,
Viola rolled her eyes in disgust. She agreed with her mother, those two were no
family of hers.

*****

As soon as they reached what was now home to the girls,
Viola was out of the SUV as it was still rolling to a stop and running as fast
as she could to the medical building. There was nothing in this world that was
going to keep her away from Dominic’s side right now or ever if she had
anything to say about it.

Holding hands and worrying about Sage, Cora and Liam followed
behind her at a slightly slower pace. Thomas and Angelica brought up the rear
of their procession. The mood was grim because they all realized that Sage’s
condition may have deteriorated in the time it took them to transport him over
here and it had been thready to begin with.

Viola made it to the entrance of the medical building and
didn’t even pause as the doors slid open. She used her connection with Dominic
to locate him, bypassing the nurses altogether. Finding him, she barged into
the room without knocking which had the doctor glaring up at her.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded.

“That is my mate and I need to know what is going on with
him,” Viola declared, daring him to argue with her.

“You will wait out in the hall and I will update you as soon
as I can. He is still being assessed and treated at this moment. You are
wasting our time,” the doctor said and turned his back on her and went back to
Dominic. As much as she wanted to argue, she remembered Cora having to wait as
Liam was being assessed and treated and couldn’t argue with what the doctor had
told her to do. Slowly, she backed out of the room and closed the door behind
her with a soft click. She watched through the window as Dominic was being
taken care of.

Judging by the fact that Cora, Liam, Thomas and Angelica
were all gathered around a similar window a few rooms down the hall, she
assumed that was where Sage was being treated. She heard Cora cry out and knew
it was not going well for Sage in the room he was in and her heart broke a
little. He was like the big brother she’d never had before, she hoped he pulled
through this.

This situation was just so awful. The waiting to find out
Dominic and Sage’s conditions was excruciating. It didn’t matter that she was
surrounded by her family, Viola felt as alone as she’d ever felt before in her
life.

When the doctor entered the room, Viola jumped up and met
him a few steps in. She didn’t even remember moving from the hall outside of
Dominic’s room to the waiting room, everything was such a blur. Before she
could say anything, the doctor updated them.

“Dominic is resting, he will be fine. There were no major
injuries, but plenty of trauma so he’ll need lots of rest for at least the next
week. You all can go and see him in an hour or so. As for Sage, his condition
is a lot more complicated. Not only did he experience the physical trauma the
torture did to his body, he experienced the mental trauma that came afterwards.
He has no serious internal injuries, but the mental trauma has left his mind overloaded.
It seems he’s put himself into a self-induced coma to try to process all of it.
We’re going to keep him here to care for him,” the doctor informed the group.

“A self-induced coma? Is that even possible?” Cora asked in
shock.

“I’ve never seen it before myself, but there’s no other
obvious explanation for it. We will continue to run tests to make sure we’re
not overlooking anything, but considering there was no major damage to his
brain that would explain his coma, that’s the diagnosis for the moment,” the
doctor replied and Cora couldn’t help but notice it was the same doctor who’d
cared for Liam when he was in here.

“Thank you. Please keep us updated on any and all changes
for both of them. We also want to be notified as soon as we are allowed to
visit either of them,” Thomas instructed with no room for argument in his
voice.

“Yes, sir,” the doctor said before turning and leaving the
room.

Everyone looked at each other with mixed feelings. They were
all thrilled that Dominic was going to be alright, but terrified that Sage was
in such a precarious condition. They all sat down quietly because there wasn’t
anything much to say. The time passed in slow motion as Viola waited with
impatience to be able to go see Dominic and make sure, with her own eyes, he
was fine.

After what felt like forever, the nurse arrived to take them
to the room Dominic had been moved into to rest. Viola didn’t need her guidance,
but wasn’t in the mood to get lectured by pushing her way past the nurse to get
there quicker. When she finally reached his room, she wasted no time entering
and making her way to Dominic’s side. Picking his hand up in hers, she watched
him for a few minutes until his eyes opened and found hers.

“Hey Beautiful One,” he croaked out, his voice hoarse.

“Hey yourself,” Viola replied, her voice caught in her
throat from emotion.

“Don’t look so worried, I’m fine,” he tried to reassure her
without much success.

“Yeah, I see just how fine you are,” Viola replied,
irritated.

“How’s Sage? Where is he?” Dominic asked after looking
around the room and not seeing him there.

“Sage is in pretty bad condition. They’re keeping an eye on
him in another room,” Cora spoke up when nobody else did.

Dominic groaned and closed his eyes. Viola could already
tell he was blaming himself for Sage’s condition.

“Stop it right now. Other than being idiots and taking Anna
from her prison cell, none of this is your fault. I’m not going to rip you a
new one right now while you’re recovering, but you’re in for it later mister,”
Viola warned him.

“She’s right Dominic, you need to listen to her and stop blaming
yourself for everything,” Cora piped up. “What you need to do right about now
is finally admit that you and Viola are meant to be together and ask her to be
your mate. I’m ready for a mating ceremony and something happy to happen.”

Viola laughed at Cora’s words. She knew her sister was doing
her best to give Dominic a push in the right direction, but somehow she didn’t
think it would be that easy.

“You know what, I think you’re right Cora,” Dominic said and
kissed the back of Viola’s hand. “Beautiful One, I know I am not worthy of you,
but all I can think about night and day is you. When we’re away from each
other, it kills me inside. The scariest part of being held by Anna was thinking
that I would never get to see you again. I’m tired of trying to fight the
connection we have and what fate has chosen for us. If you’ll have me,
stupidity and all, I would be honored if you’d agree to be my mate. Would you?”

By the time Dominic was finished speaking, not only did
Viola have tears streaming down her cheeks from his heartfelt words, but so did
Cora and Angelica. Viola knew there was only one answer she could give him.

“Of course I will. I thought you would never ask,” she
replied and leaned over him to give him the kiss of his life, even though her
parents were still in the room with them. When she pulled back, she gazed into
his eyes. “It took you long enough,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. As
everyone talked with excitement, throwing ideas out for the ceremony, Dominic
and Viola were lost in each other. There were still a lot of things they needed
to work through, but they finally understood they were stronger together,
forever.