“In our narrative, you did. You’re the girl who could have run away but tried valiantly to save the victim.”
I looked at the news broadcast with new eyes. “How could you do this?”
“You only need to watch a few minutes of the news to see the answer to that question. They’re all looking to us. You’re world famous. And now the Circle wants you twice as much.” Alistair tidied papers on the desk, setting the stack down with finality. “When I was younger, I believed the families of the Circle could be allies, not enemies. My father and my brother felt the same way, and look where it got them. But I came to see it differently, and your sister understands better than I ever did at her age. People like us aren’t meant to be cogs in a machine. Sooner or later, one family is going to take charge, and it has to be us. You’ll come to understand.”
He reached out to put an arm around me, and I shook him off violently. “I will never understand this. And do you really not think the rest of the Circle will find out?”
My father sat in the swiveling desk chair, looking tired again. “I’d hoped you would come around on your own. But if that’s not going to happen . . .”
It was hot and stuffy in the room, but my whole body went cold. “You said you loved my mom,” I choked out.
My father planted both hands on the desktop and looked right at me. “I don’t want this, Avery. I don’t want it any more than you do.”
But he would still threaten her to get me to cooperate, and after everything else I’d found out about the Saxons, I had no doubt he’d follow through. “I’ll find the tomb for you,” I said desperately. “We have clues. We’re so close.”
My father tapped his fingers on the pile of papers.
“I’ll marry whoever you want if you let her go. Just let her go.” I leaned on the desk, too, so I was face-to-face with my father. “Please.”
He sank into his desk chair. “I wish I could believe you, but we both know you’d run the moment we released your mother.”
“So what are you going to do?” My throat knotted like the design on my locket, as though the thirteen loops were tightening around my neck. “Lock me up with her? Kill us both? You can’t do that. We are getting closer to the tomb, and if you hurt her, you’ll never find out what we know and I’ll never agree to be your little princess.”
My father rested his chin in his hand and gazed past my shoulder, at a portrait of a man hanging on the wall. The man had my eyes, too. And as he looked at him, there was something in my father’s gaze that gave me hope.
I stepped into his line of sight. “Please. Alistair. Father—Dad. If you ever loved my mom—if you ever cared about me, even a little bit—let me earn my mom’s freedom. Worst case scenario, we’ll be out of your lives forever and you can go on ruling the Circle with whatever’s in the tomb. Just give me a chance.”
My father’s mouth drew into a hard line, then he sighed heavily. “Okay. Yes. Get us the tomb, and we’ll release your mother.”
Relief made my knees buckle, and I fell into a chair facing the desk.
“I trust you’ll smooth over any vicious rumors your Keeper friends might start about us as well,” he said.
“I’ll do anything.” It came out in a rush. “Just don’t hurt her. And please, release Jack. It’s not his fault—”
My father sighed. “Avery—” Someone knocked on the door. My father stood, buttoning his coat, and opened it a crack.
“It’s Lucien Dauphin, sir,” the guard said. “Something about a ludicrous new rumor involving your son and daughter. He came to offer his family’s help. Trying to make amends for that wedding stunt, if you ask me.”
No. That couldn’t be true. Stellan and Elodie and Luc wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to rescue me. Would they? I desperately wished the Saxons hadn’t confiscated my phone.
A walkie-talkie crackled. “They say he’s out front.”
“One of you, stay by the door,” my father snapped. “The rest, come with me.”
He glanced at me. “We’ll finish this conversation later.” He shut and locked the door behind him. The voices retreated.
No no no. I searched the room again for a way out. No windows, not so much as an air duct.
And then I heard a bump from the hallway, as if something had fallen against the door.
A light knock.
“Avery?” a voice whispered. “Are you in there?”
Elodie.
CHAPTER 21
“I’m here,” I called as loud as I dared. “I can’t get out. The guards have the keys.”
A few seconds later, jingling, and then the door swung open. Elodie held a huge key ring, and Stellan was a few steps away, dragging a crumpled guard away from the door. He grabbed a gun and a knife from the guard’s belt.
I shoved past Elodie and scanned the hall for more guards. “What are you guys doing here? They’ll kill you.”