– Chapter 187

3rd Person

“Bribing the guards?” Bastien suggested, sharing his fifth idea of the morning.

Grayson promptly shot him down. “Tried it.”

“Tunneling out?” Bastien proposed next, determined to find a solution.

“Tried it.” James vetoed.

“Picking the locks?” The Alpha offered hopefully.

“That was like the first thing any of us tried.” Grayson drawled.

“Faking an illness?” Bastien throw out, feeling more and more defeated with every rejected idea.

“Tried it.” James confirmed, feeling no small margin of sympathy for the man. He knew how he would have felt if Blaise had caught Corinne, and even without knowing Selene, he was desperate to help his daughter. He and his mate had sacrificed everything for her, and it had been hard enough to hear the story Bastien told him about her life, he couldn’t allow her to suffer further.

Just then a familiar voice floated out of the darkness towards the, somewhere to the left of their cells. “Would you gentlemen like some assistance?”

“Who’s there?” Grayson demanded sharply.

“Helene?” Bastien exclaimed, sitting up in excitement.

“Hello there Alpha.” She greeted him warmly, appearing suddenly in the triangle of space between the three cells.

“Alpha? Grayson repeated, “You never mentioned you were an Alpha.” Unfortunately for Grayson, he’d been in his weekly torture session when Bastien shared his and Selene’s story with her father.

“Well in his defense I don’t know many Alpha’s who would want to admit they’d gotten themselves into this sort of pickle.” The witch suggested, sparking his ire.

“And where were you when Blaise took us?” he growled. It hadn’t occurred to him at the time, but now that she wa in front of him he realized the only way she could have gotten away without also becoming prisoner, is if she left before the shit hit the fan.

“I ran then, so we could all fight another day.” She explained, her voice remorseful.

“If you’d fought with us then, we might have won.” He argued.

“No, you wouldn’t.” Helene informed him simply, “There’s a way out of this for you, but it wasn’t in that church.”

“Have you seen her, have you seen Selene?” Bastien pressed, positively aching for news of his mate.

“Yes.” She answers, “She’s alright. Frightened and without her powers, but Blaise hasn’t harmed her – yet.”

Bastien breathed in a sigh of relief, even as his heart constricted with her final word. “And Lila, do you know if she’s okay?”

“Your pup is fine. Safe and sound in Asphodel.” Helene assured him.

“Okay.” Bastien felt at least some of the weight life from his chest. “Can you get us out of here?”

“Getting out of those cells isn’t the problem.” Helene explained grimly, “it’s getting out of the dungeon itself. You’re 20 stories deep here, and every one of those is nothing but locked doors and guards armed to the teeth.”

“So what do you do?” Bastien snarled, all of his frustration pouring out of him at once.

“Which one of you is Grayson?” Helene inquired, surprising them all.

“How do you know me?” The gruff rebel answered.

“You didn’t think the revolution died with you, did you?” The old witch posed.

“Who is this woman?” Grayson exclaimed, beyond baffled now and losing his patience.

“She’s a witch.” Bastien murmured, “A very clever witch.”

“I have a message from your old partner.” She announced.

“Matthew?” Grayson sounded more excited than Bastien had ever heard him. It was nearly impossible to get the man to talk about himself, which was understandable given the circumstances, but Bastien couldn’t help being curious. After all, they were stuck in a cell together with nowhere to go – talking was really the only think available to pass the time, so it was a bit annoying when one third of the conversation consisted of grunts and sarcastic remarks.

“At first I merely hoped to persuade the rebels to help spring Bastien because he’s strong enough to defeat Blaise, but once I was there in front of him, your name came to my mind.” Helene related. “He was surprised to learn you were still alive. It was only a feeling, but he said if I could confirm that you were here he’d gladly help – whether Bastien agreed to support the cause or not.”

“We don’t have time to wait for a full force insurgence.” Bastien objects.

“That’s not how we do things.” Grayson corrected him. “There’s not enough of us – not when Blaise keeps the entire aristocracy on a silver leash.”

“And you have more time than you think.” Helene added. “I’m working to help restore Selene’s power so she can keep Blaise at bay.”

“How soon, how soon can they get us out?” Bastien questioned fiercely.

“Make no mistake, Alpha.” Helene cautioned. “This won’t be easy, and it won’t be fast.” Something clanged in the distance, “We don’t have much time, is there a message you’d like me to give to Selene?”

Bastien’s heart panged, “Tell her I love her, that I’m so sorry I let this happen… that I’ll come as soon as I can.”

“I’ll tell her everything but that you’re sorry.” Helene replied. “It isn’t your fault that this happened.”

“That’s not true, but I can’t force you.” Bastien grumbled. “And there’s one more thing.”

______________________

“He found my father?” Selene murmured in shock. “But he died. He died before I was born.”

“Wrong little mother.” Helene corrected her with a wide smile. “I met him too.”

“I don’t understand.” Selene admitted, blinking tears from her eyes.

“If all goes well you’ll have the chance to hear his story, but for now – let me see your wrists.” Helene ordered.

Selene offered her hands, and the witch pulled a silver key from her pocket, undoing the magic suppressing shackles on Selene’s wrists. “Where did you get that?!” Selene exclaimed, rubbing her wrists before Helene pulled out an identical pair of bracelets, save for one very important thing.

“There’s a rebel force at work in this city, Selene.” Helene explained. “Little does Blaise know, but his silversmith is a member. There are a few aristocrats on their side, but they can’t effectively resist Blaise if they’re under his thumb, so the smith started making replica cuffs for the noble members. They look exactly like the real thing – but they’re made of an aluminum alloy instead of real silver, so they won’t affect your magic.”

As Helene closed the fake cuffs around Selene’s wrists, she stared down at them in wonder. She could already feel the difference. They looked exactly the same, but her magic was pumping through her blood without restraint, so strong after being locked up for so long she felt like she was about to overflow.

“Let off the excess power little by little.” Helene advised.

“Or maybe I could use all the excess now to take down Blaise.” Selene suggested.

Helene frowns. “No. First because you’ll burn yourself out. And second because you will not be in control – if you just release it all at once you could hurt a lot more people than Blaise, or do something you didn’t intend, fail and then he’ll know you’re no longer on his leash. I know its frustrating but we all have to be smart about this. We have to be patient.”

“It sounds like you’ve already given this lecture once today.” Selene teased.

“You and your mate are similar in that way.” Helene laughed.

“Is he really okay?” Selene whispered.

“Yes, sweetheart.” Helene promised. “Now, you know what to do once Blaise comes to your bed, yes?”

“I will be practicing my hypnotism every spare moment of every day.” Selene nodded. “but I don’t have to worry about that for at least two weeks. I’m on bed rest.”

“Clever girl! Helene praised, “how did you manage that?”

“I didn’t.” Selene admitted, staring at her hands and sniffling. “The Goddess arranged it. I’m having twins. A boy and a girl.” It should have been a happy announcement. Instead it came out a sob.

“Oh my darling.” Helene cooed, pulling Selene into her arms. “We’re going to find a way out of this, I promise.”

“Don’t tell Bastien.” Selene begged. “If you see him again. Okay? I don’t want… if this all goes wrong I don’t want his heart to be more broken than it has to be.”

“As soon as he’s out, my love.” Helene encouraged. “As soon as we free him you’ll be safe to escape yourself.”

“Unless I can find a way to escape and free him at the same time.” Selene mused.

“Selene,” Helene pursed her lips and shook her head regretfully. “I’ve been to the dungeons. I’ve seen the obstacles. This is the only way. If you run Bastien will be dead before you can ever reach him, and even if you could get to him in time, you’d never make it back out again. Trust me. Let us free Bastien, and then you can free yourself, okay?”

“Okay,” Selene agreed softly. Hating it but trusting her mentor. It wasn’t until a moment later that she realized what she’d said, “Wait a minute, who’s we?”