Love & Loss

Chapter 70

Xander's POV:

I silently followed the guards as they lead me through the cells, both of them obviously confused by my request, but compliant nonetheless.

I hadn't been down here in over three centuries.

Basically because I never had a reason to be. Most of the things that involved having people down here were handled by my parents or Nico.

But it was exactly how I remembered it.

Dark, cold, and eerie.

The latter became even more apparent the further they took me in and the overall lack of any other kind of life.

Absolutely no one else was down here.

Still regardless of the discomfort that this place naturally gave off, the symptoms of my prior warning were beginning to fade.

This was where I was supposed to be.

When I finally spotted the slight light of a vacant cell, my steps quickened.

Then once we turned the corner, giving me a straight path to where he was, I pushed past the guards and ran.

Grabbing the bars to aid in my sudden stop my worry and confusion both spiked drastically at what I saw.

Nico laid face up and unconscious on the stone floor of the cell, his wrists cuffed and each connected by a chain.

And if all of this wasn't enough already, in the middle of the chains on his wrists, was another that connected to the back wall.

I didn't even want to begin to imagine what could have happened in order for dad to do this.

I drew in a deep breath as the guards finally caught up.

Every part of me was already on edge and I didn't want to take it out on people who didn't have a choice but to get involved.

Still, it took them a little too long to unlock the cell and let me in.

Once I heard the click, I pushed it open myself and went in, kneeling beside my brother to get a closer inspection.

I had to pause for a moment, realizing his current state was somehow worse than I thought.

Despite his conditions, his breaths were heavy and panicked and his eyelids twitched frantically.

Distress was written clearly on his features, and the sweat covering practically his whole body from what I could tell only added to it.

Blood dripped from his palms, which I could only conclude came from the claws he still had extended.

But the thing that made me physically sick was the hundreds of remnant scraps of his wings that laid scattered across the floor.

His wings had fulfilled their purpose and were now in the last stages of disintegration.

I knew Nico didn't know how to get them willingly, so whatever happened was so bad that he felt like his life was in danger.

I had to take a second to even figure out what to think because I had never seen him like this.

I'd never seen him look anything close to this.

What the hell happened?

I turned my head to ask that exact question, but the guards were long gone.

Dammit.

I have no answers, no clue what to do, and no way out.

Which was exactly what I asked for, but now I could take a second to think of the bigger picture.

Doe and Marcus were now on their own.

And I knew already Doe wasn't going to be too pleased with my choices.

I had no idea how long I was going to be down here.

But the idea of them on their own didn't cause any underlying panic to rise, so I hoped that meant that they would be fine.

Lifting my hands into my hair, I tried to take a second to just breathe.

I needed to try to think clearly and so far, that wasn't exactly working.

I didn't even know where to begin with this.

So I started with just getting my bearings.

This cell in of itself was small and didn't hold that much.

It had a small bed shoved all the way in the corner, the chain that embedded in the wall sitting just to the right of it.

In front of the bed sat a sad excuse for a toilet, and on the opposite corner were two small benches that sat close but adjacent to each other.

Then us, sitting in the center of it all.

I slumped forward my hand on his arm and felt that he was hot to the touch.

Far hotter than what would ever be considered normal for a vampire.

It was then that I realized his sweating was constant and that the ground underneath him was warm as well.

So, tucking my arms under his, I moved him over a bit so he was on the cooler stone, the chain connected to the wall luckily being long enough to give him access to the whole cell.

His body twitched and tightened as I moved him, reacting almost defensively.

The bed wouldn't have been any help here, he needed to cool off first.

I managed to discard the remaining scraps of his dress shirt as well, figuring they were serving no purpose other than sticking to his skin.

A small chain that hung around his neck fell as I did, and I quickly noticed the black ring that hung at the end.

I wanted to investigate it, but shrugged off the feeling, telling myself to focus.

His breathing hadn't slowed or shallowed in the slightest and I could hear the panicked beating of his heart.

My mind kept coming up with countless questions, all of which I knew I wouldn't get answers to myself.

What did Nico do?

What happened to Khloe?

I shook them from my head, instead focusing on the chains.

I only realized once I had them in my hands the small yet sharp spikes that sat on each link.

These were made for criminals. For city traitors or for uncontrollable, savage vampires.

Not for this.

Curling my fingers through the links the best that I did, I pulled as hard as I possibly could.

Nothing, not even a strain or a bend.

I tried again, yielding the same result.

What the hell were these things made of?

Were they also built to restrain royals?

My chest ached, hoping that since Nico had more royal blood than I did, that he'd be able to do it once he woke up.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, a harsh gasp cut through the air like he had just risen from the dead, and his serpent-like eyes shot wide open.