Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,66

up carefully.

“Any bright ideas?” Griffin whispered to Ellie.

Suddenly a wave of power, almost like a jolt of electricity, pulsed through the entire castle. Griffin and Ellie were knocked to the ground. When they looked up, the giant was gone, and Griffin could hear Lila calling him.

“Selene’s hurt. Come quick.”

Griffin and Ellie jumped to their feet. They’d started to move toward the door again when a small sound caught his attention. Ellie must’ve heard it too, because she stopped and turned.

“I think someone’s down here,” she whispered.

They hurried as quickly as they could, searching each cell. Griffin’s focus stayed with Selene the entire time. Finally, they opened a door and found a woman huddled in a corner, filthy and shivering from cold.

Griffin gently picked her up in his arms. “Charlotte, we need you,” he called.

“Just a second. I’m getting Hugh to Selene,” she replied.

A few seconds later, Charlotte silently appeared beside them in the cell.

“Where to?”

“Get us to Hugh. I think this woman needs help,” Ellie directed.

With a nod, Charlotte placed her hands on them, and then they were standing in the middle of the Council’s chambers. Griffin could see Hugh bent over someone on the floor. The second he realized who it was, Griffin passed the woman he was holding off to Alex. Then he was kneeling beside Selene before he’d even made the conscious decision to move.

“What happened? Is she all right?” Alex asked.

“Maddox stabbed her,” a distraught Lila told him.

“It’s all right.” Hugh’s calm authority kept Griffin from becoming unhinged. “Nothing I can’t handle. Just give me a few minutes.”

The room remained shrouded in a tense silence as everyone watched Hugh work. After ten miserable minutes, Selene opened her eyes. With a little help, she sat up.

Selene rubbed at where the knife had slid into her stomach. She grinned at Hugh. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

Selene looked around the room. “Have they gone?”

Hugh nodded. “Vanished.”

She said nothing… only held out a hand to be helped to her feet. “Desmond is against the wall over there. Please help him,” she said to Hugh.

“Do we know how many we lost? Who’s hurt?”

“Still tallying,” Alex said.

Selene frowned and then glanced over at where Hugh was still working on Desmond. “Hugh, please do what you can for the injured. Ellie can you—?”

Ellie nodded. “I can help him move through everyone more quickly.”

“Who’s this?” Selene moved to the injured woman Griffin had carried in earlier. Selene crouched down beside her and took her wrist to feel for her pulse.

“We found her in the dungeons,” Ellie explained. “Do you know her?”

Selene shook her head. “No.”

“I do.” Dexter had just arrived with Charlotte. By the sound of his voice, something had severely shaken him. Selene looked over her shoulder to see that he was as white as a sheet.

“Who is she?”

Dexter sank down on the floor beside them.

“My mother.”

Chapter 42

Selene sat on her throne – her back straight, her hands draped elegantly along the arms of the chair. Her father had once received dignitaries from other tribes in this room. Now it was her turn. Although where the doors had previously been, now there was a giant gaping hole from the day’s attacks.

Before her stood Marcus, Stephen, and James. Surrounding them throughout the chamber were the rest of the Louisiana tribe, Griffin and his entire family, the Vyusher High Council, and many other Vyusher who had fought that day.

Marcus swept Selene an old-fashioned bow. “Having witnessed your past, we are now in agreement that those who were truly responsible for the attacks against us have paid with their lives and are gone. Having fought side-by-side with you against Maddox and his assailants, we hope we’ve proven our trustworthiness. We will withdraw, of course. But first we would prefer to negotiate a treaty of peace between our tribes.”

Lucy says their intentions are true, Griffin’s voice sounded in her head. She glanced at where he stood and gave him a tiny nod. She turned her attention back to Marcus.

“Thank you,” Selene accepted simply. “Peace is what we wish for as well. I couldn’t ask you to join us as allies, but would you consider speaking on our behalf should other tribes attack?”

“My Lady,” Xavier interrupted, but stopped when she held up an imperious hand.

Marcus nodded. “Of course. It’s the least we could do. However, I also believe that we are already in danger. I’m guessing that if Maddox doesn’t know that we helped you today, he’ll find out eventually. We would like to call on the Vyusher powers and numbers