it.
“How long have you known?” Maybe he could appeal to Jack’s goodie-goodie nature. It was his last gamble. His last chance to avoid being strung up again.
“Since last night.” Jack’s jaw twitched. “It doesn’t change anything.”
“He’s lied to you.”
“I won’t let anyone else suffer the same fate I did.” Jack glared at Simon. “I’ll do anything to stop it.”
“Even if it means hurting Cora?”
The Rigger looked away, pain flashing over his features. “Yeah. Even if it means hurting someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Soon, they were inside a place he had wished never to see again. The smell of the wood beams and dust hit some kind of switch inside his mind. The memory of hanging from the rafters for five years rushed him, and he yanked back against Jack as he was dragged forward. “No—Not again. No!”
A hard punch to his temple sent him staggering and falling to the ground. His hands were still in the abominable lockbox that kept his strings out of his control. But it didn’t matter anymore. No one had power inside the tower. No one save Ringmaster.
The door slammed shut behind him, and he felt his heart drop with the resounding boom. Another punch to the temple, and he was reeling on the floor, his vision spinning. He heard a large, heavy chain rattling. Which was strange, seeing as he never remembered there being chains involved in this whole ordeal.
Then a thought hit him.
If they’re going to hang me…where are they going to put Cora?
He lifted his head and watched as Turk yanked the metal links up and over the railing. He couldn’t see where it went, as it disappeared down into the darkness of the pit in the center of the tower.
Simon had never asked what lay at the bottom of the stairs that traveled down into the darkness. When Turk had dragged him here the last time, he had been too busy screaming his hatred at the Ringmaster. When he had been dragged out, he had barely been lucid enough to remember it happening.
Pulling a few more feet of chain from the pit, Ringmaster pinned it under his foot. At the end of it was a pair of shackles. Ringmaster put them around Cora’s wrists and clamped them shut. It was only then that he pulled the gag from her mouth.
“Please, Ringmaster—I—” Cora was shivering in fear. She pulled in a deep breath, shook her head, and squared her shoulders. Bless her heart, she was trying to be brave. She looked up at the taller man and stood her ground. “You’re going to leave us here until it’s all over, aren’t you?”
Turk’s deep voice was final and firm. “I am.”
Cora’s breathing was fast and shallow as she struggled against her fear. But she was keeping it at bay. “If you won’t let me explain to the Family what I’ve done and why I’m here…then you need to be the one to do it. They deserve to know. You’ve won. So tell them all the truth. Tell them all they only have a year or two left to live. Maybe they’ll side with you. Maybe they won’t. It won’t matter either way.”
And you thought you were a coward. Simon smirked. Good girl.
Turk’s expression softened, if barely. He reached out and put his heavy hand on her shoulder. “I will, Cora…that much I can do. You know they cannot free you, even if they torture me.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “It isn’t about that. It’s wrong to lie to them.”
Ringmaster nodded. “I’ve kept them in the dark for too long. I’ll do as you ask.”
“Can I…” She looked over at Simon. “Can I please say goodbye?”
Simon’s heart cinched in his chest. He looked down at his hands, still trapped in the metal box. “Jack, free my hands. Let me hold her before I’m strung up for the rest of my miserable life.”
The Rigger glanced to Turk, who merely nodded. Amanda was standing by the wall, her cheeks wet with tears. But she did nothing to help or hinder the scene in any way. Jack leaned down and, after fishing a key from his pocket, unlocked the shackles that kept his hands trapped in the metal box. He wanted to punch Jack in his perfect face. But what was the point? He couldn’t win in a brawl versus Ringmaster and Jack without the help of his power.
It didn’t stop him from wanting to bloody Jack’s lip. But it wouldn’t do anything but deny him the