Page 81 of Unleash Hades
The She-Bear quietly took her hand from her pocket, then held the girl’s wrist in hers, giving it a squeeze.
What the fuck was going on?
But her prison keepers were done with me and Bellamy, and they pushed him out of the seat so they could occupy it.
“Scram!” one of them said, with a horrid look in his eyes.
Bellamy stood, then with a theatric flip of his non-existent long hair he said, “How rude!”
He walked up, his face huffy in annoyance as we went back to our old seats, a little further back from the action.
I appreciated the seats he had chosen for us. We could see the octagon, but were in a place unobstructed by other audience members. We had a view of everything around us, and Bellamy’s eyes were constantly scanning…
I had thought he was looking at outfits, but a small kernel of doubt was building in the back of my mind. A strange, and sinister thought that I knew to be impossible… but…
“Darling,” Richard’s voice sent unpleasant goosebumps up my arm. It showered across my chest, and I dreaded every moment of it. “How wonderful to see you.”
I wondered what he did with his mistresses in times like this. He was certainly bringing her along, whoever she was. He always had a ‘pet’ that he kept wherever he stayed. That’s what Adelia had called herself. The maid who was dragged around as he traveled, staying in his hotel room as he went about his business.
I felt sorry for whoever it was, and hoped that whatever he paid them was worth it… even though I knew that wasn’t true.
It was just another lie that I comforted myself with.
“Yoohoo! Richard!” Bellamy loudly called, waving frantically, even though the only distance between the two of them was taken up by my shoulders. “It’s me! Lucien!”
“Yes,” Richard said through gritted teeth. “I can see.”
Richard eyed Bellamy from head to toe, and I held back a smile. The sheer disapproval and malice in his eyes were downright comical, as his intended target simply did not give a fuck about what he thought.
“You almost blended right into the crowd with that black ensemble,” Bellamy said, looking my husband up and down. “You must let me dress you someday. I think a bit of green. What about a nice russet hat? Oh, but then we’d have to change your tie, and re-tailor that suit so you’re not walking around in the shape of a coffin.” Bellamy put his finger to his chin and shook his head. “Oh, no-no-no! We’d have to redo the whole thing. Far too much work. Never mind.”
For the first time, I wondered if all the flamboyance was something intentionally done out of spite.
It certainly enraged the hell out of Richard.
“I had forgotten you were taking the boys to Leeds,” Richard said, turning his eyes away from the orange creamsicle beside me. “That was marvelously convenient, I think.”
He lowered his voice, leaning in to speak directly into the shell of my ear.
“If you want to see the boys again, you will get up, and come with me. Right now.”
My eyes widened, and I turned to my husband who wore a saccharine but wolfish smile.
“Don’t look shocked, my love,” he crooned, as goosebumps peppered my arms. The world was turning white. The lights were too bright, and I couldn’t breathe. “Pretend I'm telling you sweet nothings, and smile.”
“What have you done?” I tried to keep my breaths even.
“Darling…” He ran a finger from my brow, down my temple, and the side of my cheek. He pinched my chin in his hand. “Check mate, my Eleanor of Aquitaine.”
Henry II kept his wife imprisoned until his death. That was my fate as well.
Dread slammed down around me like the gates of a cell. The worst was yet to come.
Richard brought up his phone, and showed me a picture of our boys, their hands bound in front of them. I couldn't make out the background. There were no clues as to where they were. But Romulus was terrified, and Remus was stone-faced… It looked real. Even if it wasn’t, would I risk being wrong?
“What are we looking at?” Bellamy said, almost throwing himself onto Richard’s lap in his attempt to see the phone screen.
Richard clicked it shut, placing it back in his pocket.
