Page 25 of Solar Shadows

No shit!

“Sorry,” I threw in, wiping my eyes.

“Don’t be,” he answered. “You cry all you want.I’m here to listen, to sit, to do whatever it takes to make you feel better.”

He had enough to contend with. After what happened with Rhianna, he was helping Drake work through his pain. The scrying witch was the father of the child sacrificed to summon Preston. Poor guy. What a grim situation.

I took some deep breaths to calm myself down.

He rubbed my back.

“Thanks, honey,” I said. “I’m just all up in my feels.”

“Understandable. A lot has happened. Just don’t suffer in silence.”

“You’re too cute.” I reached up to touch the silver streak in his raven-black hair. Really, I should let it all out and talk it through with him.

Maybe after a coffee.

“How does a hot drink and a cookie sound?” I asked. “Followed by a sing-song, of course.”

He smiled, giving a nod of approval. “Sounds fabulous.”

We got up and headed toward the kitchen.

The mansion’s warning alarms wailed, making us both jump at the same time.

“What the fuck?” I roared.

Drake hurried over, the others following him. “There are crystal shades at the gates!”

Chapter 6

OLLIE

Holding my tongue wasn’t easy.

In an ideal world, I’d shove Stefan into a room and put him under scrutiny. Give him a taste of his own inquisitor medicine. I mean, he shouldn’t get to saunter around this building freely as if nothing happened. He could’ve got the Aurora brothers killed, or even corrupted them to join the other side.

What the hell was wrong with him? We already walked a deadly tightrope, Riley and Isaac skirting a lot of dark edges with the powerful blood in their veins. And then Stefan decides to play with fire? What a dickhead.

But I kept quiet, being a good agent, knowing my place. Clearly, the coven elders were fine with him staying in his post, so who was I to say anything? My opinion was a squeak against the boom of a ship’s horn.

Stefan didn’t take us to Meeting Room Five, but back down past the barracks levels, deep into the earth where the cells were.

Great.

I shuddered, the air chillier down here. The blue-and-white décor of the HQ building gave way to gray walls and black granite floors. Strip lights blazed in the ceiling, the black cell doors closed and soundproof. You never heard anything down here unless a guard opened one of the slot windows or something.

The silence was too thick, a blanket hiding the suffering of the prisoners behind the doors. I’d rather hear their screams than hear nothing at all.

Man, to be down here, hidden away, silenced… It didn’t bear thinking about. And I knew these prisoners deserved it, but I couldn’t help but harbor a bit of sympathy for them.

We walked along corridor after corridor in our own silence, the guards lining each one bowing to Stefan. Ten minutes must have gone by before we reached the execution chambers.

What the hell? Why were we here?

Execution chambers were circular rooms built into larger dome-shaped caverns dotted around the lower levels of the HQ. A network of metal stairs and pathways connected to the chamber or branched off to various control rooms higher up in the space. There were white pipes and fans whirring to takeaway the fumes from whenever an execution took place, humming away and ready.