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Alice struggled to fall into sleep as she tossed and turned. She could feel the heavy presence of evil like a black-out curtain over the house and not for the first time she was plagued with guilt over what she had done in those caves. She hadn't had a choice and they would have forced her either way, she told herself. But she knew she could have refused again and again and again until the torture killed her. But she was scared. She trailed her fingers lightly over her fluttering tattoo, remembering the sound of her own screaming reverberating off the stone walls of Serpine's castle as she was mutilated and turned a freak. A freak even her own mother was terrified of and disgusted by.
Even then, even if she hadn't let herself succumb to the terror of being tortured, Hansard would have found a way to make her do what she'd been told. By torturing the people she loved that were held prison down in those dungeons and making her watch until she relented. And though she knew each and every one of them would willingly give up their lives to stop the Unnamed from rising again, she couldn't bear losing them. They would die either way in the end. Whether she helped Hansard or not. In torture or at the execution. She supposed the hope that if she did what she was told she could still be trusted enough to have a chance to save them was what drove her to what she had done.
Alice's brows furrowed in surprise as even Skulduggery – Skulduggery who did not need to breathe air – fell into unconsciousness.
"You are too soft, this is why father should have left me in charge, not you!" Myra hissed and grabbed at Hansard's arm, her sharp nails digging in there too.
"Should you have been born with magic like me he surely would have chosen you. But you were born barren of powers, a disgrace upon the sacred family name. You are his greatest disappointment." Hansard looked to her calmly and anger and hatred like hell was unleashed across her otherwise pretty features. She looked unhinged, but her brother was unfazed by it as he glanced over his shoulder to the rest of his army. "Take them alive and unharmed. Shackle them so their powers are dormant and bring them with us to the dragons. They will be taken to jail as soon as we reach base and will be prepared for a live execution when we march to the gates of Roarhaven."
"Sir, what of the girls? They are traitors, should they be treated the same?" a man called out.
"No, the girls are our guests. Escort Viviana Vixen with immense care to her chambers." He ordered and held to his hand to Alice as if to help her up. "Alice, you will have the honour of remaining by my side until we get you back home."
A sorcerer came and hauled her to her feet when she refused to take Hansard's hand and cold metal was slapped around her wrists. She felt the reassuring strength of her magic dampen and scowled at him.
"Just as a precaution, of course, until we are sure we can trust you again." Kray smiled.
"I had no idea you could take them alive or get past their defenses at all. Allowing them to stay there would have kept us at an impasse with us not being able to get through to the Unnamed because they could not leave and them not being able to complete the objective of their mission without me. We wouldn't have been able to get through at all. The only option I saw was to get them to leave under false pretenses of escape." She spat.
