“We did not kidnap her,” I repeat, feeling an instinctive force driving me forward. I’ve never been the smartest man, but I’ve always trusted my instincts.
If we plead guilty to this crime, we’re facing three-hundred-years, minimum. That’s too long. We’ll lose our Fated Mate if we’re imprisoned for that long – and even if she stays loyal to us, without feeling our auras for three centuries, it’ll be too much beautiful time that we’ll have wasted without her.
Lieutenant Taggar’s face flickers. Then, he sets his slate-grey eyes on me; now so differently colored than mine.
“Natali Carani is not in attendance at this trial,” the Lieutenant nods, “and for one reason – that she may subtly indicate a way for you to be absolved of guilt. So, tell me this, then: If you don’t admit to kidnapping, but your own triad’s leader admitted you three stole her from her bedroom, then what did exactly happen?”
Brennan looks at me with a blank stare – but inside, he’s filled with disbelief.
Lazar’s guilt changes – suddenly, he’s confused. He doesn’t feel betrayed any longer – but he doesn’t understand what’s happening, either.
I don’t know if it’s me speaking, or some deep, animal instinct telling me what to say. All I know is there’s only one way this could have been something other than a kidnapping.
If she’s asked us to do it.
You’ve set me free.
Four words. She mouthed them to us, in that broken-down building. Lazar said she repeated them to him. Those words meant something to her. Something deep. Something real.
I wish we hadn’t have had to keep her there. She deserves a palace, not a prison. She deserved better than a run-down, industrial hideaway.
But it wouldn’t have mattered where we were. All that mattered were the words. She gave me the best memories of my life beneath that abandoned factory.
Not only that – but she’d mouthed those words to us – and I’d felt that I’d achieved my life’s purpose in hearing them.
My triad is looking at me with wonder. I explain.
“When we saw her, she mouthed three words to us: Set me free. Set me free, she mouthed, begging for us to help her. We came back that night, and we took her from her home. She didn’t want her father to know that she’d asked to be freed, so she kicked, and screamed, and acted…”
I take a deep breath.
“But this was not a kidnapping. This was a rescue.”
I’ve never strung so many words together all at once before. They feel like they’re coming from a higher place. It feels like Natali herself planted the seeds of this idea deep in my mind.
The crowd buzzes with energy. Then, Lieutenant Taggar motions, and a new video plays on the holo-projector.
It’s Natali, in a Reaver, speaking with the Lieutenant himself.
“You can’t convict them! They didn’t do anything wrong!”
“They took you from your home,” the recording of the Lieutenant speaks. “The story is spreading. Government agents capturing a human woman? The fact that you are their Fated Mate only makes it worse. Every man is worried about the women in his life – and the way an Aurelian could lose control at any moment makes them scared of us. The actions of Brennan, Lazar, and Otho make Aurelians look like base beasts. They must be punished. I understand that it’s painful for you, but it’s what has to happen.”
Natali swallows. “They didn’t kidnap me.”
“We have video footage that they took you from your home. Do you deny that?”
She looks down, embarrassed – or, is she merely acting that way?
“I… I’m never allowed outside my home. Those walls are like a prison for me. When I saw those three Aurelians…” Her face lifts, staring into the camera. “Well, I asked them to take me. I asked them to help me.”
“Bullshit.”
I tense as the Lieutenant hones in on her. Will she convince him? Will our testimonies match?
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier!” In the video, Taggar is clearly in disbelief – but I can hear the suspicion in his voice. He wants to believe her. He wants to believe that we acted with her consent. He wants to believe that a Fated Mate and her triad can be together, if only for the future of the Aurelian Empire.
“I… I didn’t want my father to know.”
“I don’t believe you,” Taggar repeats – but this time, with less conviction. “What could you possibly have said to them that made them think they could steal you from your own home?”
In the holo-vid, Natali shifts uncomfortably. “I couldn’t say anything. They were in a meeting with my father. All I could do was mouth three words to them.”
Lieutenant Taggar grunts. He’s frustrated.
“When I bring them into court, will they be able to tell me what you mouthed? Out with it, then.”
Natali pauses. I can see the stress in her face. She was giving me one way out – just one breadcrumb to find her.
“I told them three words. Set me free.”
There’s a hush in the courtroom.
“I didn’t expect them to be able to help me,” Natalie admits. “I didn’t truly believe they’d come to my home and take me away – but I had to try. You don’t know what it’s like, growing up behind walls – never being allowed to leave without an army of Sentinels surrounding me. I grew up barely talking to another person. The Aurelians? They wanted to help me.”
Set me free.
Hope surges up inside of me. Somehow, someway, I felt the right thing to say – even without the power of the Bond to help me.
Maybe I knew Natali better than any of the others in my triad. Or, maybe, some higher power guided my path. It was the only way out. It was a chance as slim as the Bond.
Mr. Carani’s cold grin is wiped instantly from his face. He stares slack-jawed at the holo-vid. The video ends, and Lieutenant Taggar waves his hand to
