Aoife watched silently as Lexi stared at herself in the mirror blankly for a few seconds before reaching for the books and the knife and heading out of the bathroom.
As she followed behind her, she wanted to offer her something, words of comfort maybe, but there was nothing she could say that would make any of this better.
She paused in the doorway as her eyes ran over the array of weapons, devices and restraints that lined the walls and display stands around Eromaugs bedroom and she felt the bile rise in her throat.
Lexi glanced at everything in passing with an almost resigned look as she made her way to the small cabinet that sat at the side of the bed. She placed the books on the top, allowing her fingers to drag across the leathery material on the front before reaching for the drawer below and opening it, peering cautiously inside.
There wasn't anything of note in there, a quill, some paper, a letter opener, nothing that would indicate Eromaug would open it anytime soon at least. Very carefully, Lexi lifted a few pieces of the paper and slid the knife underneath out of sight, hoping that she would be able to retrieve it easily when the time was right.
She turned to Aoife with a forlorn smile and opened her mouth to say something to put her friend's mind at ease, but there was nothing that she could say to reassure her.
The subtle sound of the door to Eromaugs chambers opening reached them and Aoife turned quickly to see Eromaug saunter into the room with that arrogant swagger that she was so used to seeing.
"It seems you both are doing well in following orders." Eromaug drawled as he moved past Aoife into his bedroom, unclipping his cloak and flinging it carelessly atop one of the display stands.
Neither one of them answered as he continued removing the pieces of his clothing leisurely.
"Are you intending to stay and watch?" He smirked as his eyes lifted towards Aoife and she felt her face heat in a mixture of embarrassment and fury.
"It's okay Aoife," Lexi interjected with a forced smile, "I'm in good hands. He won't hurt me."
Eromaug laughed as a cruel smirk played at the edges of his mouth.
"You'll learn to enjoy it, Lexi, and if you don't?" He laughed coldly, "Then you'll learn to live with it."
Aoife saw Lexi swallow nervously, the only thing that betrayed the anxiety that swelled beneath the brave face that she wore like a mask, and it took everything in her to nod in acceptance and turn her back to them both and walk away.
As soon as the door closed behind her and she was in the corridor alone, the tears flowed freely as she began to race towards where Orynn and Bella would be waiting.
"Orynn? Can you hear me?" she probed in her mind, reaching for Orynn as she moved towards her destination, swearing under her breath that she wasn't able to run faster over the uneven surfaces of the corridor.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Orynn's voice answered her.
"Aoife? Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'll be there soon. Lexi is fully intending on going through with it so if we want to protect her from the consequences of her actions, then we need to move quickly."
"We'll move as quickly as we can Aoife, everything is set. Did Lexi manage to hide the blade though?"
"Yes, but there's something that's bothering me," Aoife replied as her throat and chest seemed to burn with the effort of running, "Eromaug left us for a while. He said he wanted to record Allen and Greyson's reactions when he…well, you know." she trailed off awkwardly.
Aoife was met with silence as Orynn pondered her words. His hesitation only fed the anxiety she felt in the pit of her stomach.
"This complicates things." He answered finally as her heart sank, "My mother thinks that perhaps Narcissa is in the cells, capturing the scene of their torment in her memories so that she can extract and store it."
Aoife cried out in frustration as she ran, knowing she only had a short way to go.
"Dammit Orynn, how are we supposed to free them now?"
"I have an idea," Orynn answered and she could almost hear the smirk in his voice, "But I will need you to be quick. How far away are you?"
"Almost there," Aoife panted, "Just coming up to the stairs that lead down to Bella."
"Wait there and catch your breath then," Orynn said quickly, "I'll be there in a second."
"What? But…"
"If I can distract Narcissa and pull her away from the cells, can you remove the bindings from Ximena and lend some of your magick to her?"
Aoife stopped running and propped herself up against the wall, panting hard.
"To recharge her magick?" she asked, mulling the thought over in her head, "I mean, I've never tried to do something like that."
"Don't worry, my mother says that Ximena will know what to do and guide you. She has skills that have been lost to time and Narcissa is terrified of her. If we can unbind Ximena and get her even a fraction of our magick, then she will have no issue putting an end to her."
Aoife looked up just in time to see Orynn appear at the top of the stairs, emitting a little trill of excitement at the sight of her. He hurried over and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry Aoife. We can make this work. It's a small change to the plans. That's all."
Aoife smiled up at him weakly.
"But how are you going to distract her Orynn? I don't want you getting hurt." she replied as a frown of concern settled on her face.
Orynn lifted his hand in front of her and almost instantly a bright ball of glowing green light appeared in his palm, illuminating his excited grin in an eerie light.
"Narcissa has no idea that I have the use of magick and once she's hit with this, her pride won't let her ignore it. She will leave her post just to try and seek her revenge for the insolence." Orynn chuckled.
Aoife felt as though she was going to vomit. The anxiety and nerves that twisted inside of her were almost painful.
"But Orynn…you could get hurt...I don't want that…" she began, but he shook his head fervently,.silencing her with a wave of his hand and extinguishing the ball of wild magick he had summoned.
"I have been hurt far worse in the past by Narcissa and this time, I have the best healer in existence as my friend." He smiled warmly as he reached for her hand, "Come, the longer we stay here, the longer Eromaug has to do unspeakable things to Lexi."
Together, they set off at a run towards the cells, fully aware of the danger that they were running into.