Page 149 of Claiming Pretty

The screech of stone against stone followed, reverberating through the air like a scream, the noise grating against my senses like nails on a chalkboard.

Ciaran stumbled forward through the doorway, his expression wild and desperate as one of two hooded guards jabbed a gun between his shoulder blades.

His eyes locked on mine for a fleeting, tortured moment before we both turned at the sound of footsteps coming from the stairs at the entrance.

A shadow emerged, pushing through the gloom, his hands raised in surrender.

My breath hitched when the light caught his face, his familiar expression taut with restrained fury.

Ty.

AVA

Ty’s face was stone, a mask of defiance even as a gun pressed into his back, forcing him forward as two more guards piled in after him.

My chest clenched at the sight of him—Ty,who was supposed to be our backup, our failsafe if anything went wrong.

And it had gone so, so wrong.

A wave of terror surged up my spine, freezing my limbs and threatening to drown me. The obvious truth became unavoidable with every passing second.

There was no cavalry storming in to save the day. We were alone—Ciaran, Ty, and me. Caught in the Sochai’s claws.

We had been outplayed.

The dean wasn’t the High Lord. Of course, he wasn’t. If Ciaran had truly been groomed by his father, he would have known that. We had tipped them off when Ciaran had made his request to join the Sochai to the dean.

This had been a trap from the start, and we had walked straight into it, blind.

“You bitch,” Ciaran snarled, his voice sharp with rage and betrayal, his glare locked on Ebony. “She’s your daughter.”

A guard stepped forward and slammed the butt of his rifle into Ciaran’s cheek.

The crack of bone echoed through the chamber like a gunshot, and my scream tore from my throat, raw and desperate.

“Don’t!” I cried, my voice breaking as Ciaran staggered but didn’t fall.

Blood streamed down his face, painting his skin with crimson streaks, but he still stared at Ebony, defiant and furious.

His chest heaved, and his eyes burned with a hatred that frightened me. Ciaran was going to get himself killed.

They were both going to get killed. And me? They’d make sure I wished I was dead before the end.

The sight of Ciaran’s blood snapped me out of my spiraling thoughts. I needed to act.

There was no fighting our way out of this, not with these guards, these guns. My only weapon was the part of Ebony I had once believed in—the part that had raised me, even if it was a lie.

“Please, Ebony…Ma.” The word tasted bitter, almost choking me as it left my mouth. “I know you don’t want to do this.”

Her gaze flickered, the faintest shadow of doubt crossing her face.

I latched on to it like a lifeline, even though my own words felt hollow.

The truth was, I didn’t know this woman. The mother I’d called just hours ago, the one I had told I loved for the first time, wasn’t here. She was gone—if she had ever existed at all.

“Just let us go,” I said breathlessly, my words spilling out faster than I could think them. My lungs burned as I forced myself to hold her gaze, to find the humanity I prayed was still there. “We’ll leave. We’ll go far away. The three of us. We’ll never set foot in Ireland again.”

I paused, gasping for air, my chest tight with fear. If I stopped, if I gave her a moment to consider, she might give the order.

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