Page 50 of Bound By Blood

“I’m sorry,” her mother murmured. “So sorry.” And then she, too, turned away.

Tears ran down Kaitlyn’s cheeks as one by one, her aunts and uncles disowned her for loving Zack.

Zack, who stood at the far end of the tunnel, his dark gray eyes filled with pain and sorrow.

All she had to do was deny her love for him and she could go back to her own people. They would forgive her. They would welcome her with open arms.

She paused, torn by conflicting emotions. She loved her parents, but she was a grown woman now. She had a right to love anyone she wished. Didn’t she?

“Katy. Katy, come to me.” Zack’s voice, filled with grief.

How could she deny him?

“Katy … Katy.” The agony in his voice tore at her heart.

He needed her.

How was she to decide between her parents and the man she loved? It wasn’t fair. But Zack needed her. She could hear it in his voice.

“Ka-ty …” His voice, weaker now, threaded with pain. “Katy!”

She bolted upright in bed, the sound of his voice ringing in her ears. Zack, where are you?” She glanced around the room. She hadn’t imagined his voice, or the underlying agony.

Throwing back the covers, she hurried out of her bedroom and into the hallway. She paused there, listening. And then she heard it again, Zack’s voice, echoing in the back of her mind. He was in pain. He needed her.

She glanced up and down the hallway, then shook her head. He couldn’t be here.

Katy.

She turned toward the sound of his voice, followed it down the corridor to the small door that led up to the ballroom, then stopped. This was ridiculous. What would he be doing in the ballroom, of all places?

She opened the door and peered into the darkness, her feet climbing the stairs seemingly of their own volition. Up, up, up, until she came to the ballroom.

She tiptoed inside, and looked around, then moved toward the windows on the far wall. She had never been up here this early in the morning. The scene before her was breathtaking. A few scattered clouds hung low, drifting puffs of white against the lightening sky. The rising sun painted broad strokes of ochre and crimson across the horizon and splashed the clouds with glowing shades of pink.

Katy.

She turned away from the window as his voice sounded in her mind once again. “Where are you?” she cried in exasperation.

This was the highest room in the Fortress. If he wasn’t here … Turning on her heel, she ran out of the ballroom and hurried up the short flight of stairs that ended on a small landing. She had never been in the room beyond. Her father had warned her to keep out, saying that the tower was in ruins, the walls crumbling, the floor unsafe.

She stared at the squat door. There was no latch. Placing her hand on the wood, she pushed, but nothing happened.

“Zack?” She pressed her ear to the door. “Are you in there?”

“Katy.” Her name was a sigh on his lips.

A well-placed kick broke the barrier between them. Scrambling over the broken bits of wood, she stared at Zack, momentarily too stunned by what she saw to speak.

With a groan, he shifted his weight. The sound spurred her to action and she hurried toward him. “Are you all right?” She dropped down on her knees beside him.

It had been a foolish question. His neck was raw and blistered from the thick silver chain around it. His ankles, too.

“Who did this to you?” she demanded.

“Your father.”

Kaitlyn shook her head, unwilling to believe that her father, the man she had idolized all her life, was capable of such wanton cruelty. “Why? Why would he do this?”

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