Page 140 of The Shuddering City

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“You already know that I’m prepared to sacrifice children. If you don’t come with me right now—”

He did something—maybe he squeezed Aussen in his arms to prove the power in his hands—and the little girl wailed in terror. Loud enough to rouse the guards? Did Madeleine even want the guards involved? Would he really hurt Aussen?

You already know I’m prepared to sacrifice children.

“All right,” she said hastily, slipping out the gate. “I’ll come with you. Put Aussen down. Leave her here.”

He was already at his car, slinging Aussen into the cramped back seat and securing her hands with something. A scrap of rope. A belt, maybe. Madeleine followed helplessly. “I can’t leave her anywhere until I’m sure of you,” he said.

There was a shout behind him and they both jerked around to see guards pouring out of the house, the captain in the lead. “Stop them,” Tivol hissed, his hands suddenly around Aussen’s throat. “Or her life is forfeit.”

She waved her arms wildly at the guards. “Stay back! Stay back!Or he’ll hurt her!”

The guards came to a messy halt, looking furious and uncertain. “Dona! Where are you going?” the captain shouted.

“Don’t answer. Get in the car,” Tivol ordered. He still had his fingers wrapped around Aussen’s neck.

Madeleine just gestured at the guards again and climbed in. “Let go of her,” she said coldly.

Tivol cast a last glance at the soldiers, vaulted into the gridcar, and sent it spinning around the drive and out onto the road. She clutched the side of the door to keep herself from pitching out the open window as they careened too fast down the deserted gridway. She was surprised when he headed north.

“You’re taking me to yourmother’shouse?” she said, trying to infuse her voice with scornful amusement. “I suppose an abduction would be just the sort of thing to meet with Heloise’s approval.”

He shook his head. “No, no. She wouldn’t—well, maybe she would, but that’s not where we’re going.”

“Your rooms are the other way.”

He glanced at her and then looked away. And that was the moment—above all the other moments, when she realized how long he had lied to her, when she realized what he was capable of—that she understood that she had never known Tivol at all. “There’s another place,” he said.

Madeleine felt a stab of despair. She knew the guards would rally—knew that Reese and Jayla would return soon—knew that they would make a plan and come rescue her before nightfall. But they would be looking for her in Tivol’s rented rooms or his mother’s cold and elegant mansion.

But if he was taking her to some sequestered hiding space, no one would know where to find her.

“What are you planning to do with me?” she said, raising her voice so he could hear her over the rattle of the road, but hoping it was too noisy for Aussen to catch her words.

He shook his head. He was going so fast that he had to keep all his attention on the route. Twice they passed vehicles in the southbound lane that had been twisted sideways because of the quake. Once Madeleine heard an entire building collapse behind them, seconds after they rushed by. But their own passageway was damnably clear.

“I told you. I didn’t plan this. But—I mean—there’s only one thing to do.” He risked a swift look in her direction, then returned his eyes to the road. “You have to marry me, and we have to produce a child instantly.”

“As convenient as that would be for you and Harlo,” she said icily, “there is nothinginstantabout bearing a baby.”

“No. But I mean—we have to instantly start trying.”

“I’m not going to marry you.”

“Maybe not. But you’ll still have my child.” He glanced at her. “I don’t want it to be this way, Madeleine. All I have ever wanted was to cherish you and protect you. But you have made everything impossible.”

Would he really do it? Take her to some secret hideaway and rape her, the whole time believing himself a hero? In his own way, that made him as much of a fanatic as Benito. Made him just as cruel.

She turned awkwardly in her seat and stretched her arm out, trying to reach Aussen. She could just barely lay her hand on the child’s ankle. The little girl was curled up on the back bench, her hands tied to a railing, her eyes streaming with tears. “I’m so sorry, love,” she said, trying to make her voice soothing even though she had to shout. “Don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right. Don’t be afraid.”

Nothing would be all right. There was every reason to be terrified.It was clear Aussen didn’t believe her anyway, because she just gulped down a sob and didn’t say a word.

Their mad flight continued for another thirty minutes, maybe longer. They had soon left Council Row behind, and now they were traveling along the elevated road that ran along the base of the mountain. She thought they had passed the cross street that would take them to the Quatrefoil and were headed farther east, toward the more unsavory parts of town.

The sporty gridcar was constantly striking debris and jouncing over cracks in the road, but miraculously, their way remained open. It was enough to make Madeleine think Cordelan was smoothing their way, signaling his approval of this terrible turn of events. Madeleine had never been particularly devout, but she’d always had a casual respect for an abstract divinity. Now he seemed real, and malevolent, and she hated him.

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