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Selena snorted. “I don’t even think about that anymore.”

Elijah walked in, wiping his hand over his mouth. His eyes were glowing a very bright blue, and Selena watched him curiously. “I’m going to try and get her out of there now,” he said to her.

She nodded and moved away from the cage. “Have you heard anything?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “No. Go sit on the bed; I’m not sure how this will break down.”

I did what he told me and watched while he walked back and forth, holding a palm toward the bars.

“Nothing’s happening,” Selena muttered. Elijah gave her side-eye and resumed walking. “I’m just saying, it doesn’t look like anything’s happening.”

She took a couple steps to the left, still monitoring his actions. He completely ignored her.

After a few moments, the crystal bars wavered and then they disintegrated into shiny, powdery piles on the floor. I hopped up off the bed and stopped right in front of the ring of baby powder-like material. It was at least two feet high and even taller where the supporting beams had been standing.

“Lukas will probably be mad at you. Again.” I glanced up at Elijah. “But thank you.”

Selena held her hand out, and I took it for support as I stepped over the pulverized material. “Yeah, he’ll probably try to kill him,” she said.

I glanced at Elijah. I wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t look concerned and said, “He might want to, but he had his chance before and didn’t take it. He’s a reasonable man.”

I laughed. “Don’t be so sure...”

He smirked. “None of us are known for being reasonable in matters of the heart but in this case, he would certainly try if anything happened to you. That’s why you’re not leaving this building until he comes back.”

His head tilted down, and glanced at me again, arching an eyebrow. “If I have to leave to chase after you and endanger Selena, there will be nothing for Lukas to come back to.” His expression was pleasant, unlike his words.

The message was clear—I may be out of my cell, but I was still trapped.

Selena gave me a tight-lipped smile. “I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry,” I insisted, stomping my feet to get some of the residue off that was on the bottom of my shoes.

“But I don’t want to do nothing, either. What can we do from here?” I asked, glancing at the two of them.

As soon as I asked the question, the light in the room flashed crimson. The lightning was back. My heart thumped in my chest, and my blood ran cold as beams of red light zigzagged through the air.

Outside the window, crimson streaks spread across the sky like shards of broken glass. There was a deep cracking sound and then a rumble shook the castle. A vase fell off the mantle and onto the floor, sending glass shards skittering along the stone and carpets.

Almost like an afterthought, Elijah waved a hand at the knickknack, and it reassembled itself while it floated through the air and back to its designated spot. Something like that would have sent me running from the room not all that long ago.

Now, instead, I was strategizing, trying to figure out how to keep my vampire lover from being killed by other supernatural beings. So far, I couldn’t come up with anything other than the instinct that, first of all, we needed to get out of this room.

“Elijah,” Selena glanced at him quickly.

He took hold of her upper arm and looked at me. “We need to go downstairs,” he said.

My paintings. Dust fell from the ceiling and I heard a noise that reminded of grinding stone. Then, it sounded like a pebble fell somewhere in the corner.

“I need my art,” I told them, glancing back and then swinging my head around. I wanted to take my painting of Lukas.

More noise sounded and then a rock big enough to cause serious bodily injury fell on to the floor by the window. “Cassia, come. Now.” Elijah’s voice was firm.

With another backward glance, I moved toward my new friends and left my heart behind. It didn’t matter that I was beyond pissed at him for building me a prison cell, I still wanted that picture.

Selena motioned to me with her hand and I hurried up. We made it out the door, down the hall, and had just started to descend the staircase when a resounding thump echoed around us.

“Was that...?” Selena glanced up at her husband. Elijah didn’t answer her, his attention was elsewhere.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a fluffy brown squirrel showed up and latched onto her leg. It climbed up her side, making squealing and chattering sounds. “Squirrel!” She exclaimed, repositioning it to her shoulder.