Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Fifty Eight: Royalty, Loyalty.

The ultimate sacrifice, the sound of Rhea Lee's heels echoed in the hallway as she made her way to the room where she had left her captive, the sole bonding of the bloodlines.

A feat enough to shake the world.

"Tell me," the door to the interrogation room slid open and she glared at the grinning man who hung in the center of the room bound by chains, "what do you know about Mordecai Roya and my father? What do they have to do with Paradise?"

The man stayed silent, though the markings on his cheeks twitched ever so slightly.

"What does he want with Paradise? Why did he let the capital fall and now orders his son to save it?" A burst of questions escaped her lips, fueled by the frustration of not being able to protect Corey and Dawn despite all the powers bestowed to her.

She could sense that something foul was at play. Rhea Lee had not lied to her sister, she was on her side. Even if she had to oppose her father's will, the doctor was still going to try her best to keep the promise she had made to her stepmother.

Yet, Aleron Aldrin said not a word. Not even a whisper breached her thoughts. She didn't expect getting the answers she wanted would be easy but she didn't have the time.

Fine, the doctor squared her soldiers and turned on her heels, I'll find another way.

But with each step she took, she doubted it. The threat of two lives hung over her head. It was a connection that stretched past doctor and patient. She had grown to care for both Corey and Dawn in a way her father would not permit.

If they were to both die then she would gladly join them. After living for over half a century, most of life had lost it's appeal.

"Wait. I'll answer," Aleron Aldrin shrugged and motioned to the chains that had him suspended from the ceiling when Rhea Lee shot him a suspicious look. "For a price, love."

"You can free yourself." She paused at the door, her hand hovering over the keypad, her finger grazing the button that would seal all exits in the building if she were to be attacked.

"Yes, but it'll feel so much better if you did it for more me."

Rhea Lee waited for disgust to run through her limbs, to make her shudder with reluctance at the thought of what giving into the man's demands would mean, even if it was for answers she so desperately needed. She waited for the nausea, the feeling that always followed when her father ordered her please the men he sought to control.

With each step she took forward, she waited, until she was right in front of him and could feel the heat of his breath against her skin. And yet, in truth she felt nothing. Nothing but his warmth.

Aldrin didn't move and neither did she, not until her wrist brushed against the shackle on his right hand and her chip deactivated the lock.

"Thank you," he started, but she was already unlocking his other limbs and before he could fully stand Rhea Lee was metres away.

"Start talking." The doctor narrowed her eyes at Aleron Aldrin as he stumbled forward, unused to being on his feet after being off them for so long. "And stay where you are."

"I'm not going to hurt you." The man's expression softened, the parallel scars on his cheeks twitching down towards his jaw.

Damn. Rhea Lee cursed in her mind. He had gotten into her head and she hadn't even noticed.

"Rhea Lee," he said her name so softly that she could barely hear him. "You can't convince me to betray my kingdom when you're so far away."

He almost sounded hurt.