Chapter 13 - LILITH’S DEBT
Adrian ran into the room with the box. He had promised the collector one of the twins in return for the Norman fortune. He still believed he could get it back.
Lilith came after him. She struck the box from his hands, and it split against the floor. Pages flew out. The collector appeared in the doorway, reaching for them.
William snatched up the pages before he could. He looked at the judge.
“Adrian has no right to speak for my children.”
“He can make an offer,” she said. “He cannot make them belong to him.”
Adrian lunged at William. Bella shoved a chair into his path. He fell hard, and Lilith pinned him to the floor.
The collector caught Lilith by the shoulder. She cried out, suddenly unable to move.
“He still holds your binding,” the judge told her.
Bella looked at the scattered pages. Lilith’s name was written across one of them.
“For a thousand years,” Lilith said through clenched teeth, “I had to come when the Norman heir called. I had to watch him make the same choice.”
William knelt beside her. “I never knew you couldn’t leave.”
“I did leave, when I could. I always came back.”
“Why?”
Lilith looked at Bella, then away. “Because this time I thought you might get them out.”
William picked up Lilith’s page. The collector warned him to put it down. William tore it in half.
The collector staggered. Lilith pulled free and drove him away from the doorway.
The judge watched the torn paper settle. “William has given up a right his family held under the contract. The binding on Lilith is ended.”
Lilith stared at William, stunned.
May you like
Then Bella felt a sudden, fierce pain and grabbed the table. The judge glanced at the open door.
“You have little time,” she said. “Choose what becomes of the Norman debt.”
