"Lily, what are you doin?" Odessa's voice was calm and curious. But Lily was scared, scared of the man in the coach now approaching the house. She had seen that coach before, when Madame Cresentia forgot to make her monthly payments to the bank to pay off her debt. When that coach stopped in front of the house she turned to Odessa.
"I think something bad is about to happen, Essa." Because behind the coach there was a prison wagon, and nothing good had ever come from one of those.
Madame was talking to the men in the carriage and Lily was watching from the window but when madame came back inside, when she came up the stairs and stood in the bedroom doorway she saw the pity and sadness on her face.
"Come here Lily." Odessa stood up, her eyes narrowing at the madame. Lily was trembling the iron brand on her back feeling bare to the world.
"Madam, what are you doin'?" Odessa took a step towards the Madame and Finley walked over ready for a fight.
"Come here Lily." Madame said it, her voice breaking on Lily's name.
"Lily, don't go anywhere." Finley's voice was angry, but quiet, in a way that scared Lily, in a way she had never heard before.
"Finley, stay out of this." Madame warned but Finley held her ground.the stairs creaked and guards came up with shackles in hand. Violetta was cowering in Niobe's arms on the last bed. Gwenyth was glancing from Lily to Niobe pointedly but Niobe seemed to give a slight shake of the head. Lily turned back to Finley to see the guards shove her roughly to the ground pushing past her with ease. Finley tried to grab their ankles, tried to trip them but Gwenyth pulled her close, keeping her from doing something stupid. Gwenyth gazed at her with sad eyes, but the sadness was different from the kind that the fae female always seemed to watch her with. Now the girl seemed not just to pity her, but regretful.
The guards were getting closer and someone, Niobe called, "Madame please, don't do this." Lily was shocked, she had never been close to Niobe, but she had been close to Violetta who now wept in Niobe's arms. Niobe wasn't the oldest, that was Gwenyth, Gwenyth was the oldest by far, her immortal body staying young for centuries, but Niobe was respected among the girls, respected by the madame too. If any of them could have convinced Crescentia it would be Niobe, and it made Lily's heart tremble that Niobe had tried, even if it was only for the sake of the girl she held in her arms.
But it seemed there was nothing to be done. So she watched, as the only family she'd ever really had in the past few years faded into the bustle of the city through the prison wagon bars.