The girl was so small, so young, but she nodded.
Fear and uncertainty mixed in Finn’s eyes, but he nodded as well. Then he whispered, “How is Venn going to find us?”
“I don’t know.” But Vera knew he’d tear this camp apart looking for them.
Fates, he could get himself killed. He had no idea how dangerous this place was.
Should she tell the guards the truth? That she wasn’t Vera Holm, but one of Princess Serene’s maids? That might save her, but it would separate her from the children. And she refused to do that. She would keep quiet—at least until she had no other choice.
“I’m scared,” Finn admitted.
“Me too,” Sarah said, thumb in her mouth.
Vera knelt before them, bringing them both in for an embrace. “It’s going to be all right.”
She hoped that was true.
They were alone for the better part of an hour before the guards returned. “Let’s see the boy first,” the one said. “Come here, boy.”
Finn trembled, and Vera tightened her hold on him. “You’re not taking him anywhere.” The guard stepped into the room, and Vera’s fingers dug into Finn’s arm.
The guard glared at her. “It’s the boy or the girl. You choose.”
“No. Take me instead.”
“No,” the guard said.
“We want to leave his wife for the end,” the other guard explained. “Just in case Holm decides he has enough children to spare a couple.”
The other guard laughed, and Vera’s stomach pitched.
Finn stiffened. “I’ll go.” He looked to Vera. “It’s all right.”
Nothing about this was all right. Vera glared at the guards. “You can at least let us stay together.”
Movement in the hall drew her eye to the Keeper, who looked in on them with impatience. “What’s taking so long?”
“They want to stay together.”
The Keeper rolled his eyes. “Fine, bring them all. It’s time to break Holm.”
Vera kept the children close, one under each arm and Rebecca in the sling, as she followed the guards out into the hallway. They followed the Keeper, and as they walked, Vera forced herself to ask, “This is the actual prison you use, isn’t it? The other is for show.”
“Oh, we use that one, too,” the Keeper said without looking back at her. “When we need to. But this is where the interrogations for the Hunt happen. When we need to transfer prisoners, we do it at night. No one questions us, and why would they? We keep them safe.”
They reached the end of the hall, and one of the guards held out an arm to keep Vera and the children back.
The Keeper shot them a quick smile. “Give me just a moment.” He slipped into a room, the door mostly closing behind him.
While Vera couldn’t see inside the room, she could hear the Keeper’s voice. “David, how are you today?”
There was a grunt, and the clinking of chains. Then a hoarse voice spoke. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Oh? How disappointing. After I went to all the trouble to find an audience.”
There was a low, hard laugh—the slight wheeze in the sound was concerning. “You can torture as many men as you like in front of me, but that won’t make me tell you what I don’t know.”
“Ah, but your name was given up by several of the men we’ve questioned. I know you’re a key member of the rebellion, so there is no use in pretending. Tell me who recruited you, and give me the names of every rebel you know.”
