“Am I your captor?” he asks. “Or are you mine?”
I pause with a forkful of food halfway to my mouth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Seems like you’re the one with all the power here.”
I laugh at that, but there’s no humor in it. “I’m quite literally locked in a room, completely at your mercy. If that’s power, I’d hate to see what powerlessness looks like.”
“You made Arayik—the strongest Anchor I’ve ever known—release his grip on you.” Elias leans forward, his speckled eyes intense. “I’d say that’s power.”
Ah, yes, the question I knew would be on all their minds: how does a woman have such abilities?
I bite into the meat, chewing slowly while my mindconsiders his words. The food is good—better than good. It tastes like something my mother might have made.
“Is that why you didn’t say anything after watching me free the prisoners?”
Both brows raise. “My point is that maybe we’re not as different as we thought.” Of course he won’t answer.
“We’re nothing alike.” The words are harsh and sharp, aided by my unavoidable rasp. “Youchosethis life. You hunt women and drag them to facilities where they’ll be raped and used like breeding stock. That will never be me.”
“Hm.” His voice is quiet, thoughtful.
He watches me eat, fingers drumming against his knee in an odd rhythm. When he finally speaks, his voice is careful and measured.
“Kellen and I would like to speak with you.”
“And our dear Commander?”
“Arayik wants you dead, but he’s outvoted for now.”
“How democratic of you.” I chew another bite, savoring the flavors. “What kind of talk are we having? The kind where you torture me to extract information, or the kind where you pretend to care about my motivations so I tell you what you want to know?”
“The kind where we try to understand what the hell we’re supposed to do now.”
Strange. He sounds almost torn, as if this is just as difficult for him as it is for me.
“You could always just kill me,” I suggest. “Solve all your problems at once.”Shut up, Cas.
His head tilts. “I’m starting to think killing you might create more problems than it solves.”
I finish the last of the vegetables and push the tray away. My stomach feels uncomfortably full after daysof minimal food, but the warmth spreading through me is worth the discomfort.
“When?” I ask.
“Now, if you’re up for it.”
I stand and stretch, working out the kinks from too many hours lying on an uncomfortable bed. My muscles protest, still sore from the mission and its aftermath. “Lead the way.”
Elias rises and moves toward the door, then pauses. “We’re not your enemies, you know.”
I bark out a laugh, hurting my throat as I clutch my now cramping stomach and grab my mask. “Spare me. I don’t need to be a Revealer to know that’s bullshit.” He doesn’t answer; why would he? There’s nothing he could say to counter it.
The corridor outside my room is empty, but my skin burns as if every eye in the world is tracking our movement, recording everything for posterity or evidence.
Elias leads me down a hall I haven’t seen before, past doors lacking names or markings. I follow like the good soldier I am, breathing steady as we stop before a random door. His finger against a scanner unlocks it, and he pulls on the handle, gesturing for me to enter first.
The room beyond is small and windowless, dominated by a metal table and three chairs. Kellen is seated at the far end, his mask resting on the shiny surface.
The hair along my arms raises, taking with it the last of my confidence.
