Swallowing the number one rule of interviewing criminals, I tell him about my encounter with Jacinta and Jupiter. His body stiffens with every word.
“Did he touch you?” Valdemar leans forwards, and I note the guard checking us out.
I shake my head. “No.” This is the first time I’ve seen Valdemar less than relaxed, and it not only accentuates the blue of his eyes but also the snarl to his lips.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“I think I would have remembered if he had.” I replay our meeting in my mind, focussing on Jupiter’s hands, where they were, whether they came anywhere near me, but I’m certain they didn’t.
“Even the slightest of touches, like he caught your hand or brushed up against your shoulder,” Valdemar pushes.
I hesitate.
Sensing my confusion over his overreaction, he says, “It’s important.”
“No, I’m sure he didn’t. But why does it matter?” I’m confused by this insistence about whether Jupiter touched me. What does it mean? Why is Valdemar so bothered by this?
He eases himself back into the chair. “If you’re sure he didn’t touch you, then there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Don’t give me that. Something is going on. What is it?” I ask.
Valdemar grins. “There she is.”
“Who?” I glance behind me.
“My reporter.”
Myreporter. Annoyance licks at my insides.
“You’re not being fair,” I tell him. “Am I in danger? What’s going on with Jupiter?”
“I’ll deal with Jupiter.” That phrase again, like he still has command of his flock from inside these walls.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I snap.
Valdemar pauses as if he’s considering his words carefully before he speaks. “Jupiter is looking after the Raven Hands.”
I wait, but he remains silent. “I’m sensing a ‘but.’”
Valdemar regards me. “But there’s been some unrest. The flock doesn’t respond to Jupiter as they do to me.”
This I can understand. When I’d met Jupiter, his stare had been hard, cold, nothing behind it but brutality. But with Valdemar, there’s a hypnotic quality, a lull to his voice, a strength to his stare that makes you want to sit on your hind legs and beg for him. I’ve seen the way the guards are with him, the way I continue to visit even though I want to kill him. He’s a charmer, a seducer, and no one is immune.
“Ten years is a long time. Is Jupiter trying to take over?” I guess.
“I’m the sworn leader, and while I breathe, there will be no other. You can’t just take over. Jupiter is well aware of that.” He says this as if Jupiter is in the room with us and Valdemar is reminding him of the fact.
“How do you become a leader?” I ask.
“There are two ways. One is to have the title bestowed by the previous leader. A ritual is performed and the reign handed over,” he explains.
“And the other?”
There’s a glint in his eyes, reminding me of what he is and why I’m here.
“The other is to kill the head Raven Hand and take the title for yourself.”
I swallow, knowing what path this line of questioning is going to take me down.
