“Sit. The. Fuck. Down.”
He shoves me. My knees hit the back of the chair and I go down hard.
Brennan fastens the chains around my wrists, pulling them tight, then he straightens. “Get what we need, then bring her to my quarters. She’s already been deflowered, so I might as well get what I’ve been waiting for. Then she goes to the cells until the king decides her punishment.”
Then he’s gone, and I’m alone with the mage, who circles me slowly, his robes whispering against the floor. When he speaks, his voice is gentle.
“This doesn’t have to be unpleasant, Princess. Simply tell me what I need to know, and we can avoid any … discomfort.”
“I won’t betray them.”
“Loyalty.” He stops in front of me, and uses one finger to tip my head up. “It’s an admirable quality, in its proper place. But your loyalty is misplaced, child. The fae are not worthy of it.”
“You don’t know them.”
“I know what they are.” He leans closer, bringing his face level with mine. “I know what they do. I’ve spent my life studying their kind, learning their tricks and manipulations. Whatever you think you feel for them, it isn’t real.”
“Itisreal. And I will not give them up to you.”
“Then I’m sorry.” He straightens. “Because this will hurt without your compliance.”
His hands come up and his fingers press against my temples. The cold comes again, but this time it doesn’t slide like oil, itstabs. It tears into my mind like claws, ripping through my thoughts and shredding everything in its path.
I scream.
The pain is blinding. I can feel him inside my head, searching. Faces flash past—Kaelith, Therin, Vel. I try to hide them and push them down where he can’t reach.
Where are they?
The question hammers into my skull. I clench my teeth, fighting to keep the answer buried.
Show me.
“No!” My scream bounces off the walls.
Show me, or I’ll tear your mind apart until you’re nothing but a shell.
He means it. I can feel his magic pressing deeper, cracking through walls I didn’t know existed. Pain lances through my head. I’m sobbing, sucking in breath after breath, as I fight to stop him.
Where is it?
I won’t tell. I won’t?—
The mage’s magic slams into me again, and this time something gives. A wall crumbles. Memories spill out. Cairn’s hands on my skin, his mouth against my throat, the sound of his voice saying my name.
There it is.
No! No no no.
And then, cutting through the agony like a blade?—
Moirthalen?
The voice is inside my head. Familiar in a way that makes me sob.
Moirthalen. Can you hear me?
Cairn!
