Will do.
Mac left. Canyon and the male sat like they had been. After Mac’s footsteps faded, the male looked right at him.
Canyon considered, then said,I saw Reynard get taken into the Pravus last night. Me’n my brother tried to get to Khain, but we weren’t fast enough.
The male’s expression tightened, and his eyes searched Canyon’s, but he didn’t speak.
Reynard’s a hero, in my opinion. He tried to kill Khain.
Still no answer.
You put that truck in the field so the bombs wouldn’t hurt anyone, didn’t you?
The male didn’t respond, but his emotions began to broil, evidenced by his quickly changing scent.
Then you warned off the officer, so he didn’t get blown up.
Now the male was staring at him openly.
Is that why the bombs at SPD were put in the empty buildings in the back? So no one would be hurt?
The male looked like he was going to speak, but then he shook it off and straightened in his chair. He picked a new spot on the wall just over Canyon’s head and stared at it.
Canyon sat. He waited. He mused. He thought. This male didn’t trust him; he wasn’t going to speak and there was nothing Canyon could do about it. Canyon studied him instead—his dirty clothes, his scratched-up face, his eyepatch. Canyon imagined the mark on his chest and what it had been like in the Pravus for him. Canyon wondered if the male lived in Spookville, wondered if he had kids or a mate who needed him.
Canyon got up and paced in the small room, thinking about what he could say or do to cut through the bullshit and get this male to trust him.
Probably nothing—but he was going to try.
41—The Captive
Rhogun Van Crimson stared at thevodvodCanyon Wheeling, feeling a grudging and unbidden respect for the male rise within him.Foxenstrictly avoided thevodand Rhogun hadn’t dealt with many in his life—until tonight. So far, he hadn’t been mistreated, he hadn’t been assaulted, and now thisvodvodwas talking to him like an equal? Thisvodvodthought Reynard was a hero? Rhogun’s brain was spinning.
It had been a crazy day. Just before dawn, he and the others had flipped over from the Pravus into the Ula en masse with Khain’s help. They’d split up into groups and gotten right to work. Rhogun and his team had carefully hidden their intentions from themselves and from Khain, using mind techniques they’d been taught in school. They’d placed their first bombs, and then made a break for it, and that’s when the pain had started. The marks on their chests burned with strength-killing, mind-splitting agony.
They’d helped each other through it, finding and gathering plants, pounding them with rocks, and mixing them with river mud, then slathering the mud onto their marks. Once slathered, the pain from the mark weakened and dulled. They kept applying the mud until they could hold a thought in their head, then they’d taken Reynard to the edge of the hole and left him to find his own way down.
The others had wanted to leave the explosives truck where it was and run to Chicago, where the Van Boesons would take care of them and help hide them, but Rhogun hadn’t been able to bring himself to do that. He’d sent them all running with his blessing and set out to make the truck full of bombs safe. Thedetonations were on a timer and could not be stopped. Rhogun drove straight out of town until he found an empty field. He’d parked in the center, planning to watch from a distance, then follow the others, but his concoction had worn off, and the pain had come back, mind-numbing pain that did not leave him with full control of himself. When he decided to hand himself over to thevod, the pain had lessened. When they put the handcuffs on him, it had disappeared, leaving him weak as a kit. Over time, the weakness had passed, and now here he was, marked and in custody of thevodvod. His life was forfeit. The best he could do was stay silent and hope Khain didn’t come for him in jail.
Thevodvodapproached Rhogun and watched him carefully. He took something from his belt and held it up so Rhogun could see it—a handcuff key. He unlocked Rhogun’s shackles and took them off. Rhogun moved around and rubbed his wrists. It was a relief to have the shackles off, but when thevodvodmoved to the desk, Rhogun tensed.
“I know your family is in hiding,” Canyon said. “I know they’re in danger. You should go to them.”
He unlocked the handcuff and pain speared through Rhogun’s chest like a heart attack, then spread, clouding his thoughts and stealing his will. Rhogun put a hand on his chest, eyes closed, his other hand flopping around on the desk.
“Lock it up, lock me up,” he panted. “…hurts.”
Thevodvodmoved quickly, and the moment the cuff was relocked, the pain fell away. Rhogun muttered a little prayer of thanks, then wrestled himself back under control. When he opened his eyes the vodvod—Canyon—was back in the chair, studying him like only avodcould.
You worried about me?Canyon said, his mental voice amused.Don’t.I’ll tell Mac you overpowered me.
Rhogun laughed quietly, still breathing heavily. He wrestled with himself over what to say, or if he should sayanything. He’d had training in how to keep quiet undervodquestioning, but the openness and reasonable nature of Canyon Wheeling had taken him by surprise. The male scented honest. The male acted honorable.
The mark,Rhogun said inruhi. It burned when you freed me.
Canyon dropped into the chair across from him and stared at him for a long time, not saying a word.
You want to stay in custody?Canyon finally said.
