Lady Sarhin nodded. “I assumed as much.” She gestured for him to go on.
“When you arrested Vai Zh’alek, did Axel use his power to interrogate him?”
It was a fair question, but I still shuddered, remembering.
“I tried,” I said, clasping my hands on top of the table so I didn’t fidget. “But with everything that happened, my magic wasn’t…” I tried to think of the best way to explain.
“He’d been through a traumatic ordeal,” Lady Sarhin interjected. “Magic reacts to shock in different ways. Axel’s became unpredictable.”
That was one way to put it.
“Up until that point, I’d been in full control of my magic. I could read people’s thoughts at will or turn it off so that those around me kept their privacy.” I glanced around the room, adding quickly, “I spent most of the time with it turned off. I would never invade someone’s mind like that.
“Butafter, I struggled to control it. I tried to read Zh’alek’s mind to find out who else he’d been working with, but I couldn’tsee. Everything was blurred, unfocused.”
Max sighed. “And I assume he didn’t volunteer any information.”
Lady Sarhin huffed out a laugh. “No. Despite our rigorous interrogations, he refused to give us anything. Which is why he received the maximum sentence. Zh’alek was sentenced to a very long time in prison.” She tapped a finger on the table; then her eyes narrowed. “We know Melhak worked with Yates and the witches he met while a prison guard. He smuggled the Blue Alhuirn out for them to refine in exchange for magic that helped free Zh’alek from prison. But Zh’alek escaped before you took down Yates compound. Maybe the witches have information that would be helpful.”
The witches still remained this side of the gateway for now. The high court was reluctant to use the gateways for anything other than essential travel with Zh’alek still unaccounted for.
“We questioned them,” Max replied. “Youquestioned them.”
She tsked and shot a pointed glance at Axel. “Not like we wanted to.”
“This isn’t the Fae Realm.” Max’s voice remained calm, but it had a hard edge to it. He was so laid back and friendly all the time, I often forgot that he had this side to him. “We can’t forcibly extract information against someone’s will.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both. Either.” Max sighed. “I’m not judging how you police your own realm, but I sincerely doubt we would ever get permission to invade someone’s mind like that. And to be honest, I’m not sure we should.”
I flinched.
Of course, Max noticed.
“Fuck.” He ran a hand through his hair, expression softening as it landed on me. “I know you’d never use your magic to cause anyone harm, Axel.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t.” My mind drifted to Talis, heart clenching. Not intentionally, anyway.
Lady Sarhin frowned. “If we can’t take the witches back to the Fae Realm and interrogate them properly, then our only option is to keep guarding Axel and hope that we can retrieve the original contents of Gren Melhak’s personnel file.”
And hope that gave us answers.
I didn’t say that aloud. The atmosphere in the room was depressing enough without me adding to it.
A knock sounded on the door before a harried-looking Wyn opened it and burst in. “Sorry for interrupting, but Cara and I discovered something that you need to know now.”
TALIS
Jake leftus in the break room with strict instructions not to move while he went to meet Nick at the front doors.
I leant back against the wall, untouched coffee in hand.
“Are you all right?” Rys asked, setting his coffee down and coming to stand in front of me. “Back at the club, you and Axel were—”
“I’m fine. We were just talking.”
Rys’s eyebrow rose. “Really?” he said, voice heavy with sarcasm.
