“Yes,” I said, as unflinching as he always was.
“She’s lying.” Nadya bared her teeth. “She’s been fooling us all, pretending to protect us. But the crater lost power whenshecame here. The entrance was breached aftershepassed through it.Shebrought the trolls on our doorsteps. And nowsheis attacking us and you’re doing nothing about it,Commander.”
The crowd around us murmured with unease. Hesitant. Unconvinced. Narrowed on me.
Ryker believed, however much it cost him, but Solkar’s Reach wasn’t convinced.
“You are unharmed,” I said. I flicked my fingers again and the blue tendrils vanished; they’d exhausted me enough already and could always pounce back. “Your turn. Tell the truth and I’ll set you free from my arrows.”
“I already told the truth,” she cried out.
“There’s an easy solution for all of this.” I held out my hand in Dax’s direction. “Truth serum.”
“My pleasure,” he said instantly and burrowed in his pockets.
“Is it enough for two people for the next few hours?”
“Yes,” he said, less sure. “Small sips, though.”
I flexed my fingers. “Perfect.”
Dax handed me the vial with a warning look on his face. We both knew his secret could be ripped from the tip of my tongue once I took a sip, but nobody cared about what he did in the shadows right now.
This was a clash for the soul of Solkar’s Reach.
I held the glass vial high in the air and squinted at it, making sure to shake it so the liquid was visible to everyone. The viscous truth serum shone in the crypt’s light. A hushed prayer passed the guardian’s lips, as he drew farther away from the entrance.
Nadya’s grimace grew.
With no preamble and with Ryker’s energy blasting against mine, I uncorked the vial and downed half of it.
The inky liquid raced down my throat, burning my lungs, before it thudded into my stomach. Bitterness coated my tongue and lips, so foul and festering that my body instantly wanted to expel every trace of it.
“This tastes vile,” I said before my mind caught up to my mouth. “Damn, it’s already starting.”
Uncle Maksim forgive me, but I still hated this damn serum and couldn’t fight it, despite his teachings.
“Ask you questions, because I feel like I’m about to explode,” I panted.
“Did you see the glimmer with Nadya?” Ryker asked.
“Yes. And she pretended not to know what they were.” The words flowed from my mouth like a compulsion. I didn’t even register them until they echoed in the stunned silence. “Like she pretended when the wolves chased us. When she threw me into the troll gathering. When she questioned my leadership while you were gone. Like she’s pretending now.”
Pure pain slashed through Ryker’s eyes once more. He blinked it away before he turned back to Nadya. “Well?”
“You can’t believe that bullshit,” she hissed. “Her cousin’s the one who gave her the vial, it might as well be water.”
“Hey!” Dax chided. “Do not question my skills. My word is not the one on trial here.”
“So now I’m on trial?” Nadya looked desperately at Ryker and whined, “Look what they’re doing to us.”
His throat stiffened, as if trying to halt ugly words from forming.
But I couldn’t. With the serum bleeding the truth, all that unspoken resentment couldn’t be hidden any longer.
“This is by your design only. And by the way–” I turned to the people of Solkar’s Reach, who still looked at me with suspicion. The words wanted to come out and flood their ears, and I couldn’t stop them. “I’m not to blame for any of the anomalies in Solkar’s Reach. I never plotted against you, I only tried to protect you, despite all yourconstantprotests.”
Both Dax and Ryker gave me twin warning glares. Vylkor settled his eye on the ground, a reddish tinge to his cheeks.
