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I bite back my rage, saving it for the asshole who caused this nightmare. “Who’s on-site for the investigation?”
Marques holds the door, and we pass inside, resuming our fast trek. “Caius went with a dozen troops to the portal. Clawford took a task force to look for anyone else involved?—”
“Wait, did you say he went to the portal?” I stop and give him my full attention. “Why?”
“That was the target, General.”
“Not the wall itself?”
“The wall was their way in,” he explains quietly. “They wanted to bypass the castle guards.”
Understanding dawns in a haze of fury. The portal is inside an atrium that’s connected to the castle. If they went to all that trouble, their goal wasn’t as simple as bringing down a wall. “They were trying to break out.”
“That’s our theory.”
Of course. Tartarus started as nothing more than a prison world and even after several thousand years to cool us off, there are still monsters here who deserve to remain locked away.
I think of the innocent lives taken and curl my hands into fists. We come to the conference room, which is full of various commanders waiting on my orders. But I don’t stop.
The door opens behind us, and Klyn jogs in, out of breath and wearing a pair of wrinkled slacks he clearly pulled out of the bin.
“Boss,” he calls, nodding to the conference room doorway.
I ignore the gesture and start walking in the opposite direction. “Marques, meet me in the interrogation room with the prisoner,” I call over my shoulder.
“General,” Klyn calls. “Department heads are waiting?—”
“They can wait.”
Ten minutes later, the door to the interrogation room opens, and a male I’ve never seen before is shoved through. His hand is loosely bandaged in a mountain of gauze, and his shirt is covered in blood and dust. No, not dust—debris. From the wall he blew to bits earlier.
Fury rises at the sight of him, hellfire burning my throat in an attempt to strike him down where he stands, but I hold it in check.
Behind him, two guards shove him toward me. The sound of his iron chains rattling where they’ve bound his wrists and ankles is interrupted by the sound of the door being pulled shut with a bang.
The lock offers an ominous click designed to remind the prisoner he won’t leave this room alive. From this moment forward, everything I do and say is about getting answers. Even the chair they’ll strap him into is made of a magically infused material that is impervious to any of my … methods, including hellfire.
It’s a system I’ve honed to perfection, and while I don’t enjoy it, exactly, there is a dark satisfaction my shadow beast takes from his work. I don’t bother feeling guilty about that. This asshole deserves so much worse than what I’m about to do to him.
“Is this him?” I ask.
Marques steps around the prisoner to address me. He managed to make it through my last interrogation without losing his shit, so I promoted him to the position permanently. Pretty sure he thinks it’s punishment.
“Yes, General. We found him near the wall right after the explosion.”
“And you have confirmation he was involved?”
“The asshole admitted it,” he says with disgust.
I give the prisoner a look that conveys everything I am capable of. “In that case, we can skip to the good part.”
“He’s pretty banged up already,” Marques adds.
“Yes, I see that. What’s the bandage for?” I ask.
The second soldier finally rounds the prisoner, and I see that it’s not a soldier at all. Pol, Caius’ closest advisor and one of the most sarcastic males I’ve ever met, snorts. “Idiot made the detonator too short. Nearly blew off his own hand.”
“If he’s that stupid, how can you be sure he’s the leader?” I ask.
