They walked down a short, cramped hall that smelled of dust and sweat. When they came to another door, the Black Scale removed a small holopod from his pocket and used it to deactivate the sensor.
They entered a spotless room that had been divided in half by a glass wall. A boy sat on one side. His hands were bound. Three soldiers, one with their back turned, stood before a panel covered in holos and dials.
The two soldiers who faced the door snapped to attention.
“What is it?” said the third soldier.
“The king, Commander.”
Slowly, lazily, the soldier turned.
Commander Chandi was a tall woman with dark eyes and blue-stained lips. A tattoo crawled up her neck, a skeletal hand wrapping around her throat like a savage, horrid necklace. When she saw him looking, she smiled.
“Your Grace,” she said.
“It’s Your Majesty,” Leo corrected.
The commander chuckled, the bony fingers rippling over her throat. “My apologies, Your Majesty.”
Behind the glass, Leo saw the boy smile.
“Can he hear me?” Leo asked.
“Yes, sir,” Chandi replied.
Leo faced the boy. A tiny smattering of hair grew on his upper lip. Blood beaded across his chin and dripped into his shirt. His colorless Jantari eyes peered at the glass from behind deep, hooded lids.
The boy’s smile grew wider.
“We knew you would come,” he said.
For a moment, Leo wondered if he had walked into a trap, but then Chandi turned a dial and an electric shock ran through the boy, making him shriek and jolt up in his chair. The ends of his hair stood up.
“Why?” Leo said. “Do you have something to tell me?”
When the boy did not answer, Leo’s hand found the dial. He turned it, and the boy gasped as pain surged through his body.
Briefly, Leo hesitated. He thought of the young girl with hair of starlight. The fear in her eyes, how her limbs had crumpled.
He stepped away from the panel.
Smoothly, Chandi stepped in and turned up the dial.
The boy gritted his teeth, but a scream escaped his lips. Leo watched his body tremble, and his hands curl into fists, before Chandi relented. The boy slumped forward.
“Why did the Arohassin leave a rune?” Leo asked softly.
“We knew you would come,” he said again.
A useless answer, but Leo did not reach for the dial.
“They left you behind,” he said, changing tactics. “You’re dispensable to them, easily thrown away like a stray shobu. Or an orphan.” The boy stiffened.
So hewasan orphan.
Leo silenced the room and turned to Chandi. “Let me in.”
She had been watching him the entire time, a thin, amused smile playing across her lips. “You know, you remind me of him. Our Blue Star.” When she saw the quizzical look on his face, her smile widened. “Samson. He’s like you. Neither of you would hesitate to pummel a boy.”
