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The door swung open. Mara flew into his arms, squeezing him. “Valek! Thank fate!” She stepped back and blushed. “Sorry. Everyone’s gone and I’ve been in a panic ever since. I figured all my friends and family had been caught.”
He gave her a wry grin. “I’m not that easy to catch. Are you all right?”
“Fine. Do you have any news?”
Hating to disappoint her, he swallowed the sour taste in his mouth. “We’re doing—”
A bang sounded behind him. Valek whirled with both his daggers in hand. The door across the hall gaped open, and armed men spilled from the opposite apartment. Almost twenty soldiers fanned out—ten on each side.
His comment about not being easy to catch had returned to haunt him. With twenty against one, they would have it easy. Valek, on the other hand—not so much.
30
LEIF
Hungry.
So hungry.
His stomach no longer rumbled, it roared. It growled and dug its sharp teeth into his gut, insisting, Feed me! He lay listless on the straw pallet, trying to ignore the scent of warm sweet cakes a few feet away. It masked the acrid stench of slop pots and body odor. For now.
Torture.
This was torture.
Worse than pain.
With nothing to distract him, he worried about Yelena, wondered how long he’d last before giving in, and wished for his favorite beef stew, and cherry pie, and Mara’s pumpkin cake, and...
It’d been four days since Yelena was taken. Four days of sipping water and nibbling on a few bites of food to stay alive. Four days of silent discussions with the others about escaping. Nothing. They failed to find a weakness. A way out. Their one effort to grab the guards when they delivered the food had been a complete and utter flop.
By the fifth day, bouts of dizziness spun his cell, and his legs shook when he stood. He’d have to decide if refusing to become Bruns’s lackey was worth dying for. The scrape of the door roused him. Too soon for supper. He lifted his head.
Mara entered the jail with two guards on her heels.
His own woes disappeared in an instant as a cold knife of horror sliced right through him.
Leif surged to his feet and then grabbed the bars to keep from falling. “Mara...” His voice cracked in anguish.
Alarm and fear flashed in her golden eyes before she gathered her composure. She turned to the guard on her left. “You call this well? He looks half-dead.”
“It’s his own fault. He refuses to eat,” the man said.
An odd exchange. Perhaps Leif was hallucinating. He certainly hoped the bruises on her beautiful heart-shaped face were an illusion.
Mara stepped closer to his cell. “Leif, you need to eat. No more hunger strike. Okay?”
Her sweet scent washed over him. “Mara, what’s going on? Did they capture you?” he asked.
“Yes, but I worked out a deal with Bruns. He’s really not that bad.”
Another jab of pain pierced him. They’d brainwashed her, too.
“If I convince you to start eating, he’ll free you. Bruns promised that we’d work together at the Moon garrison. Quinn Bloodrose is there, and I can assist him with his glass creations.” She moved and reached her hand through the bars. “It’s the best I could do.”
He grasped it, twining his fingers in hers. Soaking in her warmth, he savored her touch as if it were the last time. “Sounds like you’ve given up.”
“Bruns’s men used the apartment across from us to ambush Valek.” She bunched the fabric of her skirt in her free hand. “Valek managed to...kill a couple of them, but they overwhelmed him. And I was...useless. Bruns is interrogating him now.”
The news of Valek’s capture slammed into him. Good thing she clutched his hand, or he would’ve collapsed from the blow. Valek had been their last hope.
“Start eating, please. For me,” Mara implored him.
“All right,” he said. “For you.”
She relaxed, then pressed her face to the bars to kiss him. Her lips opened and he deepened the kiss.
“That’s enough,” the guard holding her arm said.
She rounded on him. “I haven’t seen my husband in months.”
“I’ve my orders.”
“Fine.” She jerked her arm free and smoothed her skirt. Mara turned to Leif. “At least we’ll soon be together.” Mara said goodbye and was escorted out.
When the door clanged shut, he sagged against the bars. A thousand emotions ripped through him. Fear dominated. Not for him, but for Mara.
“That was...unfortunate,” Janco said.
For once the man didn’t exaggerate. Leif glanced up. The rest of the inmates stared at him. No one said a word, but their thoughts were clear in their morose expressions. End of the road.
“Does that mean we’re out of options?” Hale asked.
“Can we eat now?” Dax asked.
“Yes to both.” Janco wasted no time in stuffing a sweet cake into his mouth.
Soon after, a group of soldiers carried an unconscious and naked Valek into the jail, dumped him into Yelena’s empty cell next to Janco’s, tossed a uniform onto his prone form and left.
Bloody, battered, bruised and with multiple cuts along his arms, legs and torso, Valek looked near death.
Janco reached through the bars and felt Valek’s pulse. “It’s strong.”
They breathed a collective sigh of relief.
We’re dead, Janco signaled.
Relax, Janco. Valek will have it all worked out, Ari said.
Valek didn’t regain consciousness until after three meals had come and gone—a full day. He groaned and sat up, pressing one hand to his head and the other to his ribs.
“Welcome to the land of the living, boss,” Janco said.
Valek glanced at them, then scanned the jail. “I think I prefer oblivion. It didn’t hurt and it smelled better.”
“Mara said you took a few out,” Ari said.
/> “Is she okay?” Valek asked.
“Bruised and scared, but she said she made a deal with Bruns,” Leif said.
“Good for her.” Valek grimaced as he reached for the cup of water.
“Why do you say that?” Leif demanded. He crinkled his nose. There was something...off about Valek, and it wasn’t the physical damage. Strange.
“It’s a smart move on her part. I’d suggest you all do the same and make a deal with Bruns.”
They glanced at each other in alarm.
Ari caught Valek’s attention and signaled, You’re just saying that. Right? That’s all part of the plan. Right?
This—Valek gestured to his cell—was not part of the plan. We were working on one, but it was in the preliminary stages.
We who?
Fisk, his people and a couple of young magicians.
So we’re screwed? Janco asked.
“Yep.” Valek eased back into a prone position.
“Can I stop relaxing now?” Janco asked Ari.
31
YELENA
The past three days had been...strange or interesting, depending on the way I looked at it. Bruns had taken Cahil’s advice and hadn’t wiped my mind. Yet. Once he determined that my knowledge about the Commander was limited, Bruns no longer asked specific questions. In fact, my theory that he was just going through the motions of preparing for war strengthened the longer I spent with him. Which meant Cahil didn’t know about it. No surprise, since it appeared Bruns had recruited Cahil and hadn’t brainwashed him. So to keep Cahil cooperating, it would have to appear as if they prepared for battle.
I hadn’t found any proof of my theory, but I kept an eye out for anything while I worked with Bruns on strategy. He planned to expand to the other garrisons in Sitia, indoctrinating them, as well. I hated helping him, but at the same time, the challenge kept my mind from imagining my brother and friends starving to death in the jail.
I’d been sleeping in the side room of Bruns’s office and using the washroom in his suite downstairs. Every morning, Loris arrived and reinforced the magic holding me captive. Funny thing about that—for the next few hours, I couldn’t refuse a command and I enjoyed the work, almost existing on an I-love-Bruns high, but as the day wore on, the magic wore off. From what I’d seen of Bruns’s other minions, that didn’t happen, and from the conversations Bruns had with Loris, it sounded as if once a person had been fully converted, they no longer needed to be influenced unless they had magic.
