Aran stepped forward. His hand went to his knife, and he started spinning it between his fingers, slowly. No grin, just a quiet, coiled warning.
“Answer her question,” he said.
Mother’s lips did not twitch.
“Hurt me,” she said, “and the guards will come.”
Aran’s shrug was casual, almost bored. “Then I’ll just kill them too.”
“No.” The word left my mouth before I could stop it. Even if could take a punch. Being burned alive. Have my throat slit open to the bone—they were still just human. They could be wounded, even killed, and I would forever blame myself. “No more bloodshed.” I said. Just tell us where Licia is, and we’ll leave.”
“Kera—” Will’s voice behind me sounded like it had a knife twisted in it. I turned. A guard stood almost on top of him, blade pressed to the soft skin beneath his jaw. The metal was cold and ugly. Will’s eyes flashed to the man’s face for a split second, then came back to mine. Exactly what I didn’t want. I shouldn’t have brought them. I should have gone alone.
Mother’s smile widened. Somewhere behind the silk and poise there was pleasure in the power she held. The fire inside stirred under my skin. It flared, a hot ribbon of light, andI felt her.Her pulse thudding too fast, breath hitching, the tiny animal panic behind her calm. It was close enough that I could have reached across the space between us and snuffed it like a candle.
I could make hertalk. I could make her choke on the truth. I could peel her layer by layer until she spilled her guts. It felt like her body was an extension of mine. Her blood coursing through my veins, my hands wrapped around her heart. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I had never reached into someone like that before. Never felt another body as if it were my own.
I hadn’t known I could.
“Tell your guards to stand down.” I commanded as I gently squeezed her heart. Mother’s eyes widened. For a breath she looked as if she might answer. Then her hand flew to her chest. A wet sound escaped her throat as panic broke across her face. She clutched at her sternum as if something inside had broken.
I could squeeze. Stop it all. End her. All the rage, all the grief, all the pain I had nowhere to put.
It had found a way out.
”Stand down,” Mother rasped.
The guard moved instantly, lowering his blade. Will was across the room in a heartbeat, his hand brushing my arm. His touch told me I wasn’t alone, but it didn’t stop the trembling that had started beneath my skin. I couldn’t tell if it was the power or something else.
“Where. Is. Licia?” I snarled.
Mother collapsed, hands gripping her chest as her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her heartbeat pounded against my senses. Her skin went pale, sweat beading at her hairline as her fingers dug at her blouse.
“Hel,” she gasped.
I blinked. “Hel?”
“Like… the underworld?” Aran asked.
A broken laugh slipped from her lips. “It’s a brothel,” she choked. “The worst of them. We send the disobedient ones there. To break them.”
Kalani’s face drained of color. “They used to threaten us with it,” she said softly. “Warned us what would happen if we talked back. If we tried to run.”
My power was still awake, still hungry. It whispered beneath my skin, a steady thrum of heat and anger and want.
“How do we find it?” Will asked, his voice tight beside me.
Mother didn’t want to say. I could feel her fighting it, digging in her heels with every breath, choking back the truth with a hatred so deep it burned. But I didn’t back off.
I pressed.
Her body jerked once, muscles locking. Then the words came, torn from her throat.
“Norhavn,” she spat. “Gentleman’s club.”
I released my grip on her, and she took a deep breath. Kalani turned back to the girls, her voice breaking under the weight of it all.
“Come with us,” she begged. “You don’t have to stay.”
