“You were supposed to be outside Faros days ago. I’m surrounded by morons.” She slaps her forehead. “Give me the key. I’ll be taking them both.”
I look at Seth, pleading with him to keep me here. To keep us here. Adria is going to torture us. Seth is probably also going to torture us, but at least with him, there’s a chance he’ll forget.
“No,” says Seth simply.
“No?” Adria laughs, coming closer to him. “Give me the fucking key right now.”
“Or what? You’ll have me tortured? These aremyprisoners. I caught them. You let her get away.”
“How fucking dare you,” says Adria, shoving him. To his credit, Seth barely moves. “I have done EVERYTHING for this family, and this is the thanks I get from the two of you.” She turns towards me, and Taran steps instinctively in the way. “What did she say to you, Seth? Did she tell you that Ronan is just a lost, sad puppy who needs a home? Did she tell you that he’ll give you all the love I wouldn’t give if you get down on your knees for him?”
Taran’s back stiffens, the ice reaching his fingertips again.
“Don’t even fucking try it,” says Adria, flinging fire at Taran that he narrowly dodges.
“My tent!” says Seth as it ignites behind Taran.
It takes both Taran’s water and my shadow to extinguish the flame.
“What did she say to you?!” screams Adria.
Seth tilts his head towards her, unfazed by her anger. “She gave me information, and she did it willingly to keep me from hurtinghim.It’s called leverage, darling sister.” He runs his fingers over his desk right on the spot where he cut off the brute’s hand. “I’ll do what I have to do to get her to talk. And then I’ll do the same toherto gethimto talk. Ask yourself this: who do you think they’re more willing to talk to? Me, or you?”
Adria seethes, her blonde hair slipping from its bun as her shoulders heave with anger. “Information?” she finally asks through her teeth, gritting them just the same way Seth did.
“About Ronan’s griffin forces.”
A lie. I didn’t tell Seth anything about Kira, and Ronan has no other griffins, although he did think of trying to catch more.
Seth is lying to her for me. Or for himself, more likely, but it benefits us both.
Adria looks at all of us, weighing her options. She needs Seth—his people will likely follow her, but they’re loyal to him and accustomed to his command, and as much as she’d like to, she can’t command our tens of thousands of soldiers on her own. And though she outranks him, if she pisses him off, he’s likely to make her life even more difficult than he already does.
And as much as she’d like to murder me for what I’ve done, I’m certain she can see the value in the information I have. She had planned to torture it out of me herself before killing me. If Seth does it, it saves her some trouble, although it would also cost her some satisfaction.
“You have one day,” she says finally.
“A day? I need at least a week—”
“One. Day.”
“Five.”
She slams her hand on his desk, forcing some of his wine to shoot from his bottle and onto the stack of papers collected on the top. “This is not a negotiation!”
Seth frantically mops up the spill, his jaw twitching. “These are the orders foryourlegions.”
“It’s just some fucking wine!”
Taran takes a seat on his cot, shaking his head and looking at me with sympathy.
I give him a look that says,you see what I had to grow up with?
“You’ll give me aweekbecause I’m going to have to spend all night rewriting these orders.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sakes,” says Adria, snatching the orders from him but then returning them to the desk when she sees that they truly are ruined. “I’m so sick of hearing your stupid fucking voice. And I can’t take one more second looking at her traitorous face. Take your week. But if you don’t get something useful out of them by the end of it, I’m killing them.”
“No issues for me there,” he says, holding up his hands and smirking at his victory.
