“Yeah,” I murmur.
“Absolutely not,” he says. “I would have been a fool to choose not to pursue the highest power in Ekios.”
Something inside me crumbles.
“Power is the highest currency. The only thing that matters,” he whispers close to my ear.
I frown.
That’s—
That’s not him.
“Seriously?” I mutter. “Power is the thing that destroys. People and everything around them. If you weren’t Ezkai General, you wouldn’t have died.”
“All men die, sooner or later,” he says gently. “At least I died as the most respected and loved Ezkai General in history rather than an unknown man.”
I close my eyes and sigh.
The warmth is gone. The familiarity. The man I knew and fell in love with.
Whatever this is…it isn’t Kitajo anymore.
Reizei has taken everything from me. Even the comfort of Kitajo’s memories.
“Leave,” I say, my words cold. “I don’t want to speak to you.”
I lie there in silence for a long moment.
All alone in the darkness.
I’m hollow. There’s nothing left.
The lock whirls and the door swings open.
“I see you made yourself right at home.” Reizei’s voice reaches my ears.
I don’t bother answering him.
“Get her up,” he orders to someone.
Two pairs of hands grab me by the aching shoulders and drag me to my feet. Two dark-as-coal eyes meet mine.
“Don’t tell me you’re ready to sing, little bird,” Reizei says. When I don’t answer, he adds, “We’re just getting started.”
Once we’reout of my cell, I realize one of my handlers is the same woman from last time. She keeps glancing at me sideways as we make our way into gods knows where.
Another room.
This one’s bigger. And there are two chairs in front of a wall covered by a thick curtain. It’s the color of dried blood.
My handlers sit me in one chair. To my surprise, Reizei takes a seat next to me. The woman stands on my left against the wall. She watches me.
I glance at Reizei, who wears a neutral mask as he stares forward at the curtain in front of us. He tells me nothing about why we’re here or what’s about to happen.
Unease prickles the skin at the back of my head. My stomach is full of rocks. I glance around the room, trying to figure out what the next form of torture will be.
“You may begin,” Reizei tells my second handler.
