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My eyebrows rose. “Who’s that?” I asked. And then I didn’t need Ruiz to answer, because a young woman in a crisply tailored suit walked through the front doors.
“Rose,” Caroline Almeida said hesitantly. Her face looked paler than the last time I’d seen her, any make-up on it only the remains of yesterday’s, and her shiny blond hair was rumpled.
Caroline was the daughter of two of my father’s close colleagues—two of the Frankfords’ close colleagues too—and our last conversation had been when she’d dropped by my estate to see if I could tell her what schemes they might have been getting up to. I hadn’t been able to offer much information at the time. I guessed she’d gotten a whole lot of answers in the last day and a half.
“Hi,” I said, feeling equally hesitant. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling right now—about her parents, about the whole crazy situation, or about me. I’dwantedto warn her. The oath I’d taken with Frankford had prevented me. But emotions weren’t exactly logical. She might be upset that I hadn’t told her more anyway.
She twined her hands in front of her, her posture awkwardly stiff. “I—I got into town last night. I heard what was happening, and I had to do something, especially knowing my parents were wrapped up in all this somehow…” She bit her lip. “Lady Northcott told me what you were planning to try this morning. She thought it might help you with some of the prisoners if I tagged along for the interviews. I might know some of them better, the ones who were closer to my family than yours.”
“Of course,” I said, relaxing a little. “That makes sense. We were just about to head out.”
Caroline kept worrying at her lip as Ruiz escorted us to the Assembly sedan waiting outside. “I talked with some of the other witches here last night,” the young witch said once we’d slid inside. “The ones these people used. They’re so—it’s like they’re missing something. Like something was taken from them, or they were broken somehow…”
“They’re not broken,” I said with a fierceness I hadn’t realized I’d feel. I willed myself calmer. “They just need time to heal.”
“Oh, I know, I didn’t mean—” She winced, ducking her head. “I just can’t help thinking it could have been me too. Maybe my parents would have roped me into that. I don’t know what they were planning. I never would have thought… I should probably stay back when you questionthem, because I don’t know how I’ll react, but I want to hear what they say.”
A twinge of sympathy ran through my chest. I touched her arm briefly. “I get it. I know what it’s like, finding out your parents aren’t who you thought they were.”
I’d spent so much time torn up wondering what my father’s intentions for me were, whether he could really have meant to carry out such an enormous betrayal after what had seemed like a loving childhood… My throat tightened.
I shook those thoughts away, but stepping into the holding building sent an uneasy jitter down my spine. I’d been here once before—when my consorts and I had been held in those little white rooms for interrogation. The sight of the bland hallways and the faint ozone smell in the air made my stomach turn. I clenched my jaw, girding myself.
Maybe I should get the hardest part of this task over with first, before I’d been worn down by this place, by the conversations I was going to have to carry out. As three more enforcers joined our little cluster, I turned to Ruiz.
“I want to interview my father first.”
She studied me with her dark eyes. “Are you sure?”
“He’s been close with the Frankfords for a long time,” I said. “I’d bet he got more power from their awful rituals than most of their allies did.” Whether he still had any of it at his command, we’d just have to find out.
“This way, then.” She motioned for us to follow. We went up a flight of stairs and partway down another familiar hallway. One of the other enforcers unlocked the door.
My father was sitting on the padded bench across from the doorway. It was the only furniture in the room. His clothes, which I guessed he’d been wearing since he’d been taken in, were wrinkled, and his face looked drawn. I noticed with mild satisfaction that his hands had been padded and chained like mine had been.
Townsend might have been sowing doubt about how much power the witching men in this faction could have wielded, but the Assembly had taken every precaution anyway.
“Rose,” Dad said, staring, his voice somehow hopeful and apprehensive at the same time.
“I’d prefer Lady Hallowell from now on,” I said in the most even voice I could summon. “I have just a few questions for you. One of the enforcers will put you under a truth compulsion to ensure you answer truthfully.”
“What? I—”
“Under the approval of the Northcotts,” Ruiz said, and nodded to one of the other enforcers. The other witch wove her fingers through the air to draw the intricate spellwork into being.
Dad stiffened as she cast her magic toward him. The tendons along his jaw flexed.
“We’re going to talk about the magic-like power the demons gave some of your faction in exchange for being ‘fed’ by the witches you trapped,” I said. “Did you ever take any of that power into yourself?” No point in beating around the bush. I wanted to spend as little time as possible in the company of the man who’d planned to essentially sell my soul.
Dad’s shoulders sagged in what looked like resignation. “Yes,” he said in a dull voice. “I did.”
“Do you have any of that power in you now?”
“No. It’s been quite some time. We can’t handle very much of it at once, for it to last us beyond one or two acts.”
I should have been glad that he was cooperating so well, telling me more than I’d asked, but my gut twisted. If the demon conspirators couldn’t hold onto very much power, that meant there was less chance that we’d find any of the witching men who hadn’t used anything they’d taken in already.
“Do you know who in your group most recently absorbed that power?” I asked.
