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“So, what’s the plan?” Flint asked. “Grill Arden until she gives up all of her secrets?”
“Like that worked the first time,” Jagger scoffed.
“I say we move her out of the prison. Make it a little softer for her, since she’s not a threat. We loosen her up with a nicer room and get her to tell us more about the artifact,” I said. “And maybe loosen her up in other ways.”
“I agree.” Jagger shot me a knowing grin.
“She’s our prisoner.” Flint’s eyes narrowed, and he stood up to pace. “But I’ll be the one to set her up in a room. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get the wrong idea about what we’re doing here.”
Chapter7
Flint
Iwaited outside of the holding cells, flanked by my enforcers, as always. I believed Lucas when he said that Arden was weak, but I never wanted to take chances when it came to criminals.
Wasn’t that what I was doing anyway, moving her from a secure cell to the central section of the palace? To “soften her up,” as Jagger said? I didn’t understand why he, of all of us, was pushing the soft route. I assumed he’d be the first one in line to wrench the information from her with a heavy dose of heat or fire.
It didn’t matter why, though. It was a decent plan of action, since most fae crumbled when we confronted them. And I believed Lucas’s report, that she didn’t shift or have an elemental power. Even so, Lucas had instructed our enforcers to shore up the protection spells around the palace and had briefed all the aides, both top and assistant, on what was going on. The enforcers were focusing around where Arden was going to be staying, which wasn’t far from where the artifact was originally hidden.
I blew out a breath and checked my watch. Why were they keeping me waiting?
As if they had read my mind, the front door of the holding building opened.
“You don’t have to drag me,” Arden hissed.
Two enforcers were on either side of her, holding her up by her elbows and pulling her along. She kicked at them, as if that was going to help.
I glanced at the enforcer, who was holding her left arm. He had blood under his nose, like it had been bleeding before he or someone else healed it for him moments ago. I raised an eyebrow, glancing between his nose and his eyes.
“She head-butted me, sir,” the enforcer said, his neck going red.
I blinked. “This little female fae head-butted you?”
“I wouldn’t have had to if he hadn’t lifted me off the ground like a bag of potatoes.” Arden blew a lock of dark red hair out of her face, then tried to move it with her hands. They’d put magic-suppressing cuffs around her wrists, joining them in front of her. It was standard procedure for prisoners, but from the looks on the enforcers’ faces, they probably wanted to gag her and tie her legs together, too.
“Put her in the car,” I said with a sigh.
“Where am I going?” Arden asked.
“That’s not your concern.” I stepped aside, and one of my enforcers opened the door to the backseat of the large SUV that had followed mine.
“Where I’m going isn’t my concern?” Arden pulled against the enforcers, so they lifted her and stuffed her inside. “It absolutely is.”
“You’re a prisoner. You gave up the right to choose where you’re going when you stole from us,” I said.
Arden fought against the enforcers, trying to buckle her into the car. Finally, they managed to get her into the backseat. I climbed into my car, and we headed back toward the central palace. Arden hadn’t cooled down at all by the time we got back.
“Don’t manhandle me!” she snarled at the enforcers who had to haul her out of the backseat.
The enforcers dragged her behind me and my personal enforcers as we wove through the palace.
“You can wait outside,” I told the enforcers, taking Arden’s arm.
She didn’t fight me as much, to my surprise. Maybe she’d finally understood who she was dealing with. Her arm was slim but well-muscled, and her skin was surprisingly soft for someone who had been locked away in a hot cell for hours. Touching her sent an unnamable sensation through me, so I let her go and had her follow me.
I took her into the room where she was going to be staying and shut the door behind us. I hadn’t wanted to put her in this room, which we almost exclusively reserved for special guests, but it was in the best location. It had everything she could possibly need—a spacious bedroom with a beautiful view of the courtyard below, an attached living space behind the closed door on the far wall, and a huge bathroom—while being quickly accessible to us if we had to get to her.
She stopped just inside, her green eyes widening and her still-joined arms going slack. For once, she was speechless. Good.
