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“Joachim is the biggest liar on the isle,” Damyn promised me.
Maybe, but he hadn’t been wrong that being in a room set for torture had opened a terrible pit in my stomach. I glanced around at the shackles that hung from the table, at the terrible implements.
I tried to cool my panic, but it was consuming me. It was even worse knowing how obvious it must be to my men through our bond.
Then Zehr was back with Talisyn and Arren, and then he was at my elbow, as if he’d heard my wild thoughts. He touched my back gently. “Damyn has Joachim under control,” he said. “You don’t need to be here.”
I stared him in shock. He sounded so caring. He looked just as surprised for a second too as if he’d heard me think of him ascaringand it horrified him. “We need you at full power. You can’t be distracted with your feelings.”
“Feelings might make you weak, but they don’t make me weak. I can feel my feelings and still fight.” I disagreed.
I turn my attention to Joachim on the table. “As queen… I can’t leave. I can’t abandon any of my subjects. Even if it hurts… them.”
Zehr asked, more gently, “What if it changes the way you see him?”
Damyn glanced quickly over his shoulder, his eyes worried.
“I know what Damyn is.” He did things that made me feel sick, but only to protect the ones he loved and his kingdom. “Nothing is going to change the way I feel about him.”
Which was a shame when he either didn’t feel the same or refused to acknowledge he did. It would be easier if I thought I could stop loving Damyn.
“Torture him, Damyn,” I asked. “We need to know where Lynx and Lucien and Alina are, and where he hid Teris’s Scourge stone.”
Damyn nodded grimly, no matter how worried he’d looked when he glanced at me after Zehr asked what it would change.
I steeled myself to watch.
CHAPTER36
Damyn
No matterhow bravely Honor had spoken, I worried how she would feel. It was one thing to know it was necessary to hurt Joachim, to draw out the information we needed to save our friends.
But that was different from seeing it done.
Branok and I pried open Joachim’s mouth to pour a truth serum potion down his throat. He writhed, spitting it out, and magic glowed around his body. He had many spells that he already carried.
Honor stood silently behind us, watching as if she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Zehr put his hand on her shoulder, drawing her back against his body. When he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, she settled back into him as if he were a comfort. I had to focus on Joachim, but I was glad he was there for her.
“Something’s blocking our spells,” Branok said. He tried counter-potions for the most common spells—and we both knew Joachim’s tricks well—but it didn’t work.
I tore open his shirt. A spell glowed across his skin, written in runes that were an electric blue, showing that the spell was activated.
The problem with those kinds of spells—for the one who wears them—is they are only skin deep.
I looked up at Branok. “You shouldn’t be here for this.”
I wished he would take Honor and go.
Branok shook his head. “I’m fine. He’s not my father in any way that matters.”
“Tell me where Lynx is,” I said.
Joachim’s chest heaved with fear and pain. “You’re still nothing but a fucking servant skulking unwanted around the royal family. That’s all you’ll ever fucking be.”
“That’s not an answer to the question I asked.” I yanked the knife from my belt, and Joachim started screaming even before I cut into him.
When I looked up, Honor had turned her face away, but she looked white. Zehr was speaking quietly into her ear, stroking her arms. I wondered why he had tried to protect Honor from seeing this.
