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She put her hand on my shoulder as she sliced a long, thin line down my arm. For such a shallow cut, it stung longer than it should. With the contact, my talent flared to life and emotions forced themselves into me.
Her mind felt wrong, worse than the cut, twinned with some dark spirit that fed on pain.
She was possessed. mage-Ridden. Another one, not one who’d been at the hospital. One who’d been doing business in the Capitol.
This was not going to end well. I sincerely hoped Silver brought a lot of backup when he came, and that Elise and Robert took good care of Dmitri. And that I’d had an opportunity for a last call with Walker.
“I came to see what was happening here,” I said.
“Truth,” said the mage-Ridden in that same monotone.
Ross Cohen rose from the chair and strolled to the door. “Since she’s going to be stupid about this, I’m going to catch the last of the holo I was watching. Let me know the results of the interrogation, Annabelle. If we need to worry about any other visitors. Try not to play with her too much.”
He turned his gaze to me, his expression bored. He really did look a lot like his brother, though he lacked tha charisma of the other man. “If you tell the truth you have a chance to live, girl. I don’t care much, but I assume you do. Be assured, you’ll make good fertilizer if you don’t survive.”
He’s already told Annabelle she could eat me. Not a very good liar.The door clicked as he walked out.
It would be nice if my geas did something useful, like conceal whether I was lying, rather than enforcing good behavior on me.
“Anything else you want to tell us?” she asked, a knife hovering over my belly. My shirt had ridden up, twisted by my continued fighting against the restraints. I hadn’t stopped since the first cut.
“No!”
“Lie.”
This cut stung deeper, and she laughed, eyes shining.
“Not at all innocent, girl,” she said. “I can question you until you break, and you will. Everyone has a threshold, and I like the strong ones best. You feel strong.”
“I will see you dead,” I snarled. The pounding in my head made me want to throw up.
“Truth,” said the mage- Ridden.
She twisted and stared at the mage’s face.
“Well, we’ll have to prevent that.” She rummaged in a side drawer. The brushed steel of a pair of snips gleamed in the light. I couldn’t stop my fast inhale or the fine sweat that broke out on me.
She pinned down my thumb. I gave her all the screams she could want as she amputated it, then applied heat to stop the bleeding.
I also managed to include her in the spray when I threw up, which gave me a tiny pleasure in all the agony I felt, it was the small victories that counted when you were outmatched.
“So, what was it you talked about?” She wiped blood off her cheek.
I panted. “Fuck. You.”
She wasn’t going to stop, and I wasn’t going to hand her anything fast or easily.
The next time she paused, my throat was raw from screaming, and I was dizzy from blood loss. I healed quickly, and she ceased applying the cautery to stop the bleeding, letting my body do it on its own. The reflex kept me from going into shock and stopped none of the pain. I saw no reason not to scream.
She found the process fascinating: most of all that healing didn’t make me immune to pain, just practiced at ignoring it. After an endless time, she paused, and I let myself float on the pain, reaching inwards. My backup apparently couldn’t find me. Lovely.
The power leashed within me had been beating against the door that held it back, scratching, leaning against the chains. If I died to torture, I died. If the power loosed, and I freed myself, I’d be more than dead.
The memory wriggled through the chains, fresh and clear. Fire. Papa stretched on the grass; people all in armor closing in, blood everywhere.
Mama screaming and the lightning slamming down all around us. Terror, rage and grief smashing me down to the ground like rocks, all from Mama. Nothing from Papa.
I curled myself tight on the ground, to hide from the emptiness where Papa had been, then Mama’s emotion spiraled up and up, and more lightning and rain splashed and flared around us, hurting and burning me. Then Mama went away, and something that looked like her stood there and laughed and laughed as the people in armor danced and screamed.
