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On cue, magenta eyes flicked toward her, unreadable. Perhaps there was some sort of relief there, but it was gone in an instant.
“You requested my presence?” she asked.
Lavender eyes flew toward her too. “That was me. My brother thinks I tried to kill him. I figured a torture machine shouldn’t be the only thing questioning me.”
Uncertainty simmered within her and Rick’s silence was dreadful. But the small, subtle nod from him had her feet moving closer toward them until she was standing beside Erin.
“I will ask her the same questions. Over and over,” he said. “Do what you must.”
There were no further instructions, and instinct rioted at releasing her magic when the court hadn’t been the most welcoming of it. But she nodded, too, and knelt, easing energy into her fingers. They glowed, dimmer than the device’s glow. She bit her tongue when the larger energy in the room sensed hers and crowded around her, a crawling sensation that pushed her back.
Emerald directed more into her feet until she could lock herself in place and inactively fight the opposing force. Her stomach clenched from the hostility, but she ignored it and placed her hands on Erin’s as soon as Rick repeated the first question.
There was a rumble and a roaring when Erin resisted, then a gushing clarity when the woman answered. It washed over Emerald like a balm, the sweet, melodious voice ringing like a prayer. Another bout of resistance came at every question thrown, followed by the same gushing clarity. It wreaked havoc on Emerald’s body, but she knew what she felt wasn’t even a quarter of what Erin felt.
On the third round of repeated questions, the resistance snapped and Erin answered more freely, her words close to tripping over each other. Muscles trembled, then went lax, the emotions from the woman flowing jaggedly toward Emerald. When the first hint of pain came, Emerald’s hands jolted.
“More. I can take more,” Erin gasped, immediately aware of the broken connection.
“Stop,” Emerald called at the same time, the woman’s agony hidden so deep and fought so intensely. It made her quiver. “She can’t take more.”
Erin hissed. “I said I can take—”
“That’s enough. You’ve answered enough.” Rick’s voice boomed, the steel in it cutting off the start of an argument. Emerald stepped back, needing to be away from such a palpable force as she fought to separate her magic from the two’s emotions and the heavy one around them.
Erin hissed again, sheer frustration coating her expression. Then her mind caught up to her emotions and Emerald watched as the woman closed her eyes and stilled for a long time. When those lavender orbs opened, it was like a switch was flicked. Erin remained still as Rick carefully removed her binds. Erin stood up, head held high and meeting Rick’s gaze.
“Am I clear of the charges, brother?” she asked coolly.
Silence.
“Yes.”
There was a short nod, then Erin walked away as if she was just leaving a formal social event. The woman didn’t even spare Emerald a glance upon brushing past, but Emerald felt it, anyway: the gaping hurt that loomed within the woman’s being, one that was already weaving its way inside to be locked up tight. When the door closed and Emerald looked back, she found Rick slumped on a chair, his hands on his forehead and his eyes closed. It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment that the dazzle of energies and his sister’s responses would have affected him too.
“She’s telling the truth,” she said. “I don’t have a potion and making one takes a while, but I know when someone’s surrendered her truth. The device was enough. It’s a powerful one and you didn’t need me.”
More silence.
“It was my parents.’ They used it on enemies and we were forbidden to use it on our court folks. We weren’t even allowed to take it out of the prison area.”
Which meant he had broken the rules for this setup and for that interrogation. She tilted her head.
“Okay. How about you tell me what started all that elaborate display?”
“It started with Yu’s bleeding shoulder and spiraled from there.”
Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t that. A rush of anger entered her and had her headed for the door, but Rick was faster, recovering from his weak moment and blocking her path before she could open it.
“Who hurt Yu?” she demanded. “Where is he?”
“A couple of my friends who are no longer my friends,” he said firmly. “He’s fine now. Healed and all. And Bronco went to get him and will keep him safe.”
Relief washed over her at his honest assurance but so did surprise that she didn’t mind Bronco taking care of the pixie. She took a closer look at Rick.
“You’re not fine.”
He didn’t deny it. “It’s been a long day.”
