AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I gasped. If we hadn’t already guessed Miro’s intentions, the room clearly announced them. Its very brazenness took my breath away. How far had his plotting already progressed?
“And who might you be?” The oily voice, amused rather than shocked, made me spin toward the row of tall windows.
A middle-aged man stood in one of the windows, holding a document to the light. A second, younger man stood with him, but I recognized with sweeping relief that it wasn’t Grey. The assistant stared at me with his mouth open, displaying all the surprise the older man lacked.
“Are you Miro, the head of this hall?” I asked boldly.
Both men raised their eyebrows at my impudence.
“I am,” the older man said, still amused. “Do you have a grievance to bring to the law keepers?”
The younger man bristled. “If so, there are proper avenues! You can’t come bursting in here.”
I ignored him, my eyes on Miro. “I come with a warning.”
“How fascinating.” Miro looked me up and down as if I were some sort of unique specimen, briefly interesting but ultimately unimportant.
I edged slowly closer, eyeing the assistant. He looked like an administrator, not a soldier, but I didn’t want to discover my mistake too late. It might be safer to put him to sleep before I attempted to make contact with Miro.
“I’ll go and fetch someone,” the man muttered to Miro who still hadn’t looked away from me.
He started toward the door. I waited until he passed closest to me before lunging for him. He exclaimed, trying to evade me, but I was quicker. Thrusting my hand at his face, I made contact with his skin and put him straight to sleep.
He slumped to the ground so quickly that I barely managed to catch him before his head hit the ground. Laying him down, I immediately rushed back toward Miro, spurred on by the distant sounds of shouts and running feet. The guard in the closet must have woken up.
“You’re more resourceful than I expected,” Miro said.
“What—? No, never mind.” I shook my head.
There was no point trying to have a conversation with him before I purged his mind. When I was finished, we could talk properly, without hurry, since he could call off the approaching guards.
I expected him to try to evade me when I reached for him, but he allowed me to take his wrist without protest. Brushing aside the strangeness of it, I pushed my power into him and called up his wall.
As it pushed my power out, I fell back physically as well, panting as I looked at him with wide eyes. He continued to look back at me with the same disquieting smile. I waited a breath and then another, ready for the look of confusion and horror to overtake him. Nothing happened.
“Slate said we didn’t need to go looking for you, that you would come to us,” he said conversationally. “But I didn’t entirely believe him.”
“What?” I asked, my thoughts stuttering at his unexpected reaction. “Don’t you see? Slate is Grey, and he’s been lying to you this whole time. We call it mesmerizing, and it’s the reason you’ve been doing all this.”
I gestured around at the transformed room, my breath coming heavily as I tried to make sense of what was happening.
“I’m not sure whether to be flattered at your belief in my loyalty or offended that you think I’m a mindless follower.” His eyes narrowed. “I can certainly see how you might be useful, however. There’s always value in an insurance policy. I wonder…” He tapped his chin thoughtfully, breaking off when the door to the room was wrenched open.
The man who walked in was clearly unwelcome, given Miro’s startled, unhappy expression. His irritation was quickly swallowed by a welcoming smile, but his true feelings had been visible long enough for Grey to smile knowingly.
“Not quite ready to see me?” he asked mockingly. “However useful she may appear to be, Miro, she’s not worth the risk. Take my word on that. Or has she already gotten to you?”
His mocking look made Miro straighten, his face turning cold.
“Of course not. I’m not such an easy target.”
“Naturally not. My mistake.” Grey bowed slightly, but in a negligent way that robbed the movement of any respect.
I stood motionless, staring across the room at Grey. I had thought my theories so clever, but I had made a terrible, fatal mistake. I had said we didn’t know how many lies Grey had forced into Miro for him to choose this path, but it had never occurred to me that the number might be zero.
ChapterNineteen
“You really are an appealing tool, Delphine,” Grey said conversationally. “You have more value than all my other followers put together. Such a pity.” He strolled closer but carefully stopped outside of touching distance.
