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Nine hundred and thirty-two. Nine hundred and thirty-three.
When a buzz sounded in the nothingness, Inez almost laughed in relief. Thank the gods. The Star Temple had placed her in a blindband before, as some archlord were wont to do. Neither Rylec nor the empress had ever placed her in one. It had been too long since her training. Her tolerance wasn’t as good anymore.
Slowly, the world returned. The room was dim, quiet. Inez shuffled, the chair beneath her soft enough, all things considered. She blinked, clearing the fog from her eyes. A dark-haired male walked to the seat across from hers, tossing the blindband into the air in his left hand. When he turned and sat, Inez stiffened.
Archlord Eliaz’s electric blue eyes pierced through her soul. They always had. Inez had never interacted with him, but as Rylec’s star-maid, she had followed him to meetings, waiting in the antechamber with the other star-maids. Whenever the lords departed, only Eliaz had looked at each and every star-maid with that all-knowing, blank stare.
Inez tried to quiet her mind, but there was no point. Eliaz only needed to look at her to read her mind.
Inez broke eye contact, looking at the ground.
Archlord Eliaz tsk-ed. “Now, now, Inez. See that guard behind you? If you don’t look at me of your own volition, I’ll require his assistance.” The archlord leaned forward, his chair creaking. “I’d much prefer it if we had a pleasant conversation.”
Inez sighed, a long huff. There was protocol for this. If anyone in the Star Network found themselves in a mind reader’s clutches, they were supposed to protect their brothers and sisters at all costs. Even if it meant their life. Inez wasn’t chained to the chair, but the surrounding room was bare, intended for nothing more than interrogation. Under the table, flies buzzed around a drain. No blood stained the floors, but Inez knew what that drain meant.
Inez stared at it and didn’t glance up.
Archlord Eliaz sighed rather dramatically. “Kain.”
Footsteps pounded behind her before a hand grabbed her chin, forcing her face upwards. Inez slammed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth through the pain.
There was a slow tapping of nails across the table. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you, Inez?”
“Fuck you.”
Kain squeezed tighter, pain flaring through Inez’s jawbones.
“That’s enough, Kain.” The patient tapping hadn’t stopped. “If anyone can endure pain, it’s our Inez here. Wait outside. I’d like to speak to the prisoner alone.”
Kain didn’t speak, but the hand on Inez’s jaw disappeared. More footsteps sounded, followed by the click of a door.
Fabric rustled as the archlord leaned closer again. “You escaped with three other star-maids. Where are they?”
Rage boiled through Inez’s chest. She hadn’t had the chance to mourn the star-maids she lost. She couldn’t, not when her daughter was at risk and the only way to her was through the empire. But she grabbed onto that anger and stoked the flames. “They died when you fired a missile at theParadise.”
“Hmm. But before their unfortunate end, did they escape, or did Rylec let them go?”
Inez snorted. It was so like a Sollirian to shrug off death. “Why does it matter?”
Eliaz went silent. Inez wanted to glance up, but she didn’t dare open her eyes. She wouldn’t take her life to spare the Star Network. Soriya deserved a life with both her parents. But she wouldn’t make it easy for the Tertian lord either.
“Empress Calanthe is here.”
Inez jerked, her eyes flashing open. Her own gaze was ensnared by glowing blue.
Archlord Eliaz’s lips curved into a smile. His attractiveness lessened the wicked bite to it, but not by much. “There you are.”
Gods damn him. “Calanthe is here?”
“She is. She wants to speak with you.”
Inez had suspected the empress would be on Tertia but she hadn’t been sure. “Then why am I not speaking to her?”
“The Star Temple tasked me with locating their missing property. Even the empress wouldn’t dare cross the priests.”
“Calanthe would dare.”
The archlord shrugged. “I caught her in a good mood. She obliged this conversation.”
