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“You will answer!” the commander barked at me.
Even if I remembered my tribe, I would never tell him.
My silence made the thick tendons in Lord Thrailkull’s neck bulge.
“You see, here’s my problem,” he said, leaning back against his throne and stroking his beard. “If thereisanother tribe that I need to conquer to uphold my oath, then I must know about it. So, you’re going to tell me what tribe you belong to, or I will add your worthless skull to my collection.”
I stared at the floor, my whole body shaking from fear and grief.
He’ll kill you whether you tell him or not, I told myself.
He snarled when I didn’t respond. “If you won’t answer, I’m sure one of the other prisoners will. Guard! Go to the mine and bring me?—”
“Wait!” I hated that my voice sounded like a mouse’s squeak against his bellowing. “I’m a Zavien.”
The corner of his lip twitched like it amused him to play with his food before he ate it. “Where is the land of the Zaviens?” he demanded.
My heart pounded like a blacksmith’s hammer. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I—I have no memory of my life before I came here,” I said, trying to keep his attention on me so he wouldn’t send for another worker to kill just to loosen my tongue. I might shatter into pieces if I was responsible for the death of anyone else.
His eyes narrowed. “Commander, what do we know about this Zavien tribe?”
“Nothing, my lord.”
Just then, Meat stepped forward and dropped to one knee in front of the throne. He must have been hovering in the back of the room like a blazen vulture. My blood burned at the sight of him. I should have let that other guard kill him last night. If I had, Hen might still be alive. “My lord, I overheard her talking about being a shapechanger. I think her magic allows her to transform into a bird,” he said to Thrailkull.
“Interesting.” The overlord’s scowl fell back on me. “I want to see. Commander—remove her collar.”
My body shook as the commander unlocked the heavy collar from my sore neck.What evil had Thrailkull devised?
Panicked, I studied the faces of the guards in the room, searching for the young guard. Something strange had flickered in the back of his eyes on the platform—hesitation? fear? regret?—that told me he didn’t want to be there any more than I did. Or had I just made that up? Skies, I was losing my mind.
“Show me what you can do,” Thrailkull ordered, leaning forward.
He wanted me to transform into a bird. Like I was nothing more than his entertainment for the evening.
I had no memory of shapechanging, but what if I could? If I was a bird, I could fly far away from all this and never look back. I thought about what Sora had told me—that I had a brother who needed my help, a tribe I belonged to, and a mission to complete. If there was any chance to escape, I had to take it.
With my malarite collar gone, I reached inside for my connection to the magic, feeling for any sign of it. A warmth. A tingling. Anything.
“Well?”Thrailkull bellowed.
Meat approached on my left. “Do it!” he barked.
I waited several heartbeats before realizing it was useless. My skin and fingernails were so thickly coated in malarite dust, they should have known it was impossible for me to access my magic.
Commander Bloodbain shifted his weight when Lord Thrailkull’s expression hardened. Meat kicked me this time, sending me sprawling on the hard stone floor, gasping for breath. The room spun, and the guards’ voices were reduced to harsh tones.
“Kill her,” Thrailkull said flatly as if this was a fun game that had suddenly become boring. “She’s useless.”
A guard lifted me to my knees while Meat drew his dagger to comply.
“My lord,” Commander Bloodbain said, stepping in front of Meat. “Release the girl to me. I might know of a way to get the truth out of her. And I can think of some other uses for her in the meantime.” His lips twisted into a sneer as he rubbed a lock of my hair between his fingers.
I flinched. Dread coiled in my stomach.
