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And this is the moment I know I’m in deep. Really deep. If Bhoja is being this subservient than this guy has rank. Enough rank that Bhoja’s worried about it. The cold racing over my skin drops another few degrees and I force myself to swallow.
“Drink,” the Maulavi encourages. “This is low quality, but it will serve.”
He takes his own drink and I take as small a sip as I can possibly manage. It still burns terribly.
“You have questions?” I ask.
“Yes, I do,” he says, smacking his lips. “You say you were captured. Five of you. That you, what was it? Oh, slipped free of the lizards?”
I nod but he stares, waiting. I sit as long as I can but it makes my skin crawl and I want to shift in my seat.
“Yes,” I say, caving under his icy stare.
“Hmm,” he says, sipping his drink, then staring into the liquid. “This does not make sense.”
“It’s what happened,” I counter.
“So you say,” he says, slowly weaving his glass in a circle causing the dark alcohol to swirl. “But for me, you see, this makes no sense. How can this be that you slipped free of the lizards? Do you hate them?”
“Not particularly,” I say.
“Do you consider them stupid?”
“No,” I say.
“No? Hmm, you see, neither do I. And therein lies the problem doesn’t it. If they are not stupid, then how did not one but five of you slip away from their watches? Avoid their patrols? Hmm?”
“We planned it ahead,” I lie.
Stick to the lie. Don’t say too much. You’ll only give him rope to hang you. Say as little as possible and as much of the truth as possible.
“Ah, of course,” he says nodding sagely. “Planned ahead. Why would the lizards be immune to a human’s plan?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I answer.
He stares, silent, and somehow that is worse. So much worse than when he is probing. His eyes bore into me, heavy with suspicion. It feels as if tiny bugs are crawling over my skin. I want to itch myself but suppress the urge. He leans in closer and behind him I see Bhoja stiffen.
“A mistake,” he says softly, barely a whisper.
“What is?” I ask, my mouth and throat dry.
My voice quavers despite my efforts to sound and be brave. He resumes the stare. It goes on and on. Seconds tick past marked only by the thundering beats of my heart so loud in my own ears that I only know I didn’t miss him speaking because his mouth hasn’t moved.
I’m aware of Bhoja standing behind him but he is part of another room. Somehow this intimidating Urr’ki creates the space around us and in it there is only us. There is no room for Bhoja and though he is there and protective of me, his protection is too far away.
I don’t know what it is I fear, exactly, but I fear it. I’m so afraid my stomach quivers, chills rush over my skin, and it is all I can do to not leap from the chair and run. Probably the only thing stopping me is where would I go?
To Bhoja. He would protect me.
No. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He can’t protect me from this. No in this moment, this situation, I must protect him. He doesn’t know the truth and this Maulavi cannot know it either. Yes I was sent here. Yes the Zmaj Alpha knows we are here. But we’re not here for the reasons the Maulavi thinks. I’m here to find a path to peace. We all are though I doubt they would believe me if I told him. I don’t think Bhoja would believe me, much less this guy who clearly wants to find me guilty of something. Anything will do, or so it seems.
Suddenly he leans back and it leaves me gasping. I had been holding my breath waiting for him to accuse me or worse. When he doesn’t time speeds back up and I almost fall into the void left where he was a moment before. He leans back in his chair and rubs his chin.
“We could, of course, question you elsewhere. Using… harsher methods,” he says.
It’s clear he’s referring to the idea of torturing me if for no other reason than the growl that slips from Bhoja, but he says it conversationally. As if it’s nothing more than commenting on the weather or the colors of a sun set.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” I say.
