Page 85 of The Horned King

All night long, I've cut, and I've skinned, and I've filleted fucking fish.

With nothing to show for it except two piles of fucking sashimi. I cut slices of their legs off, and as soon as they're no longer attached, they turn back into their original scaly state.

The two Syrens, one of whom happened to be the lead singer of the band, and Shan either have very adept skills at withstanding torture, or they truly have had their memories tampered with to ensure they couldn't ruin the plot.

Obviously, it's not unheard of. I have my own memory tamperer just off the castle grounds. They're not all that hard to find. But who, then, is orchestrating all of this? I ask the same questions for the 100th time, rewording them differently each time, hoping for a new answer. Or even a new question to ask.

"What do you remember?" I ask Shan when his sniffling and pissing has ceased. "Why give away your memories?"

"We had to!" one of the Syrens shouts from the opposite side of the cell. "We were told the only things we could know were our names and our missions."

Fucking Gods above. Useless, useless captives.

"And what was your mission?" I ask her, watching as her blood leaks through holes in her abdomen. Not enough to kill, but immensely painful from the rusty, rough-edged paring knife.

"Dance and sing. Add to the band's spell. Then hide until they come for me." Her eyes glaze over, from the pain or the missing memories, I can't be sure.

"And you?" I ask the other Syren.

"Sing a song, lead the band. Then hide until they come for me."

"Fucking fuck, here we go again."

Before I can ask Shan, he answers already, all of us knowing his is my least favorite answer, "Kill the girl, make it quick, no need for her to suffer. Then hide until they come for me."

I'm not sure whose skull I want to bash into the wall more, mine or theirs. Even the Syren I already killed doesn't have any helpful information. Distract the king. Then hide until they come for me. Those two sentences repeated in her head over and over again until I couldn't stand to hear them anymore, and I released her soul and body, letting them both rest.

"Who was coming?" I ask through gritted teeth. "A man? Woman? A mortal at all? A caravan of them?"

Shan shrugs. "I don't know. All I know is that someone would come find me and give me my memories back."

"Why would you agree to this? What do you gain?"

"Legs!" the girls scream for the umpteenth time. "We just wanted legs!"

My head aches. "And you were willing to be a part of this scheme just because you didn't want tails anymore? Are they really so terrible?"

"Yes! Well, no."

I wait for her to amend her statement or add to it.

"I just wanted to be with the man I love. And he lives on land," the one called Veil tells me, the first new information I've gained in hours.

"And who is this man that you love?"

Her fingers rub against her temples as she tries to remember. "I don't know."

If I stand here even for one more minute, I'm going to kill all of them. I already lost it on the band, removing their souls from their bodies within moments. They spoke in garbled nonsense, knowing nothing but how to play music. Whoever has been messing with memories destroyed every bit of humanity in them, leaving behind only their talents.

It was a mercy to put them down, and it almost took the edge off my rage. But now, I'm feeling even more murderous than before, and if I kill the prisoners, there's no reason to believe their memories will somehow materialize in death, and I'll be even further away from the answers I seek.

"Kai," Raya's voice carries down the hallway. "You cannot still be down here. You need to rest."

I close my eyes briefly, the world spinning behind them due to my exhaustion. "I can't, not yet. Not until I get answers."

"You're exhausted." She suddenly appears far closer than she was a moment ago. I must have dozed off for a second. "You need to get some sleep, or you'll be useless."

I know she's right. I need to sleep, but when I sleep, so will all of my undead, leaving my castle with only half of its protectors. It's just about shift change, the living taking over for the dead, so I can at least get a few hours.

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