Page 61 of Finding Closure

I felt magic flare, and one of the guards bowed to me, explaining they gave him a slight sedative rune anytime he worked himself up into a fit.

Wow, Mason had really unraveled then. There was a standard protocol for this and everything. He looked like he’d lost fifty pounds at least, and he hadn’t had any fat to lose. It was muscle, and he looked… Defeated.

It didn’t bring me any joy. He was ill. I actually felt bad for his bear.

Neldor told me that the healers checked him weekly before I could even ask. I thanked him and went to sit off to the side to look over what I needed to.

“I thought I’d be glad to see him locked up, but I feel bad for his bear,” Julian mumbled as he sat next to me. “I never liked him, and his aura gave me the creeps which was odd to me when I grew up around evil. But… Death is better than this.”

I nodded, unable to be impartial and knowing that, so it was best to just stay out of it.

“What are you looking over?” he asked me.

“The options for my cleanse before the coronation,” I told him, chuckling when he looked confused. “There are a lot ofrituals and beliefs about fasting, but fairies can’t. A cleanse is the same principle, but it’s more like I won’t have Earth food or anything processed two days before the coronation. The options are fairly basic and a lot of—”

“You’re really becoming queen?” Mason growled, ignoring the people trying to talk to him.

I raised my head and saw he was kneeling and holding onto the bars of his cage, his eyes boring into me. “Wow, they really don’t tell you anything, do they?”

He bared his teeth at me. “This hell you’ve subjected me to is—”

“You would get better if you would stop trying to end your ‘suffering,’” Neldor drawled. “And we all know it. Your thoughts are filled with killing yourself like it’s going to hurt Tams somehow when no one cares, Mason. Your family has washed their hands of you. Your sloth won’t speak your name. You didn’t have friends besides Juan.

“You want to be the monster in her mind because you didn’t win and have your name haunt her like you won somehow.” He gestured to me calmly sitting and looking over my tablet. “Yeah, she’s terrified, asshole. You lost. You’re not the boogeyman or anything scary. You’re not remotely an actual threat.Youdo this toyouby not behaving.”

I snorted. “The most powerful general of the Underground was the only real threat I went up against. Ancient Simimar, but I was smarter because of Luke. Fuck, my uncle wasn’t even a real threat. Not really.”

Mason’s head about exploded as it was overloaded. Then he shook it off and tried to rally. “You really turned out to be a whore, Tams. So which of them are you fucking and—”

Lucca’s arm was suddenly between the bars and Mason’s nose exploded with blood. He winced and glanced at me. “Sorry, cream puff.”

“You can’t hurt him when he’s in our custody, you stupid bear,” I said with a chuckle. “And I’m fine. Really, this doesn’t bug me anymore. Get your closure and whatever you need, and then we can move on to the next meeting or crazy, okay? I think we just have some training with interviewing who you’re worried about.”

Relief filled his eyes as he realized I had a plan. Yeah, of course I’d have Guardians talk to these bears using telepathy runes. I wasn’t about to let Lucca get taken down from the inside by these fools or be set up to fail.

Not in this lifetime or the next.

Mason couldn’t let it go and I got annoyed, handing my tablet to Julian and getting to my feet. I walked over to him and rolled my eyes. “I’m fucking everyone here. Feel better now? Is that what you wanted to hear? Does that make your fucking crazy validated somehow, you psycho?”

Darby snickered and tried to cover up his amusement, but then Hudson coughed and shared a look with Juan before the dragons burst out laughing.

“You’re special,agra,” Darby chuckled as he moved closer and hugged me, kissing my neck as he spun us. “I’m relieved that he really is in your past.”

“I might not tell you guys everything or know how to open up about it all, but I don’t lie,” I told him gently. I glanced over at Lucca. “I don’t know that he’s going to be of any use while I’m here. Ask what you can, but we’ll just tell the Guardians and…” I trailed off when Mason looked near panic.

“Clearly, the training isn’t fun,” Neldor surmised. “I mean the runes and how they interrogate isn’t. You’ve experienced it now that you can put it on yourself. I would guess trying different options on him for research was a lot to go through.”

“I haven’t done anything new to deserve this,” Mason bitched as he smacked the bars. “You can’t put me through this forever and—”

“We can, but you’re not fucking abused,” Neldor drawled. “Two mornings a week. That’s it. They come bring Guardians to train, working with you two mornings a week. You could have a comfortable life the rest of the time, but—I’m not repeating this. You’re putting on a show. I hear it in your head.”

Asshole. Of course Mason was.

I decided to just cut to the chase and put on a show myself. “Lucca’s taking over the sloth for his father. We have some questions about the leadership of your sloth that took over for your father. There’s some pushback. We don’t want your council involved, and since we have you here…” I shrugged.

Mason studied me a moment and then snorted. “What did Ronald do now? There’s no way pussy over there actually allowed you to punish his father for all he did to you. That’s why you’ll never work out. That’s why I know you’re lying that you’re back together. You’re vicious, Tams. You would never love someone who loved an asshole like Ronald. And Lucca does.”

I leaned in like I was going to share a secret. “We’re not here to gossip with you, asshole. This isn’t a trade of information. This is you telling us what you know while Neldor’s listening or you having a few weeks of questioning because now we have a focus to pick your brain about.” I smirked at him. “But it’s pathetic you think you can speak about who I am.”

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