Page 130 of Anchor

I tried to shake my head, but it hurt to move when he squeezed me like that. “I don’t—”know what that is,I was going to say, except he squeezed harder and I started choking.

“It’s just a littleface to face,if you will. An old spell, but one that requires cooperation between the spellcaster and its subject.” He was so close to me now that I saw every color of his eyes, every wrinkle on his skin. Goddess, it was so hard to hold my magic back, tonotattack him right now. “A spell that will allow only the truth to come out of your lips. What do you say, Rosabel La Rouge? Can you commit to that, or I should I just kill you right here and now, and save myself the headache?”

I had never heard of a spell like that—or if I did, I couldn’t think straight, not when I could barely breathe. And my instincts, my magic insisted that I unleash it right now, either through the ring or the bracelet—it didn’t matter.

But the truth was that I wasnotgoing to leave this room without finding out where Taland was, and who cared what kind of spell Radock put on me if at the end of it he told me what I needed to know?

This was the price he wanted me to pay, and I would pay it gladly. I had nothing to hide anymore, did I? For once in my life, I had nothing to fucking hide from these people, and that was more freeing than anything.

“Yes,” I choked, and his fingers around me loosened.

Radock was surprised. “Yes?”

“Do your spell. Go ahead.” My hands were already around his forearm, and this time when I pushed him away, he let me. He stepped back, eyes wide and lips parted like he really was that shocked.

“Are you sure about this, l—” Seth started, but Kaid smacked him on the head. At least that’s what it sounded like, though they were behind me and I couldn’t see them. Couldn’t look away from Radock who was still barely two feet away.

They were all deadly, the Tivoux brothers, but right now Radock was the biggest threat, as well as the guy who called the shots, the only one who could tell me where Taland was.

“I’m sure,” I said, never once breaking eye contact with him. “Do whatever spell you want to do. I’ll tell you what you want to know, and then you’ll tell me where Taland is.”

The smile stretched on his face slowly, and this time even a snake couldn’t compare.

“You’ve changed,” he whispered, like he was almost fascinated by the fact.

“Just do your fucking spell,” I spit because time was ticking. He’d said Taland was taken,and now my mind was already imagining all kinds of scenarios, becausetakenmeant he didn’t go willingly. And if someone took him by force…

Is it the IDD? Is it O’Bryan’s team? Is it Hill? Is it Madeline?

Fuck, my head was spinning so fast…

“Very well.” Radock waved a hand up.

Suddenly Seth went to his desk and dragged back a chair that had been to its side. The sound of it felt like nails being dragged down the inside of my skull slowly.

“Sit down, relax. This one is a bit on the longer side.”

Radock was unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt, folding them up, and Kaid put both his hands on my shoulders from behind, then pushed me down onto the chair that Seth had positioned by my legs.

I sat even though my magic raged and my thoughts nearly burst my head open.

“And then you’ll tell me where Taland is.”

Radock finished folding up his sleeves. “Then I’ll tell you where Taland is.”

I didn’t know him well enough to know if he was lying to me or not, but it didn’t matter. Unfortunately for me, this was the only chance I had, the fastest way to find Taland. I’d do whateverit took, no questions asked, even though Seth and Kaid had both come around me now, closer to their brother, and they were looking at me with those awful smiles that were so much like Taland’s but completely different, too.

Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, just run,the voices in my head insisted.

Except if I ran now and somehow managed to get away, how was I going to find Taland?

I stayed put. I breathed in deeply. I looked Radock Tivoux in the eye and realized he could very well do a spell to paralyze me—or maybe they knew one to kill me on the spot, to just stop my heart from beating. People seemed to know all kinds of spells that I spent my whole life believing didn’t even exist—like thislien ad liemspell he claimed would only let me speak truths. A truth spell.

I wondered,does the IDD even know this exists?

Then I laughed at myself for being so silly, for asking such silly questions.

Of course, the IDD knows and of course, they use them and of course, they arebad, bad, bad. I just hadn’t been exposed to the level ofbadthey really were before my team leader was ordered to kill me on the job.

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