Page 5 of Elven Lies

The mage’s wild eyes settled on the figurine, then he stared at it before nodding blankly. “Yeah, that… That’s the one.”

“I don’t get it,” Whit cut in. “I mean, unless that thing has the guy’s name written on it, there’s no other way for any of us to know who took her and left that hunk of rock in her place.”

Rebecca pulled open the center drawer of her enormous desk and grabbed the first humanoid figurine she’d received from Harkennr. The stone’s cold, smooth weight in her hand felt like an ominous portent of all the danger that still awaited them—regardless of a Shade operative having just been kidnapped by a potential enemy.

Only she was certain there was nopotentialabout Kordus Harkennr. No amount of seemingly harmless invitations would ever change that.

With that first stone figurine clenched in her fist, she shoved the center drawer shut again, only for it to jam on her with aninch and a half of space left. After jiggling the drawer a few times and realizing it wouldn’t budge, she let out a frustrated grunt and forced herself to ignore the furniture for now.

Instead, Rebecca returned her attention to the magicals sitting around the table and lifted the first figurine for everyone to see. “How do I know it was Kordus Harkennr? Because he’s already sent me one of these before.”

The first figurine clinked down onto the surface of her desk when she set it gently beside the second—dark and light stone, contrasting side by side.

The others stared at her proof, then Leonard snorted. “Oh, great. Who else got kidnapped?”

“She received a package shortly after thehuur-akíl,” Maxwell explained.

“There were only two things in it,” Rebecca added. “A congratulatory note—”

“If you can even call it that,” Maxwell grumbled.

“And that figurine.” She nodded toward the two crude stone shapes standing guard on her desk.

Leonard’s face scrunched up in pure bafflement. “Are you serious?”

Both Whit and Rick looked just as clueless as to the meaning and purpose of those figurines, though they concealed it better than the mage.

Bor and Zida, however, exchanged a knowing look, just as Rebecca had expected. She also expected them both to keep their mouths shut about it, which was probably for the best.

Of course those two would have recognized the offering of those figurines for what they were, as well as all the inherent implications. Shade’s resident cook and healer were two of only a handful of true old-worlders among Shade’s ranks, just like Harkennr.

Just like Rebecca.

“All of it came from Kordus Harkennr,” Rebecca said. “He signed his name on the letter in his little care package. After that, he assumed—correctly—that he wouldn’t need to leave his name again when he left a second message on Nyx’s empty bed.”

Then she studied each of their faces, gauging the striking lack of reaction on every expression.

So not even the two other old-worlders sitting at this table so much as recognized the name, huh?

That still benefitted Rebecca in a small way, because now their questions about the guy were far less likely to include those too dangerous for her to answer with complete honesty.

On the other hand, it meant she had her work cut out for her in convincing her task force just how dangerous Harkennr was, no matter how many signs pointed to the exact opposite.

And she was certain they would.

“We have far less confirmed intel on Harkennr than I would like,” Maxwell continued, “but here’s the sum total of what we do know.

“Currently, he runs his operation out of the Old Joliet Prison, which isn’t as abandoned and empty as everyone thinks it is. The compound is well guarded and heavily armed. We might even go so far as to call it a defensive fortress. Its forces are large in number, and from what I’ve seen, they know what they’re doing. Harkennr runs a tight ship.

“The rest is pure conjecture on my part. This is one sadistic son of a bitch. That prison is filled with illegally captured and trafficked magicals Harkennr uses as experiment subjects inside the compound. We’ve also confirmed he consistently brings in new shipments of abducted victims to add to his…collection.”

“Victims?” Leonard screeched, nearly jumping out of his chair again. “Experiments? Y-you mean Nyx isn’t the only one?”

Rebecca forced back a grimace, trying to maintain her composure in the face of these abhorrent facts she and Maxwell now got to share with the others. “We have reason to believe—”

“This motherfucker took Nyx to experiment on her!” Leonard shrieked. “Totortureher! And we’re just sitting around talking about it?”

The office exploded with a violent thump when Maxwell pounded a fist down onto the table. “One more outburst, Saldrich, and you’ll sit out the rest of this briefing.”

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