Page 77 of Ellie 3

Granted our skin was tougher so it was harder to kill us like that, but blades still cut, and if done the right way… The result could easily be catastrophic.

And clearly, Kenneth was scared of what we would ask him. Using potions and magic for interrogations wasn’t just a blanket pass for anything no matter what TV, movies, and books said. It wasn’t until he learned that we were in contact with Aurora that he became unruly and tried to kill himself.

Now that he’d woken up, he was under suicide watch, so it was time to finally handle this and try and move forward.

Try. I wasn’t so deluded to think I could just get the answer I’d long since wanted to know and not struggle with it.

He looked horrible when he was brought in. Rage filled his eyes when he saw us sitting together, but then he did a double take, realizing it wasn’t Aurora but Theresa.

“So that ungrateful bitch isn’t even going to come see me herself but just have her useless attorney harass me to sign the divorce papers?”

“You really do live up to your reputation,” Theresa chuckled darkly, waiting until he sat with a frown. “I’mthat ‘useless attorney,’Father.”

I snickered, unable to cover up my amusement. “The elders were fair when they tore him down about missing details and checking he could read or—”

“That’s enough from you,” he snapped.

“Or what?” I drawled, gesturing around to where we were. “You always think your threats have some sort of bite, Kenneth. But they never did, and now they really are just pathetic.”

He sneered at us. “I have information you want.”

“Yes, and it must be good for you to be such a coward and try to kill yourself before admitting to it,” Theresa mocked. “But you’re so incompetent you couldn’t even do that right. Well, better for justice.” She nodded to the witch we’d brought with us.

“Drink it and don’t fight it or it will be painful and no one here will care about that,” the witch warned him before holding the potion up to his lips.

“And if you even twitch, you won’t like the punishments you receive,” the guard told him firmly.

Kenneth shot Theresa and me looks of hate before he did as he was told.

Oh no, my heart broke that the sexist, useless monster hated me.

Clearly, Theresa felt the same given she was checking her phone. She sighed and tucked it back away. “Did you get permission to record this? I might have to leave sooner than planned. Something blew up with a case and the person covering for me was pulled in.”

“I’ll ask the warden, but I’m sure it will be fine if not shown publicly,” the guard said. “I know they’re worried about the next level of investigations with what will be uncovered here.”

“Nothing can be used from this,” Kenneth snapped after he was done swallowing the potion… That seemed nasty?

I gave the witch a glance and she simply shrugged. Yeah, fine, no need to make it taste good for jerks.

“You know that’s not true or you wouldn’t have tried to kill yourself,” Theresa drawled as she opened her leather-bound notepad. “Instead of the police moving on credible information, Ellie asked for an exception to ask the question herself. She kindly included me so I could ask questions as well. From there, the investigations will be—”

“You are even more disappointing,” Kenneth cut in. “You are my actual heir, not this bastard fraud. This is the first time we’re meeting and you’re siding with—”

“I may not have lived with you, but I also did not live under arock, Kenneth,” Theresa said firmly.

“Stop interrupting me!” he shouted.

“Sexist even hundreds of years later when others have evolved,” she drawled, her lips twitching when I snorted.

“Did you kill my birth mother?” I asked, ready to just get on with it.

He opened his mouth to give a dramatic “no” like a cartoon character. I could see it with the way his lips moved. But then the potion made him hiss out the one word I’d needed to hear for centuries.

“Yesssss.”

I bobbed my head, swallowing loudly. “Why? How?”

Something broke inside of him at being forced to answer and it was like I saw the floodgates open. “Because I’m not as stupid as you all truly think me. I knew the truth about you long before you did andlongbefore Aurora would have guessed. I knew much about the bride I’d bought, and I never remembered such a bizarre physical feature in her bloodline.”

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