Page 66 of Zel
They were wearing control collars!
“How did you—”
“How did I know to not trust them?” Lothar said, as Sophie and Gregor lit the sconces on the walls to brighten the room. “Because I knew to not trust you.”
His smirk was insufferable as he approached after closing the door, effectively trapping Zel with the enemy. If he had ever truly had magical luck on his side, that luck had run out.
“The Queen has many trinkets she has bestowed upon me for my services with the guild. This is one, and quite a useful one for spying.” Lothar pulled a gilded hand mirror from his belt, similar to Ulrich’s but gold instead of silver. When he aimed the glass at Zel, it did not reflect him nor the sanctum but an entirely different view, as if through the eyes of another.
It was the Thieves Guild common room. Zel could even see background commotion of members wondering where the phantom cat had gone, which Zel imagined had vanished as soon as Ulrich was caged.
But whose eyes was the mirror seeing through?
“Rudy…” Zel answered his own wondering, for he knew few others with glass over their eyes, and starting the night of Zel’s final mission, Rudy had worn brand-new spectacles.
“Mirrors with various uses are one of the Queen’s favorite tools.” Lothar tucked the mirror away again, since it had doneits job and trapped Zel in his hubris. “I saw everything young Rudy did. Like you killing your own people at the tower. I heard everything as well. To think, you went and fell in love with that monster.”
“You are the monster,” Zel spat. He had to think. He had to subdue Lothar somehow.
“I would have made good on my promises, you know,” Lothar said. “You couldn’t even do that, after all I’ve done for you and your parents these past twenty winters. But, if you submit yourself to me now, perhaps I can be lenient.”
Ulrich shook the bars of his cage behind Zel, and when Zel glanced at him, the fury in Ulrich was palpable. He might not be able to wield magic from there, but he had not lost his luster nor the ominousness of his aura. He kept his blackened hand around one of the bars, even as it sizzled again.
“At least you did part of your job,” Lothar sneered, “since it seems the sorcerer has also fallen for you. But then, who am I to be surprised, when you are so desirable.” He seized Zel’s chin with a sudden lurch, causing Zel’s hood to fall back. Though he instinctively brought up his dagger, Lothar caught him by the wrist. He squeezed so hard that Zel yelped and dropped the dagger to clatter on the stone floor. “I was a little jealous watching my pretty petal’s lips wrap around young Rudy’s prick so lustfully.”
The anger at hearing that pet name again was almost as strong as Zel’s revulsion at Lothar’s touch. Since Rudy had worn his new spectacles that night, Lothar had been able to watch them.
“Do not blame him. He thought the spectacles a gift. He didn’t know about the mirror or how I manipulated him to keep an eye on you with some well-placed doubts about your safety. Honestly, I don’t even care that things have ended like this. I’ll still have the tower and its secrets. And you will still be mine. Whether by free will or with a collar of your own.”
Ulrich raged against the bars again. “You will not touch Zel!”
Lothar threw Zel aside, nearly causing him to trip. His dagger was still at Lothar’s feet. He could use his hair, but how? When? Any move he made had to be the right one, or he would lose the advantage his hair granted him.
Gregor and Sophie flanked the door, having secured their torches into empty sconces. Should Zel free them for reinforcements or focus on Lothar? He had to decide. He had to act! But it had to be at the perfect moment, or everything could be lost.
“I will touch what I want to touch,” Lothar mocked, grinning at Ulrich through the bars. “But first, to deal with you.”
ULRICH
Zel had lost his dagger and seemed to doubt making use of his hair, likely because his parents were involved now, enslaved by Lothar’s collars.
Ulrich had to rein in his anger toward this wretched man—and toward himself for having fallen prey to such an obvious trap. For all their sakes, he had to help Zel regain his resolve.
“Iron, even enchanted this powerfully, cannot kill me,” he informed the overconfident guild master.
“Oh, I know, but this cage can prevent you from using your magic while you’re in it, which is all I need for now. I will keep you here until I learn how to kill you, since it seems my assassin failed.”
“How did you know I would be caught in this cage instead of Zel?”
“It was a gamble. But if things had been reversed, I still had my bargaining chips.” Lothar kicked Zel’s dagger back toward the door. “Sophie, take that. Then, dear Pipers, restrain your daughter.”
Zel faced his parents with a start. Their subjugation complicated what might otherwise have been an easy win. Zel was well trained, but his heart was his weakness and the reason Ulrich knew he deserved better than a cursed life in that tower, however blissful it might seem for a time.
Sophie, who Ulrich remembered well even with the addition of twenty winters and the scar on her cheek Lothar had given her, claimed the dagger and sheathed it among several others on her person. But neither of the collared Pipers made a move toward Zel.
The truth of their stillness almost made Ulrich snort. They had no daughter, not as far as they knew—nor as much as Zel had decided yet.
“Isaid,” Lothar barked impatiently, “restrain Rapunzel now!”
