Page 81 of Death of the Glass Angel
A small smile briefly flickered across the man’s face before he continued. “You lost your younger brother in an accident a few years back. A fire created by an inexperienced evoker raged out of control. You were lucky to survive.”
Des hardened her gaze. Thank the twin gods, it was not Janus who spoke with this man.
“Was it truly an accident?” The man pressed.
“Yes,” Des answered honestly. Though Janus blamed herself, the act had not been malicious, far from it.
“Interesting.” The man did not seem convinced. “Did anyone leave the palace shortly thereafter? Or did someone new appear before the incident?”
Des glanced down, thinking. “No. Why are you asking about this?”
The man tapped a finger on his wrist. “Your tutor is an interesting man. First, a professor at Valeria, and now your father’s court mage.”
Des cocked her head. “First my brother, now my tutor. What do they have to do with you kidnapping or killing stormborns?”
“Gemellus’ past is a mystery, despite his supposed credentials. Do you know much about him?”
“Nothing at all. He’s, as you say, a mystery.”
“Hm.” The man’s mouth twitched. He was studying her, searching her for lies.
These questions were not what Des expected. An intelligence glimmered in the man’s dark eyes, but he spoke veritable nonsense.
“Tell me this, then. Why did your father send you alone?”
“He thought it would be a good experience for me,” Des replied. “A chance to see new places and meet new people.”
The man pressed a thumb to his chin. After a hesitation, he spoke. “Your answers don’t strike me as dishonest.”
“Brilliant deduction,” Des said dryly. “Who are you working for?”
Again refusing to answer, the man stood and approached, laying one hand on the side of Des’s face. His countenance shifted to one of deep concentration, and Des felt a pressure on her mind, like fingers raking through her brain. This man was an evoker.
“Don’t resist.” The man ordered. “And it will not hurt.”
Des immediately reacted, attempting to escape the man’s grasp. Her head cracked against the wall painfully. The man drew his blade, pressing it to her throat. Des went limp.
Memories swirled in Des’s mind as the man sifted through everything she had lived through. Gods, but it hurt like knives raking through her skull. She tensed, feeling the blade dig into her skin.
Wincing, Des could only watch as a passenger in her own body as she relived the past, watching it alongside the uninvited guest. He scoured her mind, searching for something.
Eventually, he released her. Des’s head pounded and her vision blurred.
The final memory he’d lingered on replayed before her eyes. An insignificant day in Evander’s study, where the wind had blown his collar aside.
The only time Des had glimpsed the pendant he wore.
“You don’t have it.” The man muttered. He pounded on the door. “Take her away.”
* * *
Nervous shivers ran down Talon’s spine as he was led down a dark hall. If anything happened to Des on his watch. ..
His escort opened a heavy stone door and shoved him inside.
Talon knew an interrogation room when he saw one. A chair in the center of the room, shackles lying on the floor, faint bloodstains on the stone, and a cart of unhappy instruments sitting nearby.
Wonderful.
