Page 21 of Dark Gambit Reliance

"We are not staying the night," Mia said. "Housekeeping will come tomorrow and change the bedding."

"Still, I don't like the idea of getting into a clean bed with dirty clothes. I'll just take off my pants and jacket. The T-shirt underneath is okay." She glanced at the Guardians. "I hope none of you needs to get into that bedroom."

Morgan lifted his hands in the air. "No worries. No one other than Marcel and Mia will go in there."

"Thank you. Before I forget, Eleanor and Asher asked for some food to be sent down to them. And if you have something for our cat, that would be great."

Mia's eyes widened. "I'm such a bad hostess. I didn't even offer you anything to drink. You must be parched after the long walk you had."

"I'm on it," Bradley said.

Mia glared at him. "I might be in a wheelchair, but I'm not helpless."

"Of course not." The Guardian rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "May I help, though?"

"Yes, you may." Mia turned her chair around and drove toward the kitchen.

16

KIAN

"Let the show begin." Marcel positioned the tablet so the camera faced the two bound and tranquilized hybrids. "Can you see them clearly?"

"We can," Kian said.

He, Turner, and Onegus were watching the interrogation from his office, and like they had done with Sofia, they wouldn't be visible to the other side, and only Marcel would hear them through his earpiece. If they had any questions, he would relay them.

As the tranquilizer effect started to wear off, and the males became cognizant of their situation, they began struggling against the chains holding them.

"Stop," Toven commanded. "Look at me."

Their struggle ceased immediately.

"That was impressive," Turner murmured.

It was, but it was nothing compared to the ease with which Toven broke through Igor's compulsion.

"You can talk about any and everything that Igor has ever commanded you not to reveal, and you will answer all my questions truthfully and without holding anything back."

He'd said that he wouldn't be as gentle with the hybrids as he had been with Sofia, and Kian had expected him to do a quicker job of releasing them from Igor's compulsion, but as he watched the god break through it in mere seconds, he was just as impressed as Turner was.

Perhaps the lingering effects of the tranquilizer had made the hybrids' brains easier to manipulate, or perhaps it had been the experience Toven had gained by going through the process with Sofia, or maybe the compulsion just didn't stick as strongly to hybrid minds.

"What is your name?" Toven asked the one on the left.

"Anton," the hybrid answered with a slight Russian accent.

Toven was fluent in the language, but he knew that Kian and Onegus weren't, and he continued the interrogation in English.

"What's your position in Igor's organization?" Toven asked.

"I'm a guard."

"What were you sent to do?"

"Follow Sofia."

"Why?"

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