Page 87 of In Her Own Rite

“I…” I swallow and run a hand over my hair. I wasn’t prepared for this. “I’ll tell the council you want a guarantee of asylum in order to talk. And I’ll tell them you’re not willing to say anything to verify that you have valuable information. Sigur will take you back. I’ll come talk to you if I hear anything.”

As I walk for the door, her voice comes from behind me, lilting and mock innocent.

“I hope Emerson’s okay.”

I turn around in an instant.

“What?”

“Emerson. Janus Stenberg’s girl.” She looks at me with doe eyes, but there’s a hard edge behind them, the outer ring almost looking silver. “I hope she’s well.”

“What do you know?”

“I. Want. Asylum.”

My breathing comes faster, and I feel the rage and adrenaline coursing through my body. I don’t bother to stop it.

“Listen to me,” I say, grabbing hold of her chair and bringing my face close to hers. “If anything happens to her—if she gets so much as a goddamnpapercutand I find out that you had the knowledge to stop it—you’ll finally get your wish to stay here, because I will tear you limb from limb until there isn’t enough left of you to pick off the fucking floor and mail back to the southern isles in a box.Do you understand?”

I expect her to wither, but instead, a slow smile creeps across her face.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she says coolly. “Do you know why?”

“Why?” I snap, seething.

“Because I know that I have what you want,” she says. “I know you will not let harm come to me so long as you think my knowledge will serve you. And because—” and now she makes her voice a whisper “—I know how it is to make yourself big. So what I see behind that tough exterior is a scared little boy who hassomebodyon this island he will do anything for. And I think I just learned who.”

She leans away from me again, sitting up straight in her chair. “Go ahead and send me back to the basement. You’ll be back to talk to me, even if your council can’t agree.”

She’s right. Anger and venom coursing through me, I slam her chair back against the desk, so she has to brace her bound hands not to fall. Without another word, I storm out of the office.

32

KIERAN

“She won’t talk unless we give her asylum.”

We’re in the common house, each of the pack council elders seated on the ground in a large circle, with community members who want to listen in sitting behind them. I’ve sat in on votes here many times, basically since Seb became a pack elder. It feels wrong that the first council meeting where I can vote is without him here.

“That’s the end of it, then,” says Saga, sitting across from me. The spot behind her, where Gabe usually sits to listen to the council discussion, is empty. “If she were able to give us information that shows that she’s really on our side, we would reconsider the plea. But it’s clear she’s only interested in helping us to save herself.”

“And her sister,” I add.

Saga gives me a look. “Don’t make the mistake of empathizing with her,tekanni. If anything, she’s committed more violence than the others.They’ve destroyed property.Shehurt my son.”

“I’m not empathizing,” I say. “But she may know something that can help us.”

“Whatever information she has, the others in her group will, too,” says Viggo, sitting next to Dagmar on the other side of the room. “If we can’t get her to talk willingly, I’m sure there are other ways to get it out of them.” He gives a sly smile.

Ingela, another pack elder, on my right, looks up. “Surely you’re not alluding to torture.”

“No, no, of course not. But we can see to it that they’re not comfortable. We’ve been keeping them hungry and tired. If we can trade information for extra food, water…”

I set my jaw, remembering how Thalia looked when I saw her in Sigur’s office.

“How likely is that to work?” asks Heimig. “I was there when we brought them in. They’ve all been completely silent, except the sisters.”

Sigur nods. “Ivo and I have separated each of them and tried to talk to each. None of them say anything butHayyala fast, except the two women. The younger one has only asked to see her sister. And Thalia, the older, has asked to speak to Kieran.”

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