Elven Lies (Court of Rebellion #3)

6. Chapter 6

6

B eside her, Maxwell tensed more than ever. Even under the deafening buzz and whine of Harkennr’s experimental technology and the mage’s constant screams ripping from his throat as his own magic crackled out of his body before being so cruelly sucked away, Rebecca could have sworn she heard Maxwell’s furious growl deepening and growing stronger.

If she was on the edge of throwing all their plans out the window and acting on her natural responses to this horrid display, her Head of Security might have already succumbed to them.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye to find Maxwell’s silver eyes strobing almost in time with the pulsing, chugging rhythm of the machines, his mouth open in a vengeful snarl.

It could have been all the flashing lights, but it looked a hell of a lot like his teeth had elongated and sharpened in that second-long glance.

A pulsing blast of urgency and need and full-body rage burned all the way through her bones to overwhelm her the next second.

That had to come from Maxwell too. It certainly wasn’t Rebecca’s magic.

Then she realized—without proof or any explanation for how the knowledge hit her beyond the unimpeded truth—that she’d been right. He really was about to shift.

And that would ruin everything.

Without thinking, Rebecca grabbed his forearm and was shocked to find it hard as stone and trembling beneath Maxwell’s rage and his efforts to control himself.

As soon as she touched him, the burning intensity firing through her entire body faded and eased. Maxwell’s forearm didn’t relax in her grip, but at least the tension rippling through him had lessened.

She didn’t have to say anything. The understanding between them was clear.

This nightmare in front of them was an abomination. It shouldn’t be allowed to exist. And at the same time, their objective here today with Harkennr—for Nyx—was the priority.

Setting this right would have to wait.

The mechanized whine from the metal box rose to an ear-splitting pitch before something clicked and popped. A new burst of nauseating blue-gray steam puffed up from the machine. The mage’s screams cut out as his body sagged back into the chair, pale and shimmering with sweat and entirely limp.

The thick static of concentrated magic and augmented energy still permeated the air, but the sudden silence in comparison left Rebecca’s ears ringing.

“Didn’t I say to keep up?” the dwarf’s unbelievably low voice boomed from farther down the corridor.

Rebecca turned in a daze to see him bustling back toward them, scowling and shaking his head.

When he reached the open door, he ignored his guests in lieu of peeking his head into the room and shouting at the top of his lungs, “Hey! Are you trying to compromise the results here? You know how this works. If I find one more reason to report you, you’ll end up buried in more than just paperwork. Mark my words.”

The orc attendant had barely begun to lift the thick goggles up onto his forehead, gaping at the dwarf in surprise before the dwarf snatched the doorknob and hauled the door shut again with an echoing bang.

Then he finally returned his attention to Rebecca and Maxwell, offering them a curt nod as he tugged down on the bottom hem of his dull brown sweater. “I do apologize for the interruption. We operate on more of a…closed-door policy in this facility. So please, whatever you may have seen today, do keep in mind that it is all proprietary and strictly confidential. Not to be repeated.”

He looked back and forth between Rebecca and Maxwell, searching their expressions until he seemed satisfied with whatever he saw. Then he cleared his throat, and another tiny smile flickered across his lips. “You two got lucky. That orc’s incompetence offered you a sneak peek ahead of schedule. I can’t tell you how rare that is.”

A chuckling snort escaped him before he spun smartly around and continued his shuffling march down the corridor to lead them onward.

Rebecca glanced at the closed door, though no other sound emerged and all the magical lights from within had ceased. Only then did she realize she still gripped Maxwell’s forearm, which she released from her aching hand.

Had that been to keep him steady the whole time and away from shifting into the offensive? Or had she held on so long to reassure herself ?

Maxwell didn’t comment on it either way as they took off after the dwarf once more.

Watching these experimental torture sessions was not, after all, the reason they’d come. But a moment later, Maxwell did lean slightly toward her with another low growl and muttered, “Ahead of schedule? What the fuck does that mean?”

“I wish I knew,” she whispered back. “But I do know that nothing here is what it seems. Keep that in mind.”

She felt his gaze flickering across the side of her face as they followed the dwarf, but he didn’t press her any further about it.

All she knew for certain in this place was that Kordus Harkennr would never let an “incompetent orc” operate his technology or even remain a part of his operation. Not if it was true incompetence. Rebecca and Maxwell were supposed to have seen that little demonstration, up close and personal.

No matter what the dwarf had said, the entire thing had been intentional, meticulously orchestrated to make them feel like they’d gotten a sneak peek, on accident, of something no one was meant to have seen.

But it was all according to Harkennr’s design. Of that much, Rebecca was positive.

She couldn’t say any of that to Maxwell, though. Not here, with the dwarf listening in and any number of hidden cameras and audio-relay devices embedded in the walls and who knew how many other places around the prison.

She could, however, continue her mental inventory of the prison’s interior as the dwarf led them across the facility’s main floor at ground level, as well as form a vague and incomplete mental map of the layout. It was more than they’d previously had and all they were likely to get before coming face-to-face with Harkennr himself. It wouldn’t prepare Shade for a breach mission against the prison, but it was better than nothing.

The building seemed to stretch on forever, down countless intersecting corridors, until the dwarf finally stopped toward what Rebecca assumed was the rear of the building complex. He waited for them in front of a tall, wide door much different than any of the others they’d passed so far.

This one looked far more fitting for the inside of an old, abandoned prison, its thick, dark metal slightly warped and reinforced with corrugated steel. Water stains and streaks of rust lined the door top to bottom. Instead of a knob or handle, this one boasted a heavy iron latch that turned like a crank before emitting a deep, resonating boom from within.

That boom echoed longer still on the other side.

The dwarf hauled open the door and held it open for Harkennr’s guests to catch a better view of what lay beyond.

A burst of cool, dank, slightly humid air billowed into the corridor, released from nothing but thick and heavy darkness beyond. The only visible evidence of where they were headed next were the first three chipped stone steps descending into that cloying darkness, cooler temperatures, and more dank wetness with every step down.

This led either to the basement or an even worse dungeon, which would have felt overdone in a prison if it were run now by anyone but Harkennr.

“This is as far as I go,” the dwarf boomed at them. “But you’ll find what you’re looking for down below. Do enjoy the remainder of your stay.”

He gestured toward the dark staircase with another flickering smile neither mischievous nor foreboding—merely the perfunctory professionalism of hospitality and having completed his purpose.

Rebecca suspected that even if she found the words to ask their guide any number of questions racing through her mind, he’d answer none of them. It seemed the dwarf had reached the end of his pre-scripted dialogue and would do nothing else until she and Maxwell descended these stairs and moved on to the next phase.

They were expected to walk down these steps into a dark, cold, moldy, nasty basement with no clue as to what waited for them at the bottom.

“You’ll find what you’re looking for down below.”

The dwarf’s final send-off could literally have meant anything—the perfect level of cryptic vagueness Harkennr had always enjoyed so much.

This entire setup was meant to keep her and Maxwell on edge, alert and wary of everything, battling with their own instincts and experience, because giving in to any of them would defeat the purpose of having entered this prison as Harkennr’s invited guests.

Another manipulative tactic Rebecca remembered the warlock loving too damn much.

“I don’t like this,” Maxwell muttered beside her.

Rebecca stared down into the darkness. “I’m pretty sure that’s the point.”

“Walking into that , unarmed and unprepared? Even a green rookie would know better.”

Rebecca glanced at the dwarf standing statue-still beside the open door and staring straight ahead. Was that meant to simulate a form of privacy or to unnerve them that much more before they made a decision?

Both options made her gut churn.

“We came here for a reason, Hannigan,” she murmured, tearing her gaze away from the dwarf and hoping she looked as reassuring as she tried to sound. Maxwell didn’t need reassuring, surely, but it still felt necessary. “We’re here for Nyx. Barring that, nothing else really matters. Trust me, if there was any other way…”

Maxwell’s silver eyes flickered toward the dwarf before he rolled them and let out another low growl, this one in begrudging defeat. “As you wish.”

She didn’t. Rebecca didn’t wish for any of this, but the chances of not descending into the bowels of the prison and still recovering Nyx at the end of all this were non-existent. Maxwell had to understand that much, at the very least.

“We better get to it, then,” she said and took a step toward the yawning black doorway.

“Don’t.” When Maxwell’s warm hand settled lightly on her shoulder, the jolting tingle racing through Rebecca’s being at the contact made her shiver. The surprising pleasure of it and the intensity hinting at more to come made her feel terrible.

Nearly succumbing to a sensation like that in a horrendous place like this filled her with a squirming nausea, as if she were betraying herself and everything she tried to be as Rebecca Knox.

As if she were betraying Nyx.

Maxwell saved her from it when he murmured, “Let me go first, at least.”

“Not a chance.”

His hand slid from her shoulder and took the numbing fog of connection and desire with it.

Only then could she bring herself to look at him. “It’s wide enough to go down side by side.”

Maxwell narrowed his eyes before scanning the looming darkness. She didn’t think he would agree, not after how much time he’d spent insisting the Roth-Da’al required constant guarding as part of his job.

But then he swallowed and nodded once. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Side by side was better than relenting to an escort. In this place, it wouldn’t matter who went first or how diligently Maxwell tried to maintain appearances acting as her Head of Security, number one, and bodyguard all at once. The regulations and protocols of a task force like Shade didn’t apply within the walls of Harkennr’s compound.

Rebecca and Maxwell were equals here, with the playing field leveled to the ground by Harkennr’s design. Anything beyond that was more likely to get them killed.

Nothing left now but to enter the stairwell and keep moving forward.

So they did, stepping down onto the first stair together, side by side, then the next, moving ever downward toward the nasty darkness of the prison’s basement, with no idea what lurked down there, waiting for them once they reached the bottom.

Now that they were here, though, so much closer to their goal, Rebecca realized with horrifying uncertainty that she might have misjudged Harkennr in this. That was always a possibility.

If that were the case, she and Maxwell could be descending to their deaths together—or, knowing Harkennr, something far worse.

And there were far worse things than death in this prison. They’d already seen it with their own eyes.