Chapter Thirty-Three #2
His chest heaved and he remained silent until my grip tightened. Grimacing, he hung his head and spoke to my chest.
“You want the others.”
My grin was vicious and it was probably a good thing that he couldn’t see it. The others were exactly what I wanted, but I couldn’t let him know he was right.
“Are you sure?”
I could scent his pain. His fear. He’d given up fighting his kethra and they shone with it.
“There aren't many of us. Not who are willing to do anything besides talk.”
I waited in silence, watching him. It was a half-truth, and vague enough that it was useless.
He lifted his head, opening his mouth then closing it, as if he hoped that had been enough. I twisted, the dull thump of his joint giving a small drop of satisfaction that did nothing to quench the flames of fury.
“Wait!”
His voice trembled and I heard him trying to swallow down the bile rising from the pain.
“We are divided. Kept in small groups. Most never know more than a few others.”
It was smart. Keeping everyone separate meant that capturing one wouldn't expose them all.
I took hold of the next finger and his green skin blanched.
“Nine.”
I arched a brow.
“Nine what?”
Rhydek’s voice rumbled from behind the rebel and he startled as if he’d forgotten the other alpha was there.
“Here. In Korvashan. There were only nine of us left willing to take action.”
I stared at him.
Nine?
We had expected dozens.
“You're lying.”
I tightened my grip.
“No!”
I bent his finger but stopped before the joint popped.
“There are only eight now! There were more before, but we knew Rhydek was trying to find us, and the others were too scared after the last group died.”
His shouts echoed from the stone.
“I swear by Shaevrin. Some left Korvashan, others said we'd already lost. That the Torvakai and Torashkar had made their decision, and there was nothing we could do. You already killed Deyrath in the Archives. There are only six others still free!”
I straightened his finger but kept hold of it.
“Only six?”
He nodded, sweat dripping from his face as relief ran through me.
Six wasn't an army, it was barely a problem. A dangerous one, but a problem that could be hunted down and removed.
Suspicion came next. Nine warriors seemed like too few to have planned and carried out the attacks.
“Why the explosion?”
His jaw clenched. His expression said he didn't want to tell me, and I couldn’t help chuckling. His kethra flared until I released his finger, then for a heartbeat, relief crossed his face.
Until I grabbed his whole hand.
His scream started before I even applied pressure. When I squeezed, he thrashed, kicking and fighting, but there was no give in his chains.
“Who?”
It was the question that mattered.
His eyes squeezed shut and I tightened my hand. His scream turned shrill as bones shifted within my grip, and for a brief moment I worried he’d lose consciousness.
“I don’t know!”
I stopped squeezing.
“What?”
“Th—The charge. It wasn't ours.”
I stared at him as he panted. His eyes were dull, and he was starting to shiver. Shock was setting in and he wouldn’t be useful for much longer.
“Explain.”
It took him three more breaths to speak.
“We were told there would be a charge planted on the far wall to help us get away.”
“By who?”
“I—I don't know.”
I squeezed and he screamed again, hanging from the chains holding his wrists in place.
“I don't! I don’t!”
I heard the second prisoner shout something but couldn’t make it out, so I ignored him.
“Someone told you they were going to blow the wall?”
“Yes.”
His eyes were closed and his voice a broken whisper when I eased my grip.
“By who?”
He shook his head, letting out a groan.
“I never met him.”
“Then how were you told they would be there?”
He gulped a breath.
“A message was left for us in the statue of Zaryth in the Fungus Gardens.”
The location meant nothing to me, but Rhydek would investigate it.
“Who told you to attack Elaina in the Archives?”
Silence.
I shifted my grip and a strangled cry left his throat.
“A messenger told us the attack at Khavren failed. Another message was left telling us to find her in the Archives.”
“The messenger?”
He released what almost sounded like a sob.
“I don't know.”
I waited for a moment before moving on.
“Male?”
He nodded.
“His luth’rein?”
His hesitation was so slight another might have missed it, but I didn't. I started to squeeze.
“I couldn’t see! He—He covered himself. Wore a thavren. I never saw more than his eyes.”
“Color?”
“Amber.”
“Scent?”
He hesitated again before whispering, “He used shyrek.”
My eyes narrowed. Shyrek was hard to produce and harder to buy. There were few who would have access to it, but it was a convenient excuse.
Except I’d seen the way the rebel cringed as he said it, knowing I wasn’t going to believe him.
I glanced over his shoulder and met Rhydek’s eyes. He nodded, thinking the same thing.
“Yet you trusted him?” I asked the sagging male before me.
He nodded wearily, letting out a breath when I didn’t squeeze.
“He knew things.”
Curious, I cocked my head.
“What things?”
Another hesitation as the rebel’s eyes met mine, then flitted away. I barely tensed my hand before he was talking again.
“Patrols. When warriors changed posts. Where each of the Humans were at specific times.”
My blood chilled and I barely kept my kethra calm.
“Anything else?”
He swallowed before answering.
“He knew about the Humans.”
We hadn’t kept it secret that we were taking Human mates, but the exact times of the galas and our return would have been harder to discover.
“Before they arrived?” I confirmed, and he nodded.
The only way someone would have known the women were coming to Morrakan before they arrived was if they were on the ship, or in communication with someone who was.
We’d suspected a rebel was on the Zeydrassk, but the Zeydrassk and her crew were currently on the other side of the galaxy chasing the Skarashk.
“How?”
He groaned again and shook his head.
“I don't know.”
My grip tightened automatically even though his tone told me he was telling the truth.
“I don't! We asked, but he said it didn't matter.”
I snarled in his face, finally letting my fury show.
“Then what did matter?”
He gave me a look as if it was obvious even as he gagged.
“Stopping them!”
I scoffed, easing my grip once more.
“Why?”
The prisoner's face twisted into something approaching disgust.
“You know why.”
A spark of the pride that had kept him standing before returned, but I pressed my forearm against him, pinning him to the bars with my face a breath from his.
“No. Tell me.”
His lip twitched like he wanted to snarl but he thought better of it. His voice was a controlled hiss when he answered.
“They're changing us. Making us weak.”
The words came with more venom.
“Humans come here and invade our home. Corrupt our customs and years of tradition. Our blood.”
My lip lifted and I let out a low growl.
“You tried to murder my mate because she kisses me and reads our books?”
His own chest vibrated, the alpha part of him unable to ignore a challenge despite his circumstances.
“She shouldn't be here. You shouldn’t have claimed her!”
My fist hit his face before I decided to move. His head snapped sideways and blood sprayed from his mouth. I caught his throat before he could slump, lifting him as high as his chains allowed.
“She. Is. Mine!”
His eyes rolled toward me, and I tightened my claws until the tips pierced his flesh before controlling myself. We still needed more information.
“The messenger?”
His gaze remained on me and I shook him, but he refused to speak.
Releasing him, I let his chains catch his weight as he dragged in desperate gasps. Crouching, I dragged a finger through the sand of the kennel floor.
The rebel's breathing slowed and his expression grew wary, making me grin once more.
“What is the purpose of killing the Humans?”
His brows bunched and his lip curled back.
“To protect Morrakan.”
I tossed my head back and laughed, rising. He still hung limp against his chains, but his head followed me.
“How?”
He huffed, taking two breaths before answering.
“Once they start coming, they won’t stop. Torvakai, Torashkar, Torthyrrak, and now Torvashek… all bound and weakened by Human females. All influenced, poisoned by their ways.”
My thoughts moved quickly. Someone had found a group of dissatisfied Morraki, fed their fears, provided intelligence, and when their resistance failed to accomplish enough, he'd pushed them toward blood.
“Our warriors, leaders, the ones who decide what Morrakan becomes, have all fallen to them. It won’t be long before they bring down all of us, and it will be your fault.”
His fear was genuine. I could smell it.
I turned, staring out into the night. The wind howled past the open end of the kennel, the stars twinkling overhead.
He didn't know anything more.
I turned to face him once again but focused on Rhydek in the corridor beyond.
“That's all he knows.”
The rebel’s eyes went wide.
“No!”
He shook his head, but I cocked a brow and sighed.
“It is.”
He swallowed hard and I knew he was trying to think of what to say to stop me, but he had outlived his usefulness.
“You haven’t given me names or descriptions. You’re useless.”
He stared, mouth hanging open as he tried to regain his feet and stand upright.
“But you said—”
I cut him off.
“I said nothing.”
His mouth closed with a snap as I stepped toward him.
“You decided to talk. I never promised what would happen if you did.”
His pupils were so wide they almost looked round like a Human’s.
“So, give me a reason not to kill a male who harmed my korravai.”
The first name came quickly. Then another. By the third, he was trembling.
I made him repeat them. Locations where they met or left messages. How they communicated. Everything he knew.
Sighing, I crossed my arms and shook my head.
“You have nothing left to offer.”
He blinked before his eyes went wide. I tipped my head, waiting to see if he’d contradict me.
“I told you everything I know.”
I believed he had. It was enough for us to track down others, who would then give us more names.