Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
SOFIA
W hen Fox walked through the door to their prison hallway, Sofia thought the moment had come. He returned to ask about the prayer.
But Fox wasn’t alone. He was being dragged by two soldiers in full regalia, his face smeared with blood and his wrists in chains. Sofia’s stomach dropped, and she heard Flor let out a series of curses beside her as the general filed in behind them looking smug, as if arresting his son was his greatest triumph as a soldier.
They moved down the hall until they were directly in front of Sofia’s cell, the general piercing her with his gaze. She returned the glare with all the malice she could muster, refusing to back down despite the hammering of her heart.
“Arresting your son now? That’s a new low even for you,” she said, barely running her eyes over at Fox. A million things could have gone wrong. Either that or this was a trick. She needed to know.
He ignored her, turning to his men. “Throw him in with his whore.”
Sofia didn’t think, spitting out the bile that had been rising in her throat at the feet of the men.
One of the soldiers threw open the bars, grabbing her by the hair and tossing her back as the other shoved Fox in. His knees cracked on the stone floor as he fell and Sofia scrambled up, ready to claw at the soldiers even as they retreated behind the closed cell door.
“What are you playing at?” she said, snarling. “I don’t want this Dereyan scum in here with me.”
A moment later, the general pulled a feather and a book from beneath his jacket, dropping them on the ground in front of her cell. The cover was faded and stained, impossible to read, but the feather said enough.
Sofia had placed her trust in the right person, after all. And yet everything she’d worked for had still imploded.
“I found my son performing some heathen ritual against the king and true god with this thing, ” the general said. “The chief commander is already on his way to decide the next steps.” He stepped forward, leaning just far enough away she wouldn’t be able to strangle him through the bars. “It’s obvious you aren’t giving up the information we need. Time to make an example of what happens when you work against the king.”
“You can kill each and every one of us and it still won’t stop the resistance,” Sofia said. “The Dragonborn will keep fighting as long as even just one of us breathes.”
“Perhaps we’ll need to fix that,” he sneered.
Sofia couldn’t stop the laugh that slipped out. “If you kill the Dragonborn, who will clean your homes and serve your tea? Who will work the farms to feed you? You would all die without us.”
“You’re right,” he said, smiling in a way that sent ice down her spine. “Your worth is in your servitude. Our mistake has been ever treating your people as people. Why confuse the donkey by allowing it to think?”
Sofia lunged at him, knowing there was nothing she could do locked in her cell, but unable to control the urge to wrap her hands around the man’s throat. He only stepped back, laughing as she slammed into the bars.
“Face me like a man,” she sneered.
“I don’t fight livestock,” he said.
Sofia was still pressed against the bars, seething but helpless, as the doors of the hallway opened and the sound of footsteps approached. The echoes beat through her body in time with her heart, sticking in her chest as she tried to breathe and ready herself to face him again. She needed a plan, but she couldn’t think through her rage.
The general turned first and her own gaze followed, a new emotion thrilling through her body as she saw Vato walking down the hall, two soldiers behind him that she didn’t recognize.
“Where’s the chief commander?” the general barked.
“There’s been a change of plans, sir .” Vato stepped forward, his eyes focused only on the general.
“Excuse me?” The general’s jaw twitched, the confusion in his face satisfying to see.
“Ian?” Fox said, pressing up against the bars next to Sofia.
“My friends and I are going to leave now, I think.” Vato cracked his fist across the general’s face.