47. Kane
Chapter 47
Kane
I realized Ash needed space to sort things out in her head after she walked out of our training session. Etan had messed with her head in too many ways to count. He deserved everything that was coming to him and more. I’d kill him myself, but I’d give Ash the first opportunity. Her mind needed to draw its own conclusions about trusting me. It couldn’t be forced.
Jerek informed me this morning that the King wanted to see me in the war room. This conversation was expected. I’d found other blonde abilities far quicker than Ash’s, and the King would soon start questioning me. This was why I never wanted her to come here—it wasn’t safe—but she was doing more for the rebellion than Liam ever had the balls to do. As much as I hated it and wanted to throw her over my shoulder and run as far away as I could, I had to let her choose. It was something no one had ever offered her, the courtesy of a choice about her own life, and I wasn’t about to take that away from her.
The war room door was guarded by Carter and Barrett, the King’s trusty muscles. What I wouldn’t give to have earned that position—then he would have trusted me with more information. I knew little of the King’s plans or what information they had about the rebellion. My only job: find them. I was as good as a dog to the King. I sniffed out the blondes, but then he kicked me to the side when it served him. My position brought much-needed information to the rebellion, but it wasn’t enough.
Barrett met my eyes when I moved in front of the door, challenging me. He was still angry about our last fight. He may be bigger than an ox, but he still wasn’t good enough to beat me. I could see the rage flaring in his eyes.
I raised my eyebrows and kept my hands firmly behind my back, acting as if he was beneath me. His upper lip lifted in disgust, and he threw the door open, so he didn’t have to stare at me any longer.
Maximus sat at his usual spot at the table with Peters by his side and his other two guards standing at the back of the room. His cold, blue eyes tracked over me, calculating my every move. The door snapped shut behind me, and I stayed standing.
“Kane.”
“Sir.” I dipped my chin.
“Tell me you’ve found Ash’s ability. You have had more than enough time.”
Did I lie and tell him something or tell him I hadn’t found one yet? Either way, it seemed like a losing situation. If he believed Ash had abilities, then it would prove Etan wrong, and he would lose the King’s challenge—dooming Ash, but if I said she didn’t have any…would the King start to question me ?
Ultimately, I felt it best to throw myself into danger rather than Ash; she was the one who deserved the chance to rip away Etan’s chance at being King.
“I haven’t been able to find one, sir.”
His hands slammed down on the table, and a vein popped in his forehead.
“You’re telling me that of the hundreds of blondes you have found abilities for, you cannot find this one?” He raised his voice.
“I have pushed her to the limit. I have done everything I can think of to draw it out, and I have not been able to find one.”
He leaned back and gripped the table with white knuckles. “Find it, Kane. I know she has one. Find it, or you will be next on the list for the firing squad!”
“Yes, sir.” I turned to leave, but Maximus stopped me.
“I didn’t excuse you yet.”
My teeth ground together, and I turned back to face him, squeezing my fists behind my back until my hands hurt. I loathed working for this man and everything about him.
“I have another assignment for you.”
The interrogation building inside the Pit was the only building that didn’t have heat. No fire, no furnace. The cold cinder block rooms were constructed that way on purpose. Anyone in this building would talk quicker without the basic human need of heat. Today it felt like stepping into an ice house. I pulled my coat higher on my neck to ward off the frigid air. The King brought me here but had yet to tell me why. We stood in silence until Etan stepped into the room. He was back. Behind him, Carter and Barrett, walked in holding a blonde man hostage between them. They shoved the blonde down into the hair in the corner, and our eyes connected.
I knew him.
He was part of the rebellion; I’d convinced him to help last year. He manned a safe house to the west.
I kept the bored look on my face and looked at the King, but inside I boiled with enough rage to melt this frozen hell box.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you work, Kane. This man has information that we need, and we have yet to find his ability. Please,” he gestured to the man, “do what you do best. Unless you’ve lost your touch?”
He was goading me—already losing faith in me because of Ash. I had to prove him wrong, but I wasn’t sure I could. I’d been in this situation before, but I’d never known any of the blondes. Not like I knew Seth. He knew the risks of getting involved with the rebellion and I had begged him to help and now he was here, and I knew it wouldn’t end well for him.
My throat bobbed as I moved toward Seth, my eyes full of pleading that he would understand. How had he gotten caught?
I pulled my knife out and flipped it over in my hand. “Anything you’d like to say before we begin?” I asked casually, but inside, I burned, questioning the possibilities of escape for us. I had two pistols against seven men. My odds were not good.
I glanced at Etan, who had moved back and leaned against the table, gazing over at us. He stared at Seth with hard eyes and hatred on his face. He would never be on our side, and my hand flinched, wanting to throw the knife and lodge it in his chest.
“Your interrogating skills not up to par, Etan? Had to call in the big guns?”
I’d try anything to get myself out of this.
Etan stood and practically snarled at me.
“Gabriel,” Maximus chided and eased back to leaning on the table. “Stop screwing around, Kane. Get to it.”
I turned back toward Seth, and he knew what was coming; he dropped his head, accepting the inevitable. He wouldn’t speak, no matter what I did to him, and the messed-up part was I didn’t want him to. What kind of sick sadistic monster was I? Had I lost all my sense of humanity? The thought hit me like a punch to the gut.
“What do you know of the rebels?” Maximus asked, and Seth didn’t move or speak. The King gestured toward him, and I let a blank calm overtake my mind. It was where I had to go to do things like this, where I had to hide from my feelings and humanity.
I hauled an unconscious Seth to the apartment building where he’d be staying with several other men. Blood dripped down his arms and face where I’d had to do unspeakable things to him to get him to talk, but at least he wasn’t dead. I didn’t have to add one more name to the ever-growing list. Was it really all worth it? Was destroying my soul everyday worth it in the long run? I thought of blue eyes and all of these people’s freedom, and I knew it was, even at the cost of my soul.
Seth had done remarkably well. He held out enough to make it believable and revealed only enough information that they believed him and believed he didn’t know more. All they knew now was that Liam was in Hope, and Seth had an extraordinary sense of taste. Mold, poison, toxins in the body. Seth could taste it all. Not a particularly useful ability, but he made the best of it.
Guards opened the door to a room he’d share with three other men, and I laid him down on a bed and excused them. Everyone else had gone to the mines to work for the day, and I made sure Seth’s wounds were cleaned and covered before I left. It killed me inside that this would now be Seth’s reality until we got them out. He’d be forced to work in the mines and live in this building, and it was all my fault.