Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
At ten in the morning, we all gathered in the common room, aside from Delani and Leighton, who had an easy time convincing Archer to teach them about a new hybrid of flowers they thought they’d discovered.
In addition, Sawyer had found both vials we needed when he raided the infirmary last night, which I ruled down to pure luck.
“You know what to do, right?” Sebastian asked everyone, clarifying our plan.
Sawyer nodded. “I’ll make my way to the infirmary and wait in the second room on the right of the hall. That’s the room you’ll direct Venay to.
“Yes. And once she is in there, I'll hold her down and you’ll make her swallow the suppressant,” Sebastian said in affirmation.
“Kinky,” Sawyer winked, and Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“That's when Kade and I come in,” I piped up. “Once she's tied down, Sebastian will open the door. I’ll come in and interrogate the bitch while Kade keeps guard in the hall.”
“Kohen and I will watch the end of the corridor. If anyone tries to enter the infirmary ward, we’ll do our best to redirect them,” Pia added, taking Kohen’s hand in hers.
Sebastian blew out a deep breath of apprehension. “We are so unbelievably fucking fucked if this goes bad.”
“We’re fucked no matter what.” Sawyer shrugged. “Give me two minutes, then make your way to the infirmary ward,” he told Sebastian before leaving us to stew in our angst.
While we waited, I turned towards the fireplace. My finger found its way between my teeth, a victim to the chattering of my jaw.
I felt Sebastian's presence behind me. It was like I had a sixth sense for him, I swore.
“What if this doesn’t work?” I confided, letting some of my panicked thoughts into the air.
“It will work. At the very least, we find out she's innocent. Then we move on and try something else,” he assured me.
I drew in a deep breath, holding it in my lungs, which suddenly felt narrow and constricted.
“I know you're nervous, but you can’t panic right now.” He put a hand on my shoulder, using it to make me face him. His eyes absorbed my own. “You can do this. I’ve seen you do harder things. You got this.”
Releasing my breath, I nodded with a small grin.
“Hawthorne,” Kade called out from behind us. “You're up.”
With a squeeze, Sebastian released my shoulder. “See you soon.”
Pia and Kohen went a few minutes after him, leaving just Kade and I.
“We’ll give them another minute, then it's our turn,” Kade voiced.
“Great,” I mumbled, shaking my torso out to try and release some of my pent up anxiety.
“You good, Willawood?”
“Perfect.”
“Bullshit. You're shaking.”
Damn nerves, always blowing my cover.
“I just don’t want to fuck this up. If her shields are too strong and I can't get into her head—”
“I’m going to stop you right there.” Kade held a silencing hand up, narrowing his golden eyes in on me. “I know what I’ve said about you in the past, but I have no doubts in my mind that you can do this. So get those thoughts out of your head right now. They aren’t benefiting anyone.”
I fought back a smirk. “Is Kade Lyrise being nice to me?”
“Don’t get used to it,” he quipped. “Also, we're giving her magic suppressant, remember? Her shields won’t work.”
Sucking my lips in, my head bobbed just once. “Right. Duh.”
I guess I really was caught up in my thoughts.
Kade glanced behind him at the clock hanging over the fireplace. “Ready?”
Nodding, I straightened my posture, then followed Kade out of the common room.
Kohen ushered us down the infirmary ward. Picking up speed, we stopped in front of room two. Kade knocked softly on it once, and when it split open, I slipped in, falling witness to an incredibly ticked off Venay.
She was powerless, all right. The normal glow that her amethyst gave off had dulled. She squirmed in the chair she was tied to, her teeth baring when she saw me.
“What the fuck is this?” Venay snarled, spit flying from her lips.
“You don’t need to answer her. Just do what we're here to do,” Sebastian reminded me, the cool tone of his voice soothing me.
Sawyer stood behind Venay’s chair, leaning casually against the wall like this wasn’t the first time he and Sebastian had done something like this. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t.
“She took the suppressant?” I asked.
“Like a champ,” Sawyer replied with a wink.
Venay thrashed, her silver hair flying as she tried to release herself from her shackles. “Archer will rip you to shreds when he hears about this,” she hissed, more so towards Sebastian and Sawyer than me.
“I am confident that he will never hear about this,” Sebastian answered coldly, then he gave me a slight nod to begin.
I shook my hands out, blowing out a deep breath as I closed my eyes and calmed my mind. Normally, I’d keep them open, but with the two men who I had kissed standing before me, I needed all the help I could get.
I felt Venay’s empty mental barriers as my magic began to spark. I ignored her cursing and manipulative requests, tuning her voice out. My cheekbone pricked at my skin as my power pulled from my constellastones.
Fuck, I hope this worked.
I let my eyes drift open in tune with my command. “Tell me if you are working with Cyprian Beaumont.”
Venay couldn’t fight my power. Her silver eyes widened with realization as she spat out the truth. “I am.”
I heard Sebastian’s sharp exhale from over my shoulder.
“Tell me what you did to Cicily's journal,” I ordered, pulling the truth free by the invisible rope of my power.
The admission came pouring out of her filthy mouth. “I didn’t want you to see what was inside. When I reversed the enchantment, I also wiped the pages.”
Just like we had suspected.
I chose my words very carefully, turning my questions into commands while not giving her any time to get a word out between. “Tell me if there is a way to get the writing back?”
“There is not. It is gone forever.”
Fuck.
“Tell me if you read the journal before you wiped it.”
Venay pulled at her wrists, trying to break free from her bounds. “I did.”
“Did you—I mean, tell me if you told Beaumont what was written.”
Her silver hair swept across her lips, forcing her to blow out a puff of air. “I didn’t have to. He has read it for himself.”
“Tell me how.”
“I showed him it. I undid the enchantments for him to read the book. It has information in it that he needs to build the empire he is creating for us,” she growled, realizing that she was divulging sacred information, but not having any control over her words.
Us?
“Tell me who you mean by us.”
“Cyprian and myself.”
My eyebrows drew back. Was she with Beaumont? I thought she was with Archer, but maybe their whole relationship was just a part of her plan.
“Come on, Maeve,” Sebastian urged, noting how her words had left me flustered.
Focusing back on the questions I prepared, I interrupted Venay’s disgruntled argument. “Is Archer in on all of this?”
She didn’t respond, and my heart stopped beating.
“Did you forget how to harness your power?” she taunted, and I realized that I forgot to make my question an actual compulsion.
“Interrogation isn’t your strong suit. Maybe you should spend less time dwelling over men and more time learning to be less of a burden to your loved ones.
I can’t believe that they put up with it all, to be honest. Learn to fight your own battles, Maeve.
It’s quite pathetic, really,” she spat, the horror in her voice making her normally flawless appearance look hideous.
Sawyer raised a hand towards her cheek. “I don’t discriminate against women, and I won’t hesitate to slap you.”
She essentially hissed through clenched teeth as a response.
Venay wasn’t wrong, though. And I was getting distracted by the value of her answers, therefore getting sloppy with my work.
Snapping out of it, I recentered my focus. “Tell me if Archer is in on this with you,” I demanded, adding a snap of cruelty to my words. The idea of my father—the man chosen by the gods to rule a kingdom to protect me—being Venay's accomplice seemed improbable, but I had to be sure.
Halting her attempt of breaking free, Venay fell victim to my power. “He is not. Archer has no idea. He thinks that I actually love him.” She howled with a horrific cackle.
My brain swelled with pain knowing I’d have to break that news to him when this was over, but I pushed through, knowing time was limited. “Tell me what was in Cicily's journal.”
I wondered how strong the magic suppressant that Sawyer had given her was, because I swore I could feel the spark of her mental shields coming back.
“Cicily saw and wrote about my lover's children,” Venay growled, striving to stop her lips from moving by pressing them together, but still failing.
“She saw how to make them stronger—wrote it out in detail. She wrote a lot about you, too, and how you are pure, raw power. She wrote about the prophecy being fulfilled, this land, and the bounds of mortality, which—”
I lost my fucking focus. It slipped away as Kade peeked through the door, the interruption causing me to release Venay from my command.
“You guys should hurry up,” he urged. “People seem to be getting suspicious. I see a lot of eyes looking this way.”
No. I needed more time. I had so much to get out of her.
Panic made my eyes bulge, and Sawyer caught on. “Ask about Beaumont’s plans for the creatures. Or if he knows about Lumosia,” he advised.
With the growing strength of Venay’s willpower fighting against me, I figured I only had one or two compulsions left before she regained use of her shields.
I was confident I would still be able to break through them, but regardless, I chose my demands wisely, asking for the information that held the most weight.
“Tell me, did you tell anyone about Lumosia?”
She shook her head. “No. I cannot tell. ”
“What? Why not?” I asked, faltering again and not speaking as a demand.
Sloppy.