Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Despite Fedra’s attempt to keep it from happening, she had somehow found herself backed into a corner.
Marcus had done it so deftly that she hadn’t been aware of what was happening until it was too late.
She would have to give something away, no matter how she answered.
He seemed to be on her side at the moment, but if she didn’t respond correctly, he could wind up an enemy.
For some reason, that didn’t sit well with her.
His question hung in the space between them. How did she answer? Nothing she said would make sense to him. Worse, it would only raise more questions since she had never actually left the city once she arrived.
“Is it that you doona want to tell me?” Marcus asked. “Or that you can no’?”
She needed to say something. And quickly. “I’m trying to remember.”
“You doona remember what things were like before you went into stasis?”
He kept his tone light, but she heard the skepticism in his words just the same. If he was already suspicious, she had no choice but to give him the truth—or a portion of it.
“I didn’t leave the city, so it’s hard for me to say how things were then,” she replied.
The silence that followed made her want to fidget. She kept as still as she could, thankful that her eyes were covered. It would have been more difficult if he could have looked her in the eye.
She had expected his question. What she couldn’t understand was how flustered she had become because of it. It didn’t make any sense.
“That would make it difficult to compare when you were last awake and now,” Marcus said.
Fedra searched her memories for what the scientists had told her about the realm. She had only listened with half an ear, thinking that she would remember something so trivial. Turned out, she was wrong.
“There must be something you can recall,” he added.
He hadn’t moved, yet it felt as if he were looming over her. She couldn’t see Marcus’s face, but his presence engulfed the entire room. Before, it had felt like a shield guarding her. Now, however, it seemed more like an approaching storm.
As she had predicted, her response hadn’t been enough. He was too smart, his eyes too keen to take her simple explanation at face value. If she could see, she would deliver an unexpected attack to knock him out and escape. The longer she stayed, the worse things would get for her.
But she couldn’t see, and until she could, she had to bide her time.
She knew one thing for certain about Zora. She had been saving it for another time, but it looked like she couldn’t wait any longer. “Are the dragons still here?”
“They are.”
She had hoped to hear some kind of emotion in his reply. Hate, fear. Respect, even. Something. Instead, not even an iota told her how he felt. So, she tried again. “There was a border the humans couldn’t cross.”
“It’s still there.”
Was he testing her? Is that why he kept his voice so impassive? If she could see him, would his expression be the same? She suspected it would. The dragons and the border were the only two things she could recall for certain, and neither had given her the advantage she had hoped for.
She had been so wrapped up in getting out of the city and completing the mission that she hadn’t given proper thought to managing the people who found her.
Her belief that she could tell them whatever she wanted and have them believe it was a major flaw in her plan.
As was thinking she had gotten her feelings under control before entering the pod.
She had lied not only to the scientists, but worse, also to herself.
And that deception might very well end the mission before it had even begun.
There were excuses aplenty for what she had done, but none of them meant anything now. She had put herself in this situation, and she would have to get herself out—and quickly, if she didn’t want them to learn what she was really doing here.
Marcus issued a small huff of laughter. “You were so talkative earlier. So many questions fell from your lips. It is…odd that you would suddenly decide not to speak.”
“You may think I’m being secretive, when in fact, I’m fighting to stay awake.”
Another snort of laughter, this one colder than the first, telling her he knew she lied. “Then I shall let you rest.”
She waited to hear his footsteps leaving the room, but he didn’t move.
By rest, he meant he would stop talking, but he wasn’t going to leave.
As long as she was blind, she couldn’t go anywhere.
She knew how to get out of the city from the chamber, but she was no longer there.
They could’ve put her anywhere, which meant she needed to see certain areas she had memorized to know how to get out. Otherwise, she would become lost.
And blind, she certainly couldn’t do what she had come to do.
Fedra was surprised to discover that she really was becoming sleepy.
After spending so much time in the pod, she hadn’t thought she would want to sleep anymore.
Turned out her body had other ideas. Or maybe it was something Sian had put in the medicine for her eyes.
Either way, it was a way for her to escape the questioning.
However, the problem with going to sleep was that she couldn’t think of a proper way to answer Marcus when she woke again.
Marcus knew the moment sleep claimed Fedra.
Her shoulders finally relaxed. She had fought it, but in the end, she was no match for it.
She was good at masking her emotions, but he had first noticed the way she’d clutched the blanket with one hand during their conversation.
While Sian had been tending to her eyes, Fedra had squeezed her arms against her sides, causing her shoulders to lift.
She had done the same when he questioned her.
It was the only way he knew that something wasn’t right.
He couldn’t yet determine if she was lying, trying to hide something, or that she simply didn’t trust him.
There were reasons for all three, but none outweighed the others.
It made questioning her more difficult since he didn’t know where to push.
He squeezed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
As he dropped his arm to his side, he heard something at the door and swung his head in that direction to see Con.
Marcus glanced at the bed before silently walking into the hallway.
Rhi slipped inside the room and stationed herself near the door.
Marcus frowned, but Con motioned for him to follow.
They moved farther down the hallway before Con finally stopped and faced him. “How are things going? Did you get anything from her?”
“Verra little. She asked if the dragons were still here, and if the border was still active,” Marcus replied.
Con dropped his gaze to the floor and stared for a long, silent minute. Then he looked at Marcus. “Nothing else?”
“She asked how things were different outside. When I pressed her to give me what her life was like before, she became withdrawn. She said she never left the city. It wasna long after that she claimed she was tired and fell asleep. She did say she willingly went into the pod.”
“Did she tell you why?”
Marcus shook his head. Something was wrong with Con, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He decided to let the conversation play out and wait until Con told him. “She changed the subject.”
“What do you think about her?”
“I think she’s hiding something. It might no’ be anything important.”
Con twisted his lips. “Or it might be verra important. You were protective of her in the chamber. Do you still feel that way?”
“I do.” Even more so now, but he decided to keep that part to himself.
“There seems to be a connection between the two of you. Let’s keep that going for now. She might open up to you.”
Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. “Why? Did you uncover something in the chamber about why your magic didna work?”
“My magic works fine.”
Con always kept his face emotionless, which made it difficult to tell what he was thinking or feeling. This time was no different, yet Marcus knew that something was wrong. What he didn’t understand was why Con wasn’t explaining it.
“Why were her eyes no’ healed then?” Marcus pressed.
“Ryder is of the mind that it doesna have anything to do with the chamber or the pod. However, we did discover something.”
“What’s that?”
“The sounds of the city are funneled into the chamber.”
Marcus frowned and shook his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that everything is amplified. Every conversation, every footfall, and door closing. Everything. I didna think anything of it. I simply thought it was our advanced hearing that could pick up things, but when Teo came by, he said something about being able to hear everyone. Rhi, as well as Nia, were there and said they could also hear things.”
Marcus looked down the hall to the room where Fedra slept. “So that’s how she heard us.”
“It might also be how she was able to use her voice to lure you there.”
“Maybe,” he murmured before returning his attention to Con. “Was that a purposeful design of the chamber?”
“We’re waiting for you to take a look at that. Ryder has found a few things that suggest the chamber was already there, but the technology and the writing might have been added later. The only one who can give us a definitive answer is you.”
Marcus dropped his arms to his sides. “I’ll learn the truth. How is that going to help us, though? Even if the tech was added, it just means that someone made use of the room like we’ve made use of others.”
“Perhaps it will, but I can no’ shake the bad feeling I’ve had since you and Ryder lost time in that hallway. None of this makes sense. We have to anticipate that Fedra willna give us the truth, even if she does answer our questions.”
“She’s blind. We can no’ just toss her out. Why no’ try to heal her again?”
Con rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Sian has another round of medicine coming.”
Marcus narrowed his eyes on Con. “What are you no’ telling me?”
“The barrier of magic at the border flickered.”
“Flickered?” Marcus repeated in alarm. “When?”
“I just confirmed it was when you and Ryder opened the pod.”
That bit of information was worrying. Marcus studied Con. “Is that all?”
“Until we know more information about her, doona use magic.”
“Why?”
Con glanced at the door. “It’s a precaution.”
“What if her sight doesna return? Are you still going to remove her from the city?”
“Put aside the current feelings you’re grappling with and look around.
This place is a sanctuary for children being hunted because of their magic.
It’s also where we’ve taken up residence with our mates to keep the dragons calm.
We have too many adversaries wanting to hurt those we care about to lose the city.
I’m no’ saying Fedra is an enemy, but until we know for certain, we have to think of those who count on us to keep them safe. ”
Marcus closed his eyes for a heartbeat before releasing a breath. Con shouldn’t have to remind him of such things. How had he forgotten about the children? Iron Hall wasn’t just a sanctuary. It was a home now. And they needed to guard it. “I willna allow anything or anyone to run us from the city.”