Chapter 17 Kai
Kai
The door shut, and my instincts screamed for me to chase after Hannah, explain everything to her, and then consummate the bond. Instead, I held myself in place, knowing that getting these answers was most important—to protect her.
Her scent had faded but still clung to the air. The pull in my chest intensified, and I forced myself to bury it. I’d have to get more lorn leaf and fast, because my mind was struggling to retain control.
Knowing that the best way to return to Hannah was to accomplish this task, I turned my attention to the prisoner.
Keldren sagged against the restraints, breathing unevenly. His chest hitched as his gaze darted between me and the walls as though searching for some unseen escape. He tried to gather himself and straighten his posture, but the effort only drew a wince from him.
I stepped close enough to hear the leather strain as he tested the bindings again. Then let the silence stretch just long enough to settle unease deeper into his bones.
My shoulder pulled as I lifted my arm. The bandage tightened, and heat flared underneath my skin. I didn’t suppress it. Pain had its uses. It sharpened focus and stripped away distraction, leaving only what mattered at hand.
Then I lowered my hand to the table at his side, where a tray of implements had been laid out with deliberate care.
Each blade and hook had been crafted for precision rather than spectacle.
I didn’t study them for long since I mainly used my own magic for interrogations.
It was more precise and far more difficult to escape.
I let the shadows stir.
Darkness slipped from me in slow strands, curling along the edge of the table and gliding over the metal as frost followed in its wake, blooming outward. The temperature in the chamber dropped, subtle at first, then more pronounced as the magic settled into the space.
My magic responded to my command more easily than it had any right to, a consequence of bloodlines that should never have intertwined.
One of the few advantages my father’s choices had afforded me.
I allowed a single tendril to lift a scalpel from the tray and hold it suspended for a moment before lowering it back into place.
The faintest sound of metal meeting metal echoed through the chamber.
The pig behind me wouldn’t see another nightfall. Every breath he drew between now and then would come at a cost, each one steeped in the same fear and helplessness he had intended for Hannah.
Ashren moved to the other side of the chair, turning his back to Keldren as he set to work at the opposite table.
His robe rustled as he adjusted the placement of tools.
The faint scent of oil, iron, and sulfur rose into the air, nearly masking the lingering trace of magnolia that still clung to the chamber.
Gavriel and the soldiers held their positions in silence, their attention fixed, waiting for the moment this turned from preparation into something final.
“We will begin with a simple question.” I drew on my magic, letting a dark blue tendril form and slip forward, moving as smoothly as water as it bled into the surrounding shadows.
Unless Keldren possessed enhanced sight, it would appear no different than the darkness already gathered at his feet, but he would feel it soon enough.
I fed the cold into it, letting it wrap around his chest and throat before tightening and pressing hard enough against his pulse.
The temperature in the room dropped as the frost responded.
When I constricted the tendrils another fraction, he hissed through his teeth as the cold bit deeper, settling into flesh that had already been weakened. “Why did Bram want her sacrificed?”
Keldren let out a ragged laugh. “She’s Aurora Fae. That’s enough.”
“Bram sent men into this castle to take her.” Ashren looked at the blade he had selected. “Why?”
Keldren spat a mouthful of blood onto the stone. “She’s a bitch.”
The cold deepened in response.
Frost spread along the tendrils where they pressed against him, creeping beneath the fabric of his tunic and seeping into his skin as the temperature continued to fall.
His body jerked against the restraints, and his muscles locked as the chill forced its way deeper, driving into bone.
I allowed the pressure to build just enough to make the point clear before speaking again.
“Choose your words carefully. I won’t kill you before I have the answers, but for every insult you speak against Hannah, I will ensure you pay. ”
His teeth began to chatter, and his body convulsed as he struggled against something he could neither see nor escape. “F-fuck you.”
I flexed my fingers, tightening the hold.
The sound that tore from him wasn’t quite a scream. It was rather more of a strangled, broken wheeze as the pressure constricted his ribs while the frost continued to burn through him. His heartbeat pulsed erratically against the magic, like prey already caught with no path left to run.
I tsked and circled him, letting the cold linger. “Focus. The Night King doesn’t waste resources, and he’s not reckless. So explain it to me.” I stopped behind him, lowering my voice. “Why Hannah?”
“Or is it any Aurora Fae, because there are none left?” Ashren turned to face him with the sleek blade resting in his hand. “There were several who hid within the Night Court lands, and all have vanished. There were others in the wild lands as well, those who chose no allegiance.”
Keldren’s gaze flicked between us, and I recognized the look.
It was the instinct of a cornered man trying to determine which answer would buy him the most time and which lie might spare him the worst of what was coming.
There was no such answer for him, but he had not yet realized that.
I tightened the cold around him by a fraction.
“It’s all of them,” he gasped, his voice breaking under the strain. “All of them. She’s one of the last, but they all have to die.”
“Why?” I demanded, letting the pressure increase. “What is Bram doing that requires this? The Night General attempted to abduct her before. Was she meant for the Blood Basin then, or was that specific to this attempt?”
“I don’t know.” The words came fast, tripping over themselves. He must have seen something in my expression because he rushed to continue. “I swear on my life, I don’t know the details. I’m just a soldier. But I heard the king say all Aurora Fae must die. That it’s necessary.”
Ashren and I exchanged a brief glance. The weight of the knowledge settled heavily between us before I motioned toward the door. “Go. Speak with the interrogators handling the other two and confirm this if possible.”
Ashren inclined his head and moved without hesitation.
The door closed behind him with a heavy thud, leaving the chamber quieter, and the shadows pressed in as though they were aware they were no longer being shared. My magic responded to it instinctively, the tendrils tightening further around Keldren’s chest and throat as the cold deepened.
“All Aurora Fae must die,” I repeated slowly, letting each word settle with deliberate weight. “And this is widely known?”
Hannah had mentioned her uncertainty about the Night General and how she’d questioned his intent, along with the possibility that he had not acted in alignment with the rest. If the command had been absolute, then his actions required explanation.
Keldren’s jaw clenched as sweat beaded his brow despite the cold biting into him. “Many know it. We aren’t supposed to speak of it. There are none left in the Night Court or the surrounding lands. But all must die.”
“Why?” I let one of the tendrils drag along his neck, blistering the skin in its wake.
“I don’t know!” His voice cracked, desperation bleeding through as his body jerked against the restraints. “I told you, I’m just a soldier. They don’t tell us why. Only that it has to be done. Something about balance. About keeping things stable. I don’t know.”
I allowed the cold to sink deeper into flesh and muscle, until the skin beneath the tendrils had gone pale and rigid. His scream tore through the chamber, and his body thrashed hard enough to drag the chair against the stone with a harsh scrape.
“You’re lying.” Something grim coiled inside me, and I let the silence build until it was painful, giving him time for the dread to intensify. “A soldier hears things. Whispers in the barracks. Rumors carried between fires. You don’t operate in silence. So tell me what you have heard.”
“Nothing.” The word broke apart as he spoke with sobs forcing their way through. “I swear on everything. I swear on my mother’s grave, I don’t know the reason. Just that the king decreed it. That it’s necessary for our survival.”
I flexed my fingers, and ice spread along his collarbone, crystallizing as the frost continued its work. The memory of his hands on Hannah and what he had intended made me want to rip him limb from limb. He would break. I’d make sure of that.
“For your survival,” I repeated, letting the words settle into the space between us. “Explain.”
“I can’t explain what I don’t understand.” His voice had gone hoarse, each word scraping raw. “Please. I’ve told you everything I know. The king says they must die.”
The door opened behind me, and Ashren stepped back into the chamber, his expression grave and his dark eyes locked on to mine with a weight that told me the answer before he spoke.
“The other two confirmed it. All Aurora Fae must die. It has been decreed across the Night Court. They claim ignorance of the reason, but one of them mentioned something else. The New Night.”