Chapter 25 #2
The dark elf was trying to get his sobs under control while looking at us with his good eye as if we were crazy.
Too bad Aella’s plants weren’t here, or he’d be praying for mercy from the gods and spilling all his secrets without hesitation.
Being eaten alive by flora was a horror that would make a person quickly rethink their priorities.
Karganoth didn’t train for that level of insanity.
“Do you want to answer me now, or should we find out what my wife wants me to do next? She looks harmless on the outside, but I assure you there’s a terrifying, ruthless woman in there, which your navy has already experienced.”
He worked his jaw, barely glancing at her with his remaining eye as blood continued running down his cheek. “They wanted us to test your defenses again.”
“To what purpose, since you never get through?” I asked.
Jagon hesitated. “I’m not a leader, so they don’t tell me much, but I think it has to do with the new gemstones they gave us. They want to verify their effectiveness.”
“Because they make you invisible?”
“Yes,” he said, without elaborating.
The prince gave me a nod, which I took to mean the dark elf spoke the truth.
“How long have you had the gemstones?” I asked.
He swallowed. “I think it was three or four days ago.”
Armin nodded again.
I asked a few more pointed questions, but I found this soldier knew little. He was useless to us. I grabbed his head with my powers and twisted it, breaking his neck. My one piece of mercy was that he didn’t see it coming.
“Glad you didn’t waste time with that one,” the prince said dryly.
I shrugged. “No point in dragging out the inevitable, especially since we have two more who might be useful.”
“True,” he agreed.
I went to the door and called for Jax and the guards.
They came inside and took the dead prisoner off the chains.
I had them set him up in the corner opposite Aella, so the next guest who came in would have to look at their dead comrade.
My wife’s gaze followed me as I prepared for them by sorting out items on the torture table.
“You look feral, Dare,” she said, slowly scanning me up and down.
I wiped my hands with a towel, but left the blood splatter across my bare chest. “Dark elves respond better to those who appear unhinged and immoral.”
“I’ll remember that when I need something from you that you don’t want to give,” Aella said, lifting her chin.
A slow smile spread across my face. “As long as it involves your tongue, you have a strong chance of getting your way regardless.”
“What if it’s your tongue I want…while you’re on your knees?” she asked in a sultry tone.
Jax and one of the guards burst into the room with the next prisoner, whose head remained covered with a black hood, but her body was unclothed. My friend scowled at us. “Can you two finish your conversation later?”
The prince chuckled where he stood at the back of the room. I’d forgotten the next king of Zadrya was lurking there with my concentration so entirely on my wife. He could be very quiet and unassuming sometimes.
“You ruined it,” he said, giving Jax an annoyed look. “I really wanted to hear Dare’s reply.”
Of course, he probably could have read my mind to get the answer, but he was likely saving his energy for the dark elves. As he’d once explained to me, it wasn’t an active ability, but one that required concentration and power to perform.
The guard and Jax worked to get the struggling woman transferred into the room’s fixed shackles.
She cursed them and attempted to kick them as they spread her legs to bind her ankles.
In Karganoth, they treated female soldiers no differently than the males.
She wouldn’t expect any special treatment here, either.
Noting several short lines of scars above her belly button, I suspected I’d likely know this dark elf.
She’d completed at least eight levels on the female side to have those.
Aella frowned at our newest prisoner but said nothing. Perhaps it was a blessing that the God of Wrath had shown her a glimpse of my life in Karganoth. She managed to form a blank expression before Jax ripped the hood from the female’s head.
A riot of curly, dark brown hair sprang free, and gray eyes met mine.
I tensed, recognizing the woman instantly.
Gretel and I had worked together a few times for joint training.
One of those exercises was out in the forest with only the two of us when I was nineteen.
During our occasional downtime between trials, we’d pass the hours intimately.
I’d also converted her into one of my spies shortly before she went into the army twenty-five years ago, but she hadn’t checked in with me for nearly four months.
We usually met at Jollure Island when she had information to share.
“Dare,” she said with relief, then her gaze shot to the dead dark elf in the corner. “I swear…I would have told you everything, but by the time I found out, they’d spelled us so we couldn’t talk about it. They wouldn’t even let those of us who knew you out of their sight.”
Gretel was a captain in the Karganoth army, which was why she’d become valuable to me. Lower-ranked soldiers rarely knew anything until it was time to act. I glanced at the prince, and he nodded that she spoke the truth.
“Is the spell still in place?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. They lifted it once we entered Zadrya so we could give orders to our troops, but I had no idea where to find you. Once I figured it out, I requested that they reassign my regiment to help attack Radoumar. We only arrived in Veronna two days ago.”
Armin nodded again. Good. At least it appeared that she hadn’t lost her allegiance to me so far, but I had many more questions for her to answer before I would consider trusting her.
Even then, I would never let my guard down.
Priorities could change with informants, such as when their family was threatened.
I had no way of knowing what had truly been happening in Karganoth these past months.
I kept my gaze on the dark elf’s face, sensing Aella’s discomfort that I knew her. “You didn’t worry about possibly sacrificing some of your soldiers to reach me?”
Gretel snorted. “I put the idiots in front and gave them an impressive motivational speech about the great service they’d be doing by leading the charge. You and I trained together often enough that I suspected you would have put traps in place.”
The tension behind me ratcheted up several notches. A table sat a few feet away from Aella, and I had to hope she didn’t reach for any of the sharp objects on it. I feared one of them might end up in my back.
Despite the peril, I relished the emotions I sensed from her through our bond because this was the second time she’d displayed jealousy.
My vicious little wife cared more than she wanted to admit.
I chanced a glance back and found her face devoid of any expression, but I still crooked a grin at her. She rolled her eyes at me.
Don’t let it go to your head, Dare. It’s your cock that I’m overly possessive about, she said into my mind.
Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night—not that you will while I’m back.
Oh? She lifted her brows. That will strongly depend on how you handle this woman—or rather, don’t handle her. I swear by all the nameless ones that if you touch her naked body, I’ll never let you near me again.
Say the word, and I’ll break her neck.
Surprise lit in her gaze. Even though you haven’t finished questioning her?
Yes, I said, surprised as well that I meant it. All the information in the world will mean nothing if I lose you in the process. This woman—or any other—will not come between us.
Aella blinked. We need to know what she knows. Let her live a little longer, and I’ll decide what to do after that.
As you wish.
“Tell me about the red sphere gems,” I said, turning my attention back to Gretel.
She had a perturbed look on her face. “How did you get your hands on so many that have an invisibility spell?” The underground market might have had one or two for a large sum of gold, but not dozens or potentially hundreds.
The dark elf tried shifting in her chains, but Jax had tightened them enough that she couldn’t move more than an inch. The position resulted in her large breasts being pulled high, which the woman behind me likely didn’t appreciate.
“That is a long and complicated story,” she said, expression turning frustrated. “Could you unchain me, so I can be more comfortable while telling it?”
“The chains stay on, dark elf,” Aella said, and nothing in the world would have made me refute her with that vicious tone. It cut through the air like a knife.
Gretel scowled at her. “Who do you think you are, light elf mongrel? The last Dare told me was that your marriage was in name only. Oh, and his big cock was in me when he said it.”
“Shit,” I said, rubbing my face.
Jax also cursed under his breath from where he stood next to the dead body. The prince shook his head at me as if disappointed. Of course, I regretted pushing for an open marriage at the start. When I’d insisted on it, I’d seen her as a powerful enemy I needed to control.
My initial attraction to her annoyed me, and I’d fought it by telling her we’d only sleep with others, never each other.
That was supposed to make me want her less.
Instead, my lovely wife had grown on me over those next months until I couldn’t stand the idea of another man touching her, nor did I want other women anymore.
I couldn’t have foreseen it would go that way.