Night Study

“That was...unfortunate,” Janco said.

For once the man didn’t exaggerate. Leif glanced up. The rest of the inmates stared at him. No one said a word, but their thoughts were clear in their morose expressions. End of the road.

“Does that mean we’re out of options?” Hale asked.

“Can we eat now?” Dax asked.

“Yes to both.” Janco wasted no time in stuffing a sweet cake into his mouth.

Soon after, a group of soldiers carried an unconscious and naked Valek into the jail, dumped him into Yelena’s empty cell next to Janco’s, tossed a uniform onto his prone form and left.

Bloody, battered, bruised and with multiple cuts along his arms, legs and torso, Valek looked near death.

Janco reached through the bars and felt Valek’s pulse. “It’s strong.”

They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

We’re dead, Janco signaled.

Relax, Janco. Valek will have it all worked out, Ari said.

Valek didn’t regain consciousness until after three meals had come and gone—a full day. He groaned and sat up, pressing one hand to his head and the other to his ribs.

“Welcome to the land of the living, boss,” Janco said.

Valek glanced at them, then scanned the jail. “I think I prefer oblivion. It didn’t hurt and it smelled better.”

“Mara said you took a few out,” Ari said.

“Is she okay?” Valek asked.

“Bruised and scared, but she said she made a deal with Bruns,” Leif said.

“Good for her.” Valek grimaced as he reached for the cup of water.

“Why do you say that?” Leif demanded. He crinkled his nose. There was something...off about Valek, and it wasn’t the physical damage. Strange.

“It’s a smart move on her part. I’d suggest you all do the same and make a deal with Bruns.”

They glanced at each other in alarm.

Ari caught Valek’s attention and signaled, You’re just saying that. Right? That’s all part of the plan. Right?

This—Valek gestured to his cell—was not part of the plan. We were working on one, but it was in the preliminary stages.

We who?

Fisk, his people and a couple of young magicians.

So we’re screwed? Janco asked.

“Yep.” Valek eased back into a prone position.

“Can I stop relaxing now?” Janco asked Ari.

31

YELENA

The past three days had been...strange or interesting, depending on the way I looked at it. Bruns had taken Cahil’s advice and hadn’t wiped my mind. Yet. Once he determined that my knowledge about the Commander was limited, Bruns no longer asked specific questions. In fact, my theory that he was just going through the motions of preparing for war strengthened the longer I spent with him. Which meant Cahil didn’t know about it. No surprise, since it appeared Bruns had recruited Cahil and hadn’t brainwashed him. So to keep Cahil cooperating, it would have to appear as if they prepared for battle.

I hadn’t found any proof of my theory, but I kept an eye out for anything while I worked with Bruns on strategy. He planned to expand to the other garrisons in Sitia, indoctrinating them, as well. I hated helping him, but at the same time, the challenge kept my mind from imagining my brother and friends starving to death in the jail.

I’d been sleeping in the side room of Bruns’s office and using the washroom in his suite downstairs. Every morning, Loris arrived and reinforced the magic holding me captive. Funny thing about that—for the next few hours, I couldn’t refuse a command and I enjoyed the work, almost existing on an I-love-Bruns high, but as the day wore on, the magic wore off. From what I’d seen of Bruns’s other minions, that didn’t happen, and from the conversations Bruns had with Loris, it sounded as if once a person had been fully converted, they no longer needed to be influenced unless they had magic.

Perhaps I hadn’t been fully rehabilitated yet. Or perhaps what had happened with Janco in the jail—that blocking power—had something to do with it. But I didn’t touch Loris. Unless the baby really was a void and was slowly siphoning off the magic. My head ached with the possibilities.

The desire to bolt once the magic released its hold on me was strong, but I wouldn’t leave without my brother, Ari, Janco, Dax and Hale. And I hadn’t figured out a way to rescue them. Not yet.

On the fourth day, everything changed. Bruns called me into his office. I’d been helping in the armory that morning.

Mara stood on the other side of his desk. I froze in shock for a moment. No guards bookended her, and she appeared healthy, despite a few cuts and bruises on her face. Pure determination radiated from her—a side of Mara I hadn’t seen before.

“You see? She’s perfectly fine and has joined me. Tell her, Yelena.”

“Yes, I’m assisting Bruns now. We have a lot of work to do in order to prepare for war.”

“And it will be the same with Leif, if you convinced him to eat,” Bruns said.

“He’ll eat. As long as we can work together,” Mara said.

He gave her a condescending smile. “Of course. I’m a businessman, and that was our deal.”

Bruns called for his secretary, Tia, and asked her to escort Mara to the magicians’ quarters to wait for Leif.

“It’ll take a couple days. In the meantime, please make yourself at home,” Bruns said to Mara. “All meals are served in the canteen, and if you get bored, the cooks are always looking for help.”