Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
The man remained silent.
“You fired upon me,” Dravic said.
The man still did not respond.
Dravic studied him carefully. “Who sent you?”
The prisoner’s mouth remained firmly closed.
Dravic had dealt with men like this before. Men who believed silence made them strong. They were wrong. It only delayed the inevitable.
He looked toward one of his warriors, the silent command needing no words.
The warrior stepped forward and struck the prisoner with such force, his head snapped to the side. Still, he remained silent.
Another strike followed and then another.
The man’s face was bloodied, his lip split, blood trailing down his chin, yet he refused to answer.
“Who sent you?” Dravic demanded.
The prisoner spat blood into the snow.
A sign of defiance that sparked anger in Dravic and with a scowl, he looked toward his warrior again.
The man stepped forward.
Before the blow could land, Dravic felt a touch… Adira.
She had stepped behind him and rested her brow against his back. She was upset. He could almost feel her concern drifting off her and around him. Or had he gotten to know her that well?
He felt it even stronger when her hand gripped his upper arm with a strength that surprised him.
He should have thought better than questioning the prisoner in front of her. It had not gone well when he confronted Eunice, and no one had struck her. Yet it had upset Adira enough for her to blatantly offer the woman solace. At least this time, she had not openly shown her concern.
“Take him to the castle,” Dravic ordered. “Put him in the dungeon. I will question him later.”
The two warriors bowed, then seized the prisoner and dragged him away.
Dravic took Adira’s hand and, without a word, began the walk back toward Caerith.
The castle was quiet except for the strange sound of the wind that managed to slip through the stones. Sometimes it sounded like groans, other times a wailing woman, and less often like a soft whisper.
Tonight, leaving the dungeon after learning nothing from the prisoner, the wind sounded like a frustrated groan, exactly as he felt… frustrated.
“You fear what could easily help you.”
Dravic shook his head, hearing Fiora’s admonishing tone.
“One day, I am going to banish you,” he said, taking the steps to his bedchamber.
“Yeah, tell me how that worked out for your grandfather,” Fiora challenged, her golden glow making it easier for him to see his way along the curving stone staircase.
“It brought the kingdom peace,” he argued.
“It locked away the very thing that could help protect Scotara and keep it safe.”
“As if fairies could help protect Scotara,” he said with an unamusing laugh.
“Do you need reminding of who helped protect you in the forest today?” Fiora challenged, flying nearby, though keeping out of his reach, not trusting him to swat at her. “Or who knows how easy the information can be obtained from the prisoner without leaving him bloody and senseless.”
Dravic stopped when he reached the hallway that led to his bedchamber. “You believe a fairy wiser than a king?”
Fiora went to answer, then clamped her small mouth shut but only for a moment. “I am not going to argue that point with you. What I am going to tell you is that you cannot trust anything that prisoner says to you, for eventually he will lie so the beatings will stop.”
“But, of course, you know how to get him to talk.”
Fiora shook her head. “I cannot make him talk, but a Wise woman can see his past and know who sent him and why he is here.”
Dravic muttered beneath his breath.
“Didn’t think of that, did you, oh, wise king?”
Dravic groaned. “Now I understand why my grandfather banished fairies.”
Fiora grinned. “Because they speak the truth?”
Dravic shook his head again.
“Send for either Bria or Wynn and get truthful answers and learn even more than the prisoner would reveal to you.”
Dravic grumbled.
Fiora chuckled. “Annoyed you didn’t think of it, aren’t you?”
“I have had enough of you for one day,” Dravic snapped, annoyed that the fairy was right.
“The feeling is mutual. I am going to go get myself a drink or two,” Fiora said, pleased with herself.
“Be careful, Fiora, or you will pass out one day from drink where you will easily be found, and you will wake to find yourself captured in a cage.”
Fiora laughed again and that annoyed Dravic even more.
“Even if you did, Adira would set me free, regardless of your orders.” She flew off, her laughter trailing behind her.
Her words only fortified what he was thinking about how he had allowed himself to succumb to Adira’s concerns, though she could not utter a word.
Dravic stopped at his bedchamber door and shook his head. He simply could not allow her concerns to interfere with his commands. He was king and his word was law.
He entered his bedchamber ready to tell her to go to her bedchamber for the night but stopped when he saw her sitting by the hearth looking his way. He felt a twist to his gut. Did it bother him that she would not be there with him, that he would be alone?