Page 125 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

I punch, not well enough, because he catches my fist while I’m trying to root myself into Freyr’s mind, who certainly knows what I am doing, as he’s able to fight it. If this were his first—or even fifth—time he wouldn’t have the faintest idea of what I’m trying to do. Failing to do, apparently.

His fist breaks the nose I just had fixed after Desdemona. I punch him once, twice, then I tie his wrists together with shadows while I root myself to the other Folk’s mind. He’s easier to subdue.

“Open the door.”

The man whose mind I’m currently playing with walks to what I’m guessing is a control panel.

Freyr kicks me in the stomach, forcing me into the steel door with enough force that I hear something crack. I see the man I sliced across the chest crawling across the room.

Toward the weapon.

“What are you doing?” Freyr yells, running to the control panel.

“Opening the door,” the man says absentmindedly.

“Have you lost your bloody mind?”

I let those two work it out and run to the main room. To the weapon. It’s twice the size as it was when Azaire was here. If they’ve made this much progress in three months, what design number are they on?

What in the worlds is it made to do now?

I slide beneath the weapon, looking for anything that could tell me what the power source is. There’s no signs.

I run back to Freyr, who still fights the man I’m controlling despite his tied wrists. I kick the bleeding man on my way, as I am unsure of what his goal of making it to that room is, and I’d rather not find out. I grab Freyr’s restrained arm, prepared to pull him with me, and he headbutts me in my already broken nose. My eyes tear until my vision is taken from me.

“Open the damn door!” I shout, though saying it to the man’s subconscious would’ve been enough.

“If he does, the crown will be alerted!” Freyr yells at me. “We only have clearance to open it once a day.”

I instruct the man to open the door as I wrap Freyr entirely in shadows. “Luckily for your comrades, they’ll only think it’s you who ran.”

The steel door opens, and I pull him out by hand. It’d be much simpler to use whatever pulling technique Lusia used against me. I drag him to the river—where I see the burns taking over both sides of my jaw—and we portal directly to the dungeon Cynthia gave me the key to. Then I shove him—not so gently—into a cell.

“The weapon,” I say. “What’s the power source?”

Freyr spits on the ground.

“The power source.” I clench my jaw. Freyr does nothing but stare at me blankly. “Not to worry, I have other questions. Such as… Isa Althenia!” His eyes widen, but he says nothing. “What’s your relation to her?” I crouch down so we’re at eye level. “Ever, I don’t know…” I shrug. “Conceived a child?”

Freyr spits again. “What do you want from me?”

“Answers.”

“Well, I’m not talkin’.” He shakes his head with a little smirk.

“And I’m not above torturing you.” I can feel my eyes flare.

He sweeps his eyes over me, stopping at my bloody, broken nose. “Been through worse than you.”

Lusia? Is that how he deflected me from entering his subconscious?

“You say that now.” I rise to my feet and my shadows rise with me. They circle him, forcing his mouth open and entering his body. They’ll freeze him from the inside out if I’m not careful. “Scream when you’re ready to talk.” When he begins to dry heave, I say, “Or at least try.”

Chapter 26

Infamy’s A Dish Served Cold

DESDEMONA

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