Page 4 of Iridian

It sounded like one of my nightmares, to be honest. I’d literally had dreams about her hunting me down and killing me.

“Grandmother, I need to know what happened to Taland.” And so what if it only pissed her off more? If she was going to kill me right now, I might as well die after I found out about Taland.

“How wouldIknow what happened to that boy, Rosabel? How?”

I shook my head. “How did you get me here?”That’show she’d know because if she got to me, if she brought me to her mansion, she surely knew how I came to be found, didn’t she? “Did the IDD find me in Silver Spring? Or did you?”

The corners of her lips turned up just slightly—what a bitter smile. “Same difference, isn’t it?”

I wanted to sayno,but the fact that the Council had literally let me live because I was her granddaughter…

“Everything, Rosabel,” said Madeline, moving her glass in circles in front of her—a nervous tic. “You’ve been keeping a lot of secrets from me, and I want to know everything now.”

Laughter burst out of me—how could I help it? “Oh, but I thinkyou’vekept far more secrets fromme,Grandmother,” I said, and I was panicking a little bit, but so what? I might die in the next hour but that wasn’t anything new. Since the night I received that text from the prison guard, I’d walked hand in hand with death, and today was, apparently, no different. “Imagine my surprise when I find myself ina Regahchamber and I have no fucking clue what it even is.” No expression on her face. “Imagine my surprise when I find myself in something calledthe Blackrealm,and guess what?” I waited a heartbeat. “Nope! Never even heard the name.”

“Is that tone of voice supposed to tell me something?” she wondered.

“Yes—it’s supposed to tell you exactly howfrustratingit is to be in my skin!”

She paused. “Forgive me, Rosabel, if I’ve given you the impression that I care.” My mouth opened but no word came out. “Speak.”

Thebitch.“You first.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, Madame Rogan. You first—speakand tell me exactly why I had no idea what the hell any of those things were, and more importantly, what more is there that I have no clue about?”

“Standard procedure, I’m afraid. IDD agents are on probation their whole careers, so to speak—a rule I created and implemented to great success. The first five years of their service, agents are given very little information about more complicated matters of magic, and after year six, new things are added to their continuous training programs. It’s how we weed out the weak, those who aren’t reliable, who aren’t loyal. It’s how we make sure that, if we choose to share sensitive information with someone, it will be when they prove themselves worthy, and not a day before.”

I shook my head, wondering if she was telling me the truth or if she was simply making all of this up. But then I remembered how Taland had told me about Iridians nowadays keeping the younger generations blinded, far away from what really went on in the world. Completely ignorant to the dangers we all faced.

“That’s…insane,” I whispered because he had been right—they were taking power away from us by not telling us what we could be up against. They were keeping us weak.Makingus weak.

“I’m sure you think so,” Madeline said. “And now, tell me about the Regah chamber and the Blackrealm. I’m only as patient as this glass allows me.” She waved her glass at my face.

I tried to move on instinct, to fucking slap it out of her hand becauseIhad no more patience left in me, either. And since the Iris Roe, I couldn’t care less about what people thought of me or what they could do to me—the world had been out to get me for a while now.

And, yes, this was Madeline Rogan, but I was as good as dead already, and even though the fear of her, the sheer panic of having her eyes on me was there, so was my anger, rivaling it. So was my anger making me want to fucking burst into flames right now, if only I could.

If only her magic wasn’t so strong as it pressed against my skin, keeping me immobile. If only I’d had my own, my bracelet, my power.

As it was, she had already defeated me, and again, I came to the same conclusion—I was at her mercy.

“I’ll tell you, and then you’ll let me go.”

Slowly, she leaned a bit closer. “You’re in no position to negotiate, Rosabel. Either you tell me what happened, or you will die.”

Her words rang so true that every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps.

There went what little resolve I’d gathered, out the window for a moment.

“Why?” I whispered before I’d even realized I was going to. “Why, Grandmother? Why…why don’t you care? Why didn’t you ever care?! Why don’t you…”love me?!

Pathetic, Rora. So fucking pathetic.

I closed my eyes to get rid of the stupid tears that had pooled in them. I reminded myself who I was speaking to, and that I’d already decided to rely on my anger rather than my fear right now, and then I got my shit together.

The look on Madeline’s face remained the same. She wasn’t the least bit concerned about my questions or my tears—the two that slipped from my eyes without my fucking say-so, and I couldn’t even raise my hands to wipe them off.

---