Page 40 of Zar

Callie cleared her throat. “Um, if I may offer a suggestion?”

Zar quirked a brow at her. “You may, considering it was your life that Naxon threatened.”

“Detaining them would only alert them to the fact you’re on to them. You need to set a trap instead. A trap that would reveal all the guilty parties.”

Dyre’s mouth kicked up in a smile that gave her a shiver. “I like that plan, but my interrogation techniques will also reveal all guilty parties.”

Zar’s brothers chuckled, but Zar didn’t. “My ofelia has a point. Whoever is helping Naxon is cunning enough to do it right under our noses. And he’s a lieutenant in the guard, which makes him lethal.”

“And not so easy to crack,” Dyre admitted.

Zar nodded. “Every member of the guard is aware of your methods, Dyre. Their threshold for pain is nearly as high as yours. It could take weeks to break him.”

Callie remembered something her father always said to her. Let your enemy only think they’ve beaten you. “How can you really be certain that this mole would tell you everything?”

“She’s right,” Zadoc agreed. “He could give you names, Dyre, but not necessarily all of them.”

“A trap,” Dyre said.

“A trap,” Zar repeated. “And we let our betrayer hang himself.”

Callie wondered if Zar meant that literally. God, she hoped not. She thought of Naxon and how much he looked like Zar. “How is Naxon related to you? I have that right, don’t I?”

Zar nodded. “Father told us he was a cousin, but he would refuse to discuss it further.”

Therius snorted. “Father didn’t just refuse to discuss Naxon, he downright forbade it.”

Zar frowned at his brother. “What do you mean?”

“I brought it up once, asked why Naxon hated us so. Father threatened to have me whipped.”

Zar looked at each of his brothers, they all nodded grimly. “Perhaps if we could find out more about Naxon it would explain his hatred of us.”

Flare cleared his throat. Everyone turned towards him. “Callie’s initial reaction upon meeting Naxon was that he was your brother.”

Callie paled when they all shot surprised looks her way. She threw her hands up in the air. “Sorry, he just looks so much like you guys. I just assumed.”

Zar shook his head. “That’s impossible, because it would mean that father had another ofelia. Someone other than our mother, Queen Shelani. Their relationship was Garra’s will.”

Flare’s voice was quiet when he replied, “Well, it’s not strictly impossible to have more than one ofelia.”

Callie caught onto what Flare was saying and asked, “Wait, that’s a thing? I thought it was fate. Soulmates and all that. You can’t have more than one soulmate. Right?”

Zar glared at Flare, clearly not thrilled that he’d revealed that nugget. “One true ofelia, but some have entered into relationships that was not fated by Garra. Those relationships are not accepted by our society.”

Therius grunted. “Father could’ve done that,” he admitted in an angry voice. “If he’d had a child with a woman that was not his true ofelia there’s no way he would’ve claimed babe. Father was traditional all the way. The next in line for the throne could only be his first born from the union between himself and his true ofelia. He would not allow anything else.”

Zadoc cursed. “If Naxon is that child and father all but threw him away…”

They all went silent for a moment. Callie looked at each of them and realized they were equal parts angry and sad. Callie understood too well what it felt like to view a parent with the rose-colored glasses ripped away. Zar finally spoke up. “We can’t know if any of this is true. We get facts first.” He smiled towards her. “More data is necessary before we act. In the meantime, we set a trap for the betrayer. Focus on that.”

Callie tucked her feet under her and thought of the problem. They had a mole. Someone taking information to Naxon. Possibly a network. “What if you created your own mole?”

Dyre’s gaze shot her way. “What do you mean?”

“It’s something law enforcement does when they’re trying to bring down criminals. They put someone undercover to gain information. Evidence that can be used against them in a court of law.”

Dyre slowly smiled. “We have someone spread false information. Pretend to hate Zar. Fed up with our society’s rules and the like.”

---