Page 32 of Rapunzel Unchained

Rebecca poured me a cup of tea, already knowing how I liked it. While the men had gotten me turned on to coffee at their house, I was still partial to a good cup of tea. The blending of my old and new tastes made things interesting to say the least.

A black screen came to life as Rebecca tapped the screen. “I found out quite a few things. But I figured we could start with the basics.” She cleared her throat and scrolled the screen until she came to an image of one of the council members.

“I remember her.” I pointed at the older white hair woman. She’d sneered and snapped at me the whole time. She’d been worried whoever put me in the tower would come back. “She didn’t like me.”

“This is Healer Beatriz. She has been on the council the longest and has her fingers in all sorts of pots. Climate control, health care, international trade, the like.”

“And what does she think of humans?” I sipped from my tea cup, peering down at the disgruntled looking woman.

“She’s pretty neutral from what we’ve been able to tell. She doesn’t advocate for humans but also doesn’t always vote in favor against humans either.”

“So she’s unpredictable.” I pondered the woman on the screen. How could I get her on my side? What was her weakness? “Do we know anything of value about her? Some dirty little secret she wants to keep buried?”

Rebecca’s lips curled up into a wicked grin. “Healer Beatriz has been seen frequenting a clinic an hour outside of the city.She does it under the cover of going to check out the new recruits. But in reality,” she flicked the screen over, showing the mage with bandages wrapped around her face, “she’s getting cell rejuvenation.”

“What’s that?” I tilted my head to the side and reached for a plate of fruit I couldn’t quite reach. Rebecca slid it toward me.

“It’s a procedure that reverses the aging process using human stem cells,” she said as she flicked her hair over her shoulder. As if what she just said was completely normal. “It’s an experimental procedure and completely illegal.”

My lips curved into a smile as I bit into the strawberry in my hand. I hummed. “That seems like something she wouldn’t want to get out to the public, now doesn’t it?”

“Most definitely.” Rebecca nodded before swiping across the screen once more. “Now, Sentinel Nickolai, he’s perfect for us. He’s pro-human and even sponsors a human outreach program that helps disabled and elderly humans who have found themselves without a placement.”

I was surprised to hear there was someone else that didn’t think humans were lesser and even went out of their way to help them. “And do you think he would help us?”

“I think we have a very good chance of getting him to look the other way when we finally make our move by simply telling him our plans for the humans.”

Bobbing my head, I sit my tea cup back on the table in front of me. I crossed my legs, my gown today more of a pale pink than purple, the shimmery fabric more fitting for a ballroom than at breakfast. Yet, I couldn’t find it in myself to put on something so boring and drab as the dresses I’d been offered when I first arrived.

“So we can skip him as far as intimidation or blackmail. What about that red-haired snake woman?”

Her nose scrunched up in disgust. “Oh, Conjurer Marisa. She’s more animal than mage at this point and doesn’t give two shits about human rights. I don’t know much about her outside of her weird creature fetish. Most mages only have one familiar, maybe two if they’re lucky, but Marisa has made conjuring and binding creatures to her a creepy crawly art.”

Rebecca let out a shudder, her eyes closing briefly. I didn’t want to think about what kind of creatures Marisa was into, and Rebecca’s reaction told me I didn’t want to.

“So we have nothing we can use against her?” I traced the rim of my tea cup with my finger, thinking on how to handle the conjurer.

“Unfortunately, no. My contacts couldn’t find anything that wasn’t already common knowledge. And, out of the four, she’s going to be the hardest to convince... besides Cleric Jetta”

“Cleric Jetta?”

“He was big on human experimentation, though it's been outlawed for years now. I’m still looking into more information about his side dealings, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was still experimenting on humans in secret. It’s just a matter of proving it.”

I breathed heavily out through my nose and sank back in my chair. Two out of the three were going to be easy. Convincing someone to come to my side either by choice or force wasn’t something I hadn’t had to do before. But, to get what I wanted, I didn’t have a problem showing a little muscle.

However, the other two, Jetta and Marisa, were going to be a problem. I needed more intel on one and proof on the other. If Rebecca couldn’t find the information, I would have to rely on the demon I had on the inside to get it for me. If he couldn’t, I would have to move to extreme measures.

I wanted to let Adam handle it, but that would make me an optimistic fool. I was neither optimistic nor a fool. And, afterhearing how Adam didn’t trust me, I wasn’t about to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Rebecca?” I began, not sure how to ask this without being awkward. Rebecca has proven her loyalty to me many times now. It was leading me to believe I could trust her over those who I thought were on my side before. Now I was going to rely on that hunch to answer some questions.

“Yes, my queen?” I still couldn’t get over the fact that this woman used to sneer at me and now gave me looks of awe and adoration every time she looked my way.

“You were Adam’s lover before, right?”

Her face had a cautious yet intrigued look to it as she answered, “Yes, for a time. But not anymore, not for a long time,” she quickly added.

I held a hand up to silence her. “I understand. You’re not in trouble. I’m just trying to figure something out.” I pulled my lower lip between my teeth and worried it, insecurity coming over me. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to not since I was a child. “Why do you think Adam chose to pretend to be engaged to you, if he didn’t plan on going through with it? I mean... it could have been anyone. Why you?”

---