Page 20 of Between Wrath and Mercy

“Where is he?” Rainier demanded with a ferocity that gave me pause. I watched him, arms crossed and jaw clenched. He looked like a statue of Hanwen, wrath personified.

Dewalt grinned. “The cellar. That’s why the innkeeper was shouting. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea.”

“Wasn’t thrilled, my ass. He smacked you over the head with his cane.” Lavenia rested a gentle hand on Dewalt’s shoulder, and the look of concern she gave him as she inspected the welt over his eye disarmed me. I blinked. Shocked I didn’t realize it before now, I gawped at the two of them. They had performed the ritual. That explained a lot. The fact neither of them appeared much older than their early twenties was something that tinged me with a bit of jealousy when I’d first seen them, but now I understood.

“Anything else we need to know before we question the deckhand?”

It was Lavenia’s turn to look grim. “I found out who sold the woman your horse,” she turned to me. “It was Faxon.”

Istayedsilentonour way down the stairs. I knew after finding her necklace the odds weren’t good for us, yet I was still devastated. But I withheld my tears, my agony, and pushed it down into a deep pit in my stomach. I’d have time to cry about it later. Instead of thinking about the increasing helplessness of our situation, I tried to organize my thoughts about Faxon. It didn’t make any sense to me. Why would Faxon sell our horses? Were they making him sell them before they forced him onto the ship? It was the only thing that made sense. Lavenia had asked around about a man selling a horse and found he’d sold both two nights ago. One of the men Lavenia spoke to even knew his name, and his description matched.

They’d been at the inn, and Faxon sold the horses. A man helped arrange passage for a girl. Had Faxon gotten away from the captors and sold the horses for passage in order to try to free her? I was bewildered by all the different scenarios running through my head, and I stayed silent while I thought.

All four of us and the old man crammed into the dingy back office, the innkeeper resigned to the fact the Crown Prince would be using his cellar for an interrogation. Dewalt moved a heavy barrel of unknown liquid, some type of alcohol perhaps, off the top of the cellar door. Lavenia lifted the door and pulled it open. All I could see were stone walls and wooden stairs leading down into the dark. Carrying a lantern, Dewalt led the way down with Lavenia close behind. Rainier followed but paused on the top step before turning back to me, face drawn.

“You don’t have to watch this, if you don’t want to.” His face was grim, his full lips pressed into a thin, tight line. I took his warning to mean he’d torture the man if he needed to.

I shook my head and stepped forward. I needed to see it, I needed to hear everything. He started down the stairs, reaching back with his hand for my own, and I let him lead me down into the dark. His calloused hand engulfed mine, and he squeezed it tightly before he let go.

Dewalt had put a satchel over the man's head, and his hands were tied with a rope behind his back. Dewalt kicked him as he walked past, with a casualness that told me this wasn’t the first time he’d interrogated someone. I wondered exactly what his role was during his time with Rainier—when they were working against the Folterran army. Had he been tasked with torturing people for information? It was a bit difficult for me to reconcile my friend, the rascal with an easy smile, with someone who could be capable of anything resembling torture. He pulled the deckhand up to his knees by his shirt and yanked the satchel off his face. The man, whose greasy face seemed to match his greasy hair, turned and spat at Dewalt’s feet. He looked at each of us in turn before his gaze settled on the prince. I watched with some small amount of satisfaction as fear took over his frame.

Rainier’s presence was intimidating in general, yet in this small cellar he evoked the gods. He had to tilt his head down to even stand in the tallest point of the cellar. The room was barely larger than the size of my bathroom at home. While boxes were stacked against the stone wall behind the steps, the rest of the walls were made of earth. The cellar had been dug straight into the ground and felt cool and damp because of it. I took steadying breaths, in through my nose and out through my mouth. The size of the small room and the musty scent of water, earth, and stone were bringing up a memory I wished didn’t haunt me. Part of me wanted to walk back and sit on the steps behind Rainier, but then I’d have to see the man’s face and that seemed worse.

The deckhand was on the ground in the middle of the dirt floor, and Rainier stood directly in front of him at the base of the stairs. The man’s body was strung tight as he glared up at his prince, face screwed up in a bitter grimace. Lavenia stood at the back of the cellar where the ceiling was lower while Dewalt crouched off to the side of the man on the ground. He faced Rainier, and I was surprised to notice the muscles across his back press against his shirt. He’d always been lean and tall—taller than Rainier even—but he had filled out quite a bit since I’d been around them last. Not as drastically as Rainier, but still enough that I was taken aback. I decided to stand next to Lavenia, out of the way. I knew it would be a test of my fortitude, but I wanted to be here, needed to be here. I focused on the stone wall and the stairs in front of me. Being underground was not something I anticipated or something I was sure I could even handle, but this man had information about my daughter. I didn’t want to wait to find out. As long as I focused on the task at hand, I could keep my head clear.

I will get out. I can get out.

“What did I do?” The man had a high nasal voice, but his response sounded feral. I reached out, listening to his heartbeat, finding it slightly accelerated. Not surprising, considering he’d been bound in a cellar and was currently being questioned by the Crown Prince.

“Did you arrange passage for a girl on a ship that left harbor yesterday? Blonde, about this tall?” Rainier’s voice was commanding as he repeated my earlier description of Elora.

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The deckhand’s heart rocketed, as if it would beat right out of his chest.

“Lie.” I interjected, surprising myself. I sounded calmer than I felt. Rainier met my gaze, his eyes flashing with surprise and something else. His mouth spread into a wicked grin.

“The lady has called you a liar. Do you refute her?” Rainier’s voice dripped with venom. He was baiting the man.

“I ain’t a liar!” The deckhand yelled over his shoulder at me. Rainier knelt, closer to eye level with the man. I didn’t need to listen to his heart to retort this time, a growing frustration within my body propelling me. He knew where this was going to lead, why wasn’t he talking?

“Lie.”

Rainier’s eyes shot up to mine, laughter in them. His lips spread in an almost seductive smile. He was enjoying this, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. He kept his eyes on me for another second before his gaze slid back over to his captive. Rainier’s hand slid up, cupping the man’s cheek in what could have been mistaken for an intimate gesture in any other circumstance, but in truth, it was anything but. The deckhand attempted to pull away, but I watched as Rainier’s fingertips pulled his face back where he wanted it.

“Last chance for honesty. Did you arrange passage for a young girl?” I stared at the prince’s mouth, the smile still present along with a malicious glint in his eyes. Hewantedthe man to lie again.

“I didn’t do anything,” The deckhand was either stupid or brave—potentially both. When I didn’t say anything, Rainier peered up at me through impossibly thick lashes.

“Well, darling?”

My reply was instant and steady, though I couldn’t help my surprise at the intimate intonation of his voice.

“Lie.”

Rainier clapped his hand against the man’s face, almost gently, before standing. I watched his fingertips twitch as I felt a rumble below us. The earthy scent of mildew permeated the air more than it already had been. I took a step to the side as I realized what was happening. The earth beneath the man started to shift away and his body fell deeper into the ground. Dirt stopping halfway up his chest, he sank, his hands still tied behind his back. I grabbed onto Lavenia, bracing myself. A trickle of water started running down the wall behind the stairs. I wasn’t sure if Rainier disrupted something when he opened up the ground or not.

“What the—” the man cried out.

“You seem like a forgetful man. Hopefully this will remind you.” This time Rainier spoke with the low growl matching someone who could make the earth below us swallow someone whole. I tensed. It wasn’t often Rainier used the other aspects of his divinity, and his other abilities had a certain reckless wild which made me nervous.

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