Loris studied me. “She thinks he’ll come after you.”
Bruns considered. “It would be a sound strategy, provided I was the sole person in charge. However, it’s a Cartel for a reason. Our plans involve a great deal of people, and my death won’t affect it at all.” He drummed his fingers on the armrest. “He’s going to attempt to rescue her. We’ll use her as bait.”
I dug my fingernails into the leather as the room spun. Loris’s grip on my mind loosened a bit.
“Right now she needs to rest and eat,” Loris said.
“All right.” Bruns stood and scooped me up in his arms.
I yipped in surprise. He carried me to a small room adjoining his office. No windows or other doors, but there was a single bed, night table and lantern. Bruns laid me on the bed and pulled a blanket over me. No doubt his gentleness was all part of a bigger plan. A bit of energy surged through me as I braced for his threat or warning.
“Get some sleep. I’ll have a tray of food sent up along with your favorite tea. You must stay healthy for the baby,” Bruns said.
“And a fat, juicy worm works much better as bait.”
He smiled, but no humor shone from his gray eyes. “You think I enjoy this? I don’t. I value life, Yelena. That’s why we’re doing what needs to be done in order to save Sitia.”
“Your methods—”
“Harsh, I know. But we don’t have the time to convince everyone the old-fashioned way. And it’s a good thing the Cartel didn’t hesitate, because we’ll be ready to protect our homeland if the Commander’s army invades us in five months.”
“You’re not the first person to think that, Bruns. Remember Master Magician Roze Featherstone? She believed she was protecting Sitia when she unleashed the Fire Warper and joined sides with the Daviian Vermin. Look what happened to her.” Roze had been killed, and I’d confined her soul in a glass prison.
“I’m touched you’re so concerned with my welfare. However, the reason Roze Featherstone failed was due to her reliance on magic and magicians. They’re an unpredictable, egotistical and selfish lot and can’t be trusted unless they’re properly...indoctrinated.”
“Indoctrinated? That’s a fancy word for brainwashed.”
“I certainly won’t miss these little chats of ours when you’ve had your change of heart.” Bruns glanced at Loris hovering in the doorway. “Command her to stay in bed until you or I give her permission to leave.”
A heavy pressure pinned me to the mattress. The compulsion to remain under the covers drained the last bit of vigor I’d summoned. My eyelids drooped as Bruns and Loris left. The door remained ajar mere feet from me. But in my current condition, it might as well have been miles away.
Unreachable.
*
Voices woke me...later. I had no idea how long I’d slept, but my stomach growled, demanding food. I sat up. A tray of sliced fruit, cheese and ham slices sat on the night table, along with a glass teapot. Heat radiated from the pot—one of Quinn’s hot glass pieces.
I wondered how Bruns managed to get one. Had he indoctrinated Quinn, as well? Many of the Keep’s magicians had joined Bruns’s ranks, but I hadn’t seen the young glass mage among them. Perhaps he was at another garrison. It made sense for the Cartel to commandeer as many as possible.
About to pour a cup of steaming tea, I paused as a knock silenced Bruns and his visitor. The other man left and— “Come in, General,” Bruns said.
“I apologize for the road dust and mud, but Tia said you wanted to see me right away,” a man said.
There was no mistaking that confident, sly voice. Cahil, or rather, General Cahil of the Sitian army. The man who had gone from my friend to my enemy when he discovered he hadn’t been the King of Ixia’s nephew, and the years he spent planning to retake his kingdom from the Commander had been wasted. Cahil had joined with Roze and the Daviians until the horrors of their kirakawa ritual switched his loyalty back to me, but we’d never regained our friendship. It was obvious why Cahil now reported to Bruns. Cahil hated the Commander and Valek and had been itching for a fight since he was six years old.
I set the pot down quietly, slid from the bed and crept closer to the open door in order to hear them better.
“...new information about the Commander,” Bruns said. He repeated all the intel he’d stolen from me. “Seems the Commander might make his move after the Ixian Fire Festival.”
“How did you learn all this?” Cahil asked.
“From a reliable source.”
Ah. Interesting.
“That means nothing. Valek has spies all over Sitia. I wouldn’t trust—”
“Yelena Zaltana provided it,” Bruns said with an annoyance that bordered on anger.
“Now I know it’s fake. She’d never—”
“She’s in my custody.” Again the clipped tone.
Silence. “Is it true? About her magic?”
“Yes, and that makes her just as susceptible to Theobroma as everyone else.”