Dust

XXVIII

I hit the ground hard, my stomach billowing inside of me. Bile rises in my throat, burning the sides of my esophagus, and as I sit up with wet eyes, all I want to do is throw up. Teleportation is not for healers to do, and I can't handle it. I get the feeling Leopold is completely aware of this; he wanted to see me cower.

I hunch back over, fighting the nausea, my nails digging into the floor beneath me—which is padded. My eyebrows furrowing, I rise back to a sitting position, looking around me. The first thing I notice is a trembling, out of breath Gael, on his knees in front of me, his green eyes dulled. His head is pulled back by the curls on his head by a hand whose owner I can't see, neck exposed and sweaty. Beyond Gael is the weapon's wall, and the cabinets where training supplies are stored. Sloane is huddled there, against the wall, her eyes and twenty pairs of children's eyes all watching me. As far I can see with my bleary eyes, a shadow stands in front of them.

I'm in the arena, where I was moments before, but why—

"Listen, Gemma," Leopold whispers. He's right by my ear; I can feel his fingers curving around my chin, ice cold and pulseless. "We need you to do us a favor. It's an easy one, and no one gets hurt if you simply do what we say."

My breath is ragged, my lips in a scowl. "Who's we?"

A fist hits me in the cheek, and I feel blood pour from my skin for a short second before the cut closes itself back up. Leopold hisses, "It's not your place to ask questions, especially not when you can see for yourself."

It takes me a second to blink my eyes clear, but once I do, my stomach seems to freeze over, everything inside of me feeling hollow and frigid. Holding Gael is the Commissioner Mathias, giving me a fanged and condescending smile. His brother, Uriel, makes sure Sloane and the trainees don't move, and Cassius, the most formidable of them all, stands beside Gael, his hands behind his back and his expression strictly business.

The entire Commission is in the same room as me.

Now I really want to throw up.

"Your friend here," says Leopold, still uncomfortably close. "We just need you to tell us a few things about him—"

"Let Gael go," I plead. "I'm the reason he's here, not him. Your problem is with me, I am the traitor—"

Another punch that renders me silent. I cough as Leopold finally releases me, not without a final whisper: "If you run, I'll kill your precious boss. Some trainees, too."

I wouldn't have moved anyway, not until Gael's safe, but the threat of Sloane's and the kid's lives is more than enough to glue me in place. "Cassius," says Leopold, and his eldest brother draws a blade from his coat and places it against Gael's neck, right on the vein bulging from his skin. I swallow, sweat beading on my forehead.

"It was stupid of you to hide him from us, healer. You should know this is no place for his kind," Leopold states, biting his lip. He folds his arms. "Now confess."

I roll my eyes. "Why should I tell you something you already know?"

Leopold grunts in annoyance, crouching down in front of me, blocking my view of Gael. The curtains have been drawn closed, outlining the planes of the vampire's face in shadows. He looks more dead than I have ever seen any vampire, his eyes as red as the lifeless blood in his veins. "I have had spies watching you ever since your petty friend's show at city hall. Some you know, some you don't—waitresses at cafés, family tutors, even friendly neighbors."

My eyes widen. "Tiya—Tiya would never—"

"No, of course she wouldn't!" Leopold says, mocking me with a smile. It drops suddenly. "So my brothers and I made her. What is it your vampire friend said, again? We're 'old and powerful'? He's right. There's nothing you can't accomplish with a little mind control, right?"

"You can't accomplish anything with cruel manipulation—"

"You can. Now shut up and listen or I kill, oh, I don't know" —he pauses, looks back, then points at a set of pink eyes watching me from the dark corner— "the hybrid boy. How about it?"

I shut up.

"Spies tell you a lot, but not enough. We have our ideas, our conspiracies, but in order to know for sure, we have to get inside, don't we?" Leopold says, rising up to his feet again. "Now, I could reverse this, I guess. Why not threaten the girl he loves and make him tell us himself, you ask? Well, I'm not stupid. You'll heal. He won't. Now confess."

My eyes narrow, goosebumps rising on my skin. My heart is going at it, but I have to stay strong, have to think logically. There's a logical way out of everything, no matter the circumstance. "And if I told you that he's not? That he's a healer, in all truth?"

Leopold studies me for a second, his expression going from annoyance to apathy as he just shrugs and snaps in Cassius's direction. I watch, in horror, as the blade begins to slide against Gael's throat. He grunts, grimacing, wriggling uncomfortably, but just as quick as the blade is there, Cassius has picked it up again.

Leopold crouches down in front of Gael, watching the blood drip down onto his shirt, and when the cut doesn't close, just stands up and laughs. "That's not what would happen if I cut you, would it, Gemma? Tell us the truth, or we cut further."

"You expect me to believe that you'll spare him if I just tell the truth? I'm not stupid either, Leopold."

Leopold frowns. "Obviously, you are. Don't you see? I'm giving you a decision. You watch him bleed out here, or you tell us the truth and we give him a chance to get the hell out Maris. Of course, if he refuses to leave, we'll have to take care of him, but at least you're giving him a chance! Confess, woman, or you and all these children will watch your loved one die."

I eye him. "I've never known you to be merciful."

"So you don't believe me?" Leopold just shakes his head, then snaps at Cassius again. The blade draws further, and as Gael squirms, more blood begins to pour—

"Okay, okay! Stop!" I shout. My shoulders are trembling, and as I wring my hands, sweat clings to my skin. I hate what I'm doing, trusting these people, but if Gael's life is on the line... "I confess. Gael is not a Marisian; he's human, he always has been human—but he's not a monster!"

Leopold grins, and Mathias releases Gael. His head falls forward, hands hitting the mat with a thud, chest heaving. He forces his eyes up to mine, something rages beneath them, a green and rampant sea, but there are no words on his lips. Leopold says, "I never said he was a monster. You did what I said. Good girl."

Leopold starts for the door, and with my breath quick in my chest, I crawl forwards towards Gael, closing him in my arms and crying into his shoulder. His embrace comes more hesitantly, but it's unyielding nonetheless. "Brothers," comes Leopold's voice, echoing around the arena. "I believe our job here is done. You have twenty-four hours to get the human out of here, or I will lead the entire nation on a battle against him. Heed my warning, Gemma Armistead. This is your head start.

"The game begins now," says Leopold, and when I look up again, him and all of his brothers have disappeared.