A Court of Light and Embers

Chapter Three

Hunt switched off the microphone, swearing low under his breath. He glared at the cameras that allowed us to see the two sisters, Celaena currently glaring up at us. "Why the fuck are they so hard to crack?"

Bryce smirked, kicking her legs up to rest on the desk. "And I thought I was the only one who could get under your skin."

Hunt ignored her, swiping away on a tablet. "There are no birth certificates or records for a Sardothien family."

Bryce studied the two women, Aleah kicking away the metal tray out from under her with disgust. "I can bet they're going to be hard to break. Looks like you have your work cut out for you."

Hunt turned heavy eyes to her. "How are you even in here?"

Bryce took a long sip of her coffee. "Isaiah buzzed me in. After I threatened to cut off his-"

"Hunt," Isaiah's voice crackled through an intercom strapped across his chest. "There is new information about the captives."

Hunt clicked a button. "Go ahead."

"When they were unconscious, we ran a scan of their tattoos. Celaena Sardothien has a massive one on her back, and Aleah Sardothien has multiple down her spine and forearms."

"And?"

"And we found hidden marks in Celaena's tattoo." Hunt's phone buzzed with a message from Isaiah. Hunt opened the text, Bryce leaning closer to look at the sent image. It was a picture of Celaena's back, humungous scars criss-crossing her pale flesh. Across her shoulder blades were a pair of hawk's wings, and across those three main scars were lines of writing inked in an ancient, flowing script. "The language her tattoos are written is extremely old. No-one alive knows how to read or write it. And if you look closely into the hawks wings, you can see small, odd marks."

Hunt pinched his fingers then expanded them to zoom in on the image. Sure enough, there were tiny, bizarre symbols. Bryce twisted her mass of red hair over shoulder. "So? What does this have to do with anything?"

Isaiah replied, "They're called Wyrdmarks. They're used for magic."

Hunt sighed hard. "Great. Now we know they have magic."

"I mean, it was always a possibility," Bryce said, gesturing to the computer screen. Pointed ears peaked out of the sister's hair. "They are Fae."

"If we can track down who did those tattoos, they might be able to give us information on them," Isaiah said.

"It's worth a shot," Hunt murmured, and cut off the connection to Isaiah. He tapped a small tablet in the wall, speaking through a microphone to the guards posted outside the interrogation room. "Take them to separate cells for the night. We'll deal with them in the morning."

A muffled reply, then an invisible door slid open in the room. We watched through the cameras as four heavily armed guns entered. Celaena bared her teeth at two of them who jabbed a needle into her neck, injecting drugs into her system. She was out like a light within a few seconds.

Aleah kicked out with her feet, but the other two guards restrained her, shooting more drugs into her bloodstream. She cried out, then slumped forward. I turned from the screen as the guards carried their limp bodies from the room, unchaining them as they went.

Hunt stuffed his phone into his pocket. "I'm off to track down this tattoo artist. You should head home."

Bryce hopped off her perch on the desk. "Excuse me? I'm coming too."

"This isn't your concern."

"I don't fucking care," Bryce said, looking down her nose at him despite him being taller than her. "I'm coming."

Hunt exhaled hard. "Fine. Let's go."