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And soon they will have Pellia. I only hope she is as good at lying as I once thought she was.
It’ll be the only way she will survive what’s coming.
Chapter 21
Pellia
“What do you mean, Verrick is missing?” I ask, a feeling of dread creeping up in my veins.
“Just that,” Friza replies. “His scent is in the room you both slept in last night and then it’s gone. No trail.”
“I didn’t sleep in that room last night. We . . . I . . . slept elsewhere.” Something about this doesn’t seem right. “We should check the camp. Maybe he is concealing his scent for some reason?” I ask, that same dread growing in me.
“Already done. He’s nowhere to be found in the camp or village. No one has seen him since before last night.” Friza looks at me, a shrewd expression on her face. “The last thing I knew was a plan that involved you and a fake kidnapping, but now he’s gone in truth and your involvement is extremely suspicious.”
“My involvement?” I parrot back dumbly. “Surely you can’t be serious. I have no reason to mean him any harm.”
“So we’ll see,” Friza says, then barks the order. “Bring her! She needs to be questioned!”
I am dragged away by the remaining orc, his bruising strength digging into my arm, but I barely notice the pain. Where could Verrick have gone? That he is missing is nothing short of alarming. Friza’s right that the kidnapping was supposed to be fake, but what if the Cabal moved early? What if they have him now?
No, I mustn’t think such thoughts. He’s fine. There must be an explanation. He’ll turn up soon and resolve this misunderstanding.
I am brought back to Castle Grimble and taken down, down the stone steps into a part of the castle I have never seen before: the dungeon. Once there, I am patted down by Friza, two hairpins and my hidden dagger confiscated, before I am thrown rather unceremoniously into a cell, landing on the floor amongst the rotting straw. The prison door slams shut behind me. My knee aches from the force of the fall, but even that pain cannot distract me from my worry over Verrick’s safety. I stand up and whirl around, seeing Friza on the other side of the barred door, and exclaim, “This is a waste of time! While you are interrogating me, you could be looking for Verrick! He could be in danger.”
“Which is why I am not wasting time playing games and running around directionlessly. I’m coming right to the source.”
“What am I the source of?” I demand, stepping up so that I am right behind the bars, as close to Friza as I can get. “Why do you think I know anything? I’m as much in the dark as you are!”
Friza also steps close to the bar, a threatening look on her face. “You know what happened last night. The scents left in your room . . . there was arousal and then anger and despair. Then nothing else. What could distress My Warchief, if not betrayal?”
Despair? Verrick was so distraught last night that the scent lingered for Friza to find. A pang of guilt darts through my heart, and Friza suddenly inhales deeply, her eyes widening. Then she bangs on the bars of the door, startling me.
“You made a mistake not drinking yourorikirileaf tea this morning. I can smell all your emotions clearly. What are you so guilty of? What are you hiding?”
Ah, godsdamn it. I was in such a hurry to leave this morning and avoid Verrick that I forgot to drink my tea, and now Friza is misinterpreting everything. “It’s none of your business!” I exclaim. “It’s personal and has nothing to do with Verrick beingmissing. I’m innocent. Surely, if you can smell my feelings of guilt, you can smell that I am not lying.”
“Perhaps. But you could be a very skilled liar. Verrick kept saying that you reminded him of Lucy and I thought he was being ridiculous, but now . . .”
“Oh, for all the gods’ sakes, I am nothing like Lucy. I mean Verrick and your clan no harm. I was feeling guilty because I had an argument with Verrick last night, but I didn't know that I’d hurt him so badly until you said you could smell his despair. That’s all!”
“An argument? What about?”
I don’t want to tell her. It’s deeply personal and I still don’t know how I feel about the whole thing. But I also don’t want her to misunderstand things further. “We argued about Claiming, alright?” I burst out. “It’s none of your concern! It has no bearing on where he is now. Every instant you waste with me is another minute that you could be actually looking for him!” I am practically yelling, but I don’t care. Something is telling me that no matter how I am trying to comfort myself, Verrick is in grave danger.
“We both know who took him,” I say. “You were apprised of the plan. The Cabal must have moved early and took Verrick without coming to me first so that I could switch out their sleeping potion. If they have him, they are going to kill him. We have to find him before they do!”
“I will find him,” Friza responds coldly. “And make no mistake, if my Warchief dies, I will blame you. You say that the Cabal didn’t come to you so you could switch the potions, but I only have your word that they didn’t. This could have been a double-cross all along, with you working for the Cabal, but making us think you were on our side. One can never trust a spy.”
I am frustrated beyond belief. We are going in circles, Friza and I. And wasting time. “I am not a spy,” I say the words slowly, so that she cannot misunderstand me and can smell that I am telling the truth. “I have never done anything like this before.I merely pretended to work with the Cabal so that we could capture them. Why would I want to hurt Verrick or help the Cabal? Doing so would only hurt my queen and Adrik in the long run. I am as loyal to my friend and country as you are to yours.”
Friza still looks at me with a hardness in her eyes, but I can see that she is not as convinced of my guilt as she was before. Her body language changes ever so slightly, her confidence becoming questioning.
“But why would the Cabal move early, without your involvement? That part makes no sense.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe they suspect I am not truly with them . . . in which case Verrick is in even more trouble than before. They will surely punish him for my betrayal.”
“Even if you aren’t lying,” Friza responds, “if something happens to my Warchief, it will still be your fault. It was your plan that brought us to the south, to Grimblton. It is you that has gotten him captured, whether you wielded the poison used to take him or not.”
