Broken But Unburnt

Chapter 49 - Gisella

Chapter 49: Gisella

Palace of the Centauri Throne: Kingdom of Karil

"Who sent you?" Ronin asked for the dozenth time.

Gisella leaned against the wall, her arms folded in front of her, frowning at the scene in front of her. Not every one of the rebels had escaped the palace after their attack. A few of the guards had managed to capture this one alive. So she and Ronin had been interrogating him for days now to no avail. He wasn't talking and Ronin considered himself above more violent means of persuasion. So they were at a standstill and Gisella didn't see any way past it.

"We can do this all day," Ronin said, standing up straight and glaring down at the man seated before them. Gisella grimaced. Could they?

She had offered to manipulate his pulse. Not to kill him but just for encouragement. Heart rate was closely linked to emotion. Speeding it up released adrenaline into the system, putting a subject on edge, making them paranoid, stronger, more fearful. Putting more force behind the speed made them lazy, dazed, sick. Lowering it did the same but in a different way. She wouldn't stop it altogether, she had promised Ronin that, but still he wouldn't allow it.

Ever since he had confronted her about her magic, ever since she had told him everything there was to tell about her abilities, what she could do and how the former king had known about it, Ronin had been supportive but standoffish. It was as if he hadn't determined just how to handle the information yet. He saw the value in it, certainly, and the advantage to having her by his side in a fight. But he saw the threat of it as well and she knew she hadn't yet earned enough of his trust for him to feel entirely at ease with her. Not yet.

"We know you were with the Rising Star," Gisella said then, pushing off from her place at the wall and striding forward, leaning over the man as a tactic of intimidation. She doubted it worked but, for optics sake, it looked like she was still trying. "We've tied your organization to this incident as well as the former king's assassination."

The man snorted.

"Shows how much you know," he jeered. "That assassination wasn't us."

Gisella cocked a brow.

"So you know who it was," she tried. Ronin leaned forward in interest.

"No," he replied, blanching a little and giving his own lie away. "But it wasn't us."

"You know. And you're going to tell us. Probably not today. Probably not tomorrow. But the dungeons get awfully damp this time of year. And iron chains have been known to drive a Magi mad."

For the first time, his smile faltered.

"Iron?" he croaked.

Gisella leaned back, crossing her arms and staring him down.

"Iron is rare," he argued, desperate, glancing from her to the Captain in terror. "You don't have–"

"This is the kingdom of Karil. Where do you think iron comes from? Who do you think is likely to have a store of the world's rarest material?"

He was panicking now, his eyes moving frantically from her to the Captain and back.

"Let's try something new," Ronin interjected, leaning down so that he was at eye level with their captive. "Who killed the king?"

The man turned pale, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of a way out of this.

"I- you won't put me in the irons?" he asked.

Gisella and Ronin exchanged a glance.

"We won't," Ronin promised.

"I've heard about an island. One in the Kipdes. There's a keep there that belongs to the former king's brother. Halvor sent out a decree that any Magi are welcome to live in peace and harmony on his lands. I-I wasn't able to book passage. I couldn't afford it. But a lot of members of the Rising Star left to join him. The girl who did it, I knew her. She had been one of ours but she left on a boat just weeks after Halvor's offer and I didn't see her again until she killed the king."