Solar Reign

V

ROSERIA'S FATHER was a nervous man. He was the sort of man to pace back and forth, back and forth, the fingernail of his thumb between his teeth, his eyes wide and darting. Something about the way his body folded in on itself caught Andorra's attention as he spun on his heel, switching directions.

"I've told you. I don't know where my daughter is." His voice trembled in the silence of the room. While Andorra cataloged the way he hunched his shoulders and tucked his arms in close, Eve was taking in his home in a clinical sort of way, her narrowed eyes missing nothing.

His home was tidy. Neat. Stacks of magazines sat undisturbed on the coffee table. No half-drunk mugs of coffee lingering anywhere. No rings of a cup left sitting on the unstained wood. A clock hung above the couch, ticking softly.

"But she'll be returning soon, correct?" Eve's tone was as sharp as her attention to detail. She tilted her chin up. "Don't mistake us for that fool Blakeley. We'll be able to tell if you lie to us."

Roseria's father looked at Andorra helplessly. Andorra could read his expression, plain as day: he was terrified. He was anxious. There was something that he was protecting, and it was more than just his daughter. The look in his eyes resembled a trapped animal, wounded and knowing the end was coming.

Andorra wanted to know what end he was envisioning.

"We need to speak with Roseria. It's urgent." Andorra tried to soften her words with a smile, but the man wouldn't take it. He continued his pacing, hands shaking. He gave a shake of his head.

"My daughter won't be returning. Please, I don't have the information you seek."

Andorra and Eve looked at each other. Eve tilted her head ever so slightly towards the hallway, and despite the wrench in her gut, Andorra followed Eve's lead. She pulled open the door, inviting Callum into Roseria's family home.

Andorra found it to be redundant and a little silly inviting Callum to play the role of enforcer. But something about Callum was frightening enough to get the job done. The way he spread his shadows, cloaking the room in an instant, had Roseria's father stumbling back.

"No!" he called out, putting his hands up in front of him. Sweat clung to his temples, the hair matting there slightly. Turmoil rolled through the room, thick and heavy. "Please, I promise I know nothing!"

"Doesn't matter. Your daughter will return, and in the meantime, we want to question you." In typical Callum fashion, he cracked his knuckles, approaching Roseria's father. "Hope you enjoy the feel of a cell."

Roseria's father backed up, panic clear in his eyes. "Please," he moaned, finding Andorra's eyes. "You're supposed to be a kind Queen! A generous Queen! You're nothing like that!"

It was meant to be a stab to the heart, but Andorra let it roll off. After all, this man didn't actually know her. And it didn't matter what this man thought or what he felt: Roseria needed to be captured and questioned.

While Callum grabbed onto the man, Eve and Andorra stepped past and ventured deeper into the home, passing closed door after closed door. Clinical didn't even begin to describe what the home looked like; everything was sterile to a T.

"That went well," Eve said sarcastically. "It's crazy how Roseria and her father are nothing alike."

Andorra had been thinking the same thing. Roseria was sharp witted and brilliant. She was cunning and ruthless. She played her own games, however twisted they were, and she didn't dwell on lying to others.

Her father was a different sort. Skittish, almost.

"He's obviously hiding something. He's an employee of the crown, and yet the way he had acted when we first entered..." Andorra trailed off, thinking back to his shocked expression. The way he barely opened the door. The fear in his eyes when he realized why Andorra was there on his doorstep.