It took effort to keep from taking a step back as my eyes rose to meet his harsh gaze. It felt heavier without the buffering presence of another.
"Where's Rowan?" He demanded again.
I kept my lips shut. I wasn't going to tell him that he was in his kitchen getting me food while he thought I was in the shower. Or, at least he had been. Giving no answer was better than giving the wrong one. I hoped.
The frown pulling at the General's thin lips grew. It had my fear growing until I couldn't help but take that step back that I had been denying myself. It was to be determined if the comfort it brought was worth the weakness it displayed. Not that it would matter. We were already too far outmatched for the small display to mean much.
His lips curled as the silence I could tell he was trying to intimidate me with continued to stretch. It continued to until the growing oppressive air pressing in on me had me blurting out an answer. One that didn't answer his question.
"I got lost." A lie that held truth.
His lips thinned. "You got... lost. Heading where?"
"Back to my cell," I answered, blinking my eyes while my heart thumped in protest against my choice of wording. It would be stranger to not acknowledge my captivity given how I ended up here.
Or at least that's what I tried to tell myself to excuse the unfiltered response.
"From?" He continued questioning.
"The kitchen." Although it was just down the hall, it seemed easier to believe that I turned the wrong way down the hall rather than that I got lost on the way back from the bathroom in the room my cell was attached to.
General Amrod's brow quirked in response. "You've managed to venture quite the distance in the wrong direction. Your room," he stressed, "is in the other direction. Come, I'll show you," he said already moving to show me the way.
Maybe they couldn't sense lies. Or he didn't care enough about this one to call it out.
I looked down the hallway in the opposite direction that he started in, considering running for a split moment before shaking the thought from my head. Running would make things worse. Seeing no other option that would pan out well, I followed him with my hands clasped together to hide their trembling. I had been caught, it was best to admit defeat rather than make the consequences worse. For now.
"Calling it a room doesn't make it any less of a cell," I mumbled under my breath. Even if it did look like one. They could add a TV and minibar and it would still be a prison as long as the doors remained locked when I was inside. Though, I would appreciate the drinks. Probably a little too well.
Ignoring me, he continued forward with his shoulders back and hands clasped behind his back. but his next words told me he had heard my mumbled ones. "Measure must be taken for safety. You are a human that another Court broke laws to bring into this realm. There are far worse surroundings than a humble bedroom that you could have woken up in."
A humble and locked bedroom.
"I didn't have a choice in participating. I'd be more than happy to be deported back to my realm if that's an option," I offered as my eyes took in our surroundings, trying to form and memorize a mental map.
"We're not as in a hurry to be rid of you as we are in discerning why you were brought here." His feet which I had been struggling to keep up with grew to an abrupt halt. I took a step back as he turned to level me with cold eyes that had trepidation crawling up my spine. "Care to share?"
