Frost and Petals

Interrogation is Torture, Literally (Ch 8)

Kari

The hidden elevator to the Vrathia Kingdom's Royal police sector finally stopped at the end of its shaft. The incredibly modern sector is hidden deep underneath the castle, firmly rooted in the bowels of the planet. Kari steps out after King Ruaridh and his Honor Guard. When King Ruaridh explained to Kari why he wanted him present for these interrogations, Kari didn't hesitate. He would get justice for Elidi before he had to return home and face her widowed girlfriend.

Though they had never been married, they had been together long enough that his kingdom would recognize Galexia as Elidi's widow. Kari shakes his head slightly to clear his thoughts. He needs to focus on a part of his training he had hoped he would never need.

"I will go in first, so wait until I come out. Then, I want Fergus and Paisley to follow me because we know they're not going to give me the information we want. Kari, you will be sent in unexpectedly when I give the signal," King Ruaridh explained. A mean-looking, tall man stepped up to the right of the door. The scar across his left eye runs across his eyeball. The clouded eye would make most people balk. Kari knew from experience how people reacted to weird eyes more than any other physical feature. He and this man were the only two people Kari knew of who would know this pain the most.

Sure, it is relatively common for magic to alter the physical features of the wielders, but no one had ever been born with heterochromia before. It was something Kari had heard about in fictional stories of worlds without magic but a robust belief system that they used to have access to magic, and they would make these claims based on genetics being weird. But here? In reality? Magic influenced features, more than DNA.

The woman Kari assumed to be Paisley was shorter than Fergus by a whole meter but just as mean-looking. Her hair was a short bob with sharp ends that made it appear freshly cut, and it was yellow—not blonde, but yellow. Kari noticed that her yellow eyes had flecks of black in them. She stepped up to the left side of the door with lightning wreathing her fists. She gave Kari a wide grin and flexed her fingers.

"I heard they used lightning to kill your right-hand woman," Paisley said. Every cell in Kari's body dropped another couple of degrees, but he kept a firm grasp on his magic. There was no need to blast a stranger with permafrost just because she was curt.

"They did indeed," Kari managed to get out without any hostility in his tone. Trying to maintain his rage so his Yeti form didn't come out too soon might prove to be more challenging than he first thought.

"I promise to make them pay and still leave enough for you," she practically sang as King Ruaridh opened the door to the prison cell. Her voice echoed back a few times.

"Sounds like a plan," Kari responded with a grin that matched Paisley's.

"We aren't going to tell you—" the voice from inside of the cell cuts off as the thick metal door closed with a resounding thunk as Ruaridh stepped inside. A few seconds passed, and everyone, Kari included, bounced on their toes. Then, a muffled yelp came from behind the door, and Paisley laughed.

"She's fucking terrifying," came Cillian's voice from behind Kari. The Captain of the Vrathian Honor Guard must have finished putting Cassandra's parents in their holding cell. And it's here in this fluorescently lit hallway that Kari noticed something he hadn't before.

Shadows wreathed the man. The coal-black eyes should have gave him away, but Kari hadn't seen them in years. The last time he stared into the eyes of a shadow wraith, he had killed the man.

"And that's why half of the Vrathian army flings themselves at my feet while the other half tries to crawl into bed with me," Paisley retorted with a wink at the Captain.