shades of SUMMER

6|INTERROGATION|

Aura

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I looked up to the ageing concrete, where there had been grey walls and red roofs, now it was just a shadow of what it used to be. The surfaces were stained over the years, now it was dark and mosses were crawling on the walls. But the structure seemed sturdy and stable.

It was a two-storey building, but where it was lacked in height, it compensated for its wide stretch. Clusters of structures of different shapes and sizes were put together in the same space as if the construction took place for several years and there were interruptions in between.

Aloïs guided me through the courtyard into a building with a narrow ledge running parallel across the structure. The decade-old wooden planks groaned against my weight as I climbed the stairs. A few doors down the left, Aloïs opened a door and motioned for me to step in.

The inside of the room was pit dark aside from the windows at the far corner, light hardly filtered in through the opaque glasses and the iron bars. I hesitated to enter inside and looked at Aloïs with a suspicion.

Was there something in his mind? I glanced at my right and left, and there was no one nearby but people were scattered everywhere — gathered in the courtyard, coming out of the buildings, standing at the railing.

Aloïs gave me an annoyed look and shook his head before he strode inside the room. He lit some candles, placed them at the tables and sat down on the chair. His gaze fixed on me, measuring my every move but he didn't order me to come inside. He waited and let me made my own decisions.

I couldn't escape this meeting with Aloïs, if I had to make him listen to my pleas and let me stay here, he needed to see through my genuineness and believe me. So, far Aloïs didn't give me a reason to doubt him so if I had to choose between Alpha Demetrius and Aloïs, I would choose the lesser of the devils.

I took a deep breath and entered the room, the darkness shooed away further into the corners and the shadows were flickering around. Aloïs was already seated, I crossed the room and sat down on one of the chairs opposite him.

"Do you need anything? Water? Food?" Before Aloïs mentioned, it didn't cross my mind that I hardly put anything in my stomach for weeks and when I was captured by the southern alpha, they didn't offer me a morsel. But now was not the time to indulge in. First, I needed to find out what he was planning to do with me then, I could think of something else.

"No," My stomach grumbled the second the word left my mouth, betraying my tongue and Aloïs instantly met my gaze.

What a great way to earn someone's trust when the first word spilled out of my mouth was a lie.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach to make it stop. He didn't say a word though he had seen it all from the way his eyes spoke more than his mouth.

"If you have anything to say in your support, now's the time."

The moment I had left the north, crossed another few miles to make sure I was not followed, knew that from now onwards I was on my own, I had made up my own story. Not too many details but enough to sum up the cause. I told to the trees, birds, critters, and ants and the more I rehearsed, the more it seemed believable.

"My family was murdered." Lie. "Then, they kidnapped me at the dead of the night." Another lie. "I was alone." Mostly true. "I was scared." Truth. "They forced me..." I gulped down in fear. I thought it would be so easy to lie on someone's face but when I stared into Aloïs, he looked at me with so much intensity, sincerity, the words faltered. But a single mistake would not only cost my life, they could hand me over to Alpha Demetrius and bargained a price for my safe return.