Central

by Raine Thomas

  As he got closer, she focused on his face, refusing to give him the satisfaction of staring at the object in his hand. She could hear her own rapid breathing and felt a line of sweat drip down her back and knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, but it was the point of the matter.

  Damn right it is, Amber agreed. But Olivia felt her sister’s agonized fear.

  “I understand that today’s humans,” Grolkinei said, moving close enough to place one prong of the fork just below Olivia’s navel, “are oddly modest creatures.”

  The sound of fabric ripping filled the room. She felt the air touching her midriff as her tank top was sheared. She also felt her face flame with the modest embarrassment he was referencing. And lastly, she felt the prong of the instrument pressing against the middle of her breastbone where it had completed its ascent.

  “My next cut will completely remove the garment,” he said, his red eyes looking incongruously dangerous and coaxing at the same time.

  He moved the prong so that she could feel its sharpness. Looking at him with a disinterest she didn’t feel, she finally spoke. “It’s only skin, Grolkinei.”

  Then, when his eyes flashed angrily, she smoothly added, “But what do you want to know?”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Harold found Titan, Gabriel conveyed.

  The relief and excitement that coursed through them was intense but short-lived. After all, they didn’t know how many Mercesti were within whatever holding contained Olivia, and she needed to remain safe until her rescuers could reach her.

  They all refocused their efforts on doing what they could to help her through their connection. She would surely need it in her face-off with Grolkinei.

  If James had harbored a rather nebulous dislike of the Mercesti elder before that day, it had most certainly crystallized into full-blown, want-to-break-every-bone-in-your-body hatred the moment Grolkinei picked up the tool from the table with the intent to use it on Olivia. Watching the Mercesti’s advance with that tool while feeling her warranted fear and being powerless to help her had been gut-wrenching beyond words.

  Now, after she issued her nonchalant question—earning brief smiles from her sisters—Grolkinei responded, “Why did your eyes glow?”

  “A result of my efforts to block Kanika’s intrusion,” she lied easily, obviously having thought of the falsehood in the brief span of time she had been given.

  Grolkinei stared at her consideringly. As he had no reason to doubt her, he swiftly switched subjects. “I want to know how to travel between the planes.”

  Tell him things he likely already knows, Gabriel told her.

  Like what? she returned, clearly panicked.

  The Gloresti-Corgloresti connection.

  Her brow wrinkled. “I don’t get it,” she said out loud. “Everyone here seems to know how the transition between the planes works. I can’t imagine how someone as powerful as you wouldn’t know the specifics.”

  James gave her a mental nod of approval. The scattered and perplexed tone was exactly the one she needed to strike.

  Raising his eyebrows and waving the pronged instrument in his hand, Grolkinei responded, “I believe it would behoove you to indulge me.”

  Giving a long-suffering sigh that had Amber and Skye issuing mental chuckles, she responded, “Fine.” As if she was reading from a textbook, she continued, “The transition between the planes must be done by a Corgloresti with the aid of a Gloresti.” She tilted her head and looked at Grolkinei expectantly.

  For a long, humming moment, they all thought that he might use the pronged tool on Olivia again. Fortunately, he seemed more amused than angry.

  “You really are a spectacular creature,” he said with notable wonder, looking her up and down again as though really seeing her for the first time.

  On the far side of the room, Kanika issued a sound of obvious surprise and anger. Her relationship to the Mercesti leader seemed abundantly clear. And she, along with everyone else, was apparently quite clear regarding Grolkinei’s interest in Olivia.

  James felt things starting to slide sideways. Causing this kind of reaction certainly hadn’t been the plan.

  “Are your sisters just like you?” Grolkinei asked.

  Olivia affected as much of a shrug as she could manage in her restraints. “We look alike, anyway.”

  “Hmm.” He gave her another long, assessing look. “What was it like for you to transition between the planes?”

  The expression of confusion on Olivia’s face wasn’t contrived. She had no idea why he would ask such an odd question.

  Tell him you don’t remember, Gabriel urged her.

  “None of us remember the transition itself,” she said. “I remember part of my human existence, if that interests you.”

  Now, Grolkinei looked less indulgent. His face again fell into threatening lines. “Where did you transition to?”

  You can tell him that.

  “It was a forested area. I’m not familiar enough with this plane to be able to say for sure. We were far inland. It took us at least two hours to reach water. I don’t remember seeing any dwellings nearby. This plane is much different from what I remember of the human one.”

  She truly didn’t know more than that, but James could tell her vague answer further prodded Grolkinei’s temper.

  “You have just described more than half of the Estilorian plane,” he said blandly, tapping the pronged tool against his palm. Perhaps reading sincerity on Olivia’s face, however, he didn’t pursue it. Instead, he asked, “Do you look the same here as you did on the human plane?”

  She hesitated, uncertain whether she should answer him honestly. Since Gabriel didn’t seem to know, either, she responded, “No. Similar, but not exactly the same.”

  Starting to pace, Grolkinei considered this. “So it was a transition between two different forms, just as it works for full Estilorians. You and your sisters were able to transition like your father because he was a Corgloresti. Your Estilorian form remained on this plane during your time on the human one. That confirms our logic. What we do not know is how the human side of your blood affects things.”

  She didn’t respond, generally as in the dark about this as he was.

  “You are obviously strong. Ryce claims he sliced your throat, yet you bear no mark,” he observed. Now he paused, seeming to give that closer consideration. “Can you heal yourself?”

  “No,” she responded honestly.

  “Hmm.” His gaze shifted thoughtfully to the pronged tool.

  Seeing the look, James wanted to reach right through her thoughts and strangle him until he fell on the thing.

  “There is an Estilorian who can heal us,” she said. It was true as far as it went, and served to divert Grolkinei’s thoughts. “The Corgloresti elder, Ini-herit.”

  That seemed to assuage the Mercesti leader. He nodded. Then he added, “You can control animals with your mind.”

  “One animal,” she lied. “A white panther.”

  “A unique ability nonetheless,” he responded.

  He once again began walking slowly around her. James felt his palms dampen when Grolkinei stood behind her, out of sight.

  “Show us your wings.”

  She didn’t want to, but couldn’t see a way around it. Clenching her hands around the chains above her head, she closed her eyes and did as he demanded.

  “Marvelous,” he said with a great deal of admiration in his voice. “Absolutely marvelous.” He reached out to touch one of her wing segments. She felt it like he was touching her skin and shuddered.

  “Are your sisters’ wings the same?”

  “No.”

  He stroked her wings for another full minute. The stretch of time seemed interminable. James sent Olivia comforting thoughts even as he suppressed his own impotent fury.

  Where the hell was Harold?

  As Grolkinei walked back in front of Olivia, she retracted her wings with a great deal of relief for all of them.

  “Perhaps i
t would help matters if I explained a bit more why I am asking such questions,” he said consideringly. When she just stared at him, he continued, “As has probably been expressed to you, I was rather…we shall say ‘unhappy’ about the creation of this plane. I believed then, and still do, that it was a foolish mistake that rousted us from our rightful place in the world. We should be ruling over humanity right now, not sitting here behind this false cloak of powerlessness and equality. The Mercesti have always understood that Estilorians and humans evolved together for a reason. Removing ourselves from them has been detrimental to our future.”

  Ironically, he was exactly right. But where he felt it was detrimental because Estilorians no longer got to experience worship by and dominance over humans, the truth was that it was detrimental to them because they no longer benefitted from human relationships and emotions.

  “In light of your thoughts about humans, I don’t understand why you’d be interested in me,” she responded. “I’m just a diluted Estilorian.”

  He looked at her for a very long moment. Then he smiled in a way that seemed both charming and malevolent. “Olivia, my sweet, you and your sisters are anything but what I expected. I would never have thought that any being of less than full Estilorian blood could make an elder like Gabriel commit his entire lifetime to her. Yet your sister has apparently done so.”

  James felt Gabriel’s surprise and concern over the direction the conversation had taken. The Mercesti elder seemed to know much more about them than they had assumed. What did that mean about his intentions?

  Grolkinei continued, “And I admit, his interest did pique mine. If a being such as the ‘lauded’ archigos Gabriel, an Estilorian whose teachings are supposedly focused on a skillset far beyond someone as ‘lowly’ as myself, would consign himself to one of you half-breeds, then perhaps it would behoove me to look more closely at you.”

  Deflect. Downplay it, Amber thought.

  “Well, as I understand it, Amber and Gabriel were the only two who showed any interest in each other on the human plane,” Olivia adlibbed, trying to inflect the right amount of helpfulness, snarkiness and resentfulness into her voice. “I’m sure they were just thinking they wouldn’t find anyone over here who would give them the same attention.” She gave a deliberate pause. “Insecurity is a common human issue.”

  “Is that so?” he asked. He stood just a foot from her. “You see, Olivia, I simply do not believe that Gabriel would ever do such a significant thing as avow himself because of a lack of confidence. Females such as the lovely Kanika have long made it clear that they are available should he only show an interest in them. Yet he never did.” His expression was thoughtful. “So, the question remains: what is it about you half-breeds that has generated such an interest among the Estilorian elders? What is it that they know about you that makes you so valuable to them? And how far will they go to try and save you from harm?”

  Olivia blinked several times as she processed this. “Are you saying you intend to ransom me or something?”

  Grolkinei appeared as puzzled by the term as James felt. Gabriel sent a quick definition through his thoughts. James realized the Mercesti leader was trying to establish how valuable Olivia was. The very idea appalled him.

  “If by ‘ransom’ you are asking whether I intend to ask the elders for something in exchange for your safe return,” Grolkinei answered, “that all depends upon whether I believe they will even entertain such an offer.” He raised his eyebrows and gave her another careful study. “Do you believe they would find you worth negotiating for?”

  Frowning in confusion, she responded, “I don’t have any idea. What is it you consider valuable?”

  He smiled. “An excellent question. You are quite intelligent. Braver than I thought you would be, as well. Full of surprises.” Then he turned and walked back over to the table containing all of the tools. He replaced the pronged instrument and glanced back at her over his shoulder. “But I believe I will leave your question unanswered. I do not want to influence your responses to our questions about the abilities you and your sisters have.”

  Why is he asking these questions? Olivia thought toward her family. What am I supposed to tell him?

  I think it boils down to him trying to find a way to cross the planes, Gabriel answered. He wants to hear that you can make that happen. But you can’t. Mercesti simply can’t cross the planes, regardless of the will of the elders or your abilities.

  So, he wants an answer I won’t be able to provide?

  There was a long silence. Olivia knew the answer to her own question, and it filled her with dread.

  “Since you will not allow the lovely Kanika to enter your mind and pull the answers I am seeking that way, we will simply have to turn to alternative methods of eliciting the information from you,” Grolkinei said.

  Her heart raced in response. James felt panic and fear circulating among them all.

  Grolkinei glanced at the thin, white-haired Mercesti standing quietly beside Ryce. “Cesaro here is my chief information officer. He excels at acquiring information and has many means by which he does so.” Then he looked again at her. “These are his tools.”

  Struggling to keep her voice level, she said, “You haven’t even really asked me any questions yet. Why don’t we start with having a regular old conversation instead of leaping right to ‘eliciting’ anything?”

  “Because I do not believe you will be honest with me, Olivia. You have an assessing mind. I have noticed you weighing every response you have given me. How am I to rely on the fact that you are being completely forthcoming?” He shook his head. “There are always ways to learn the truth, you know. Some are more effective than others, I have learned over time. And I know you will be screaming the answers I seek by the end of the night.

  “I also know that my commanders enjoy their solitude as they exercise their particular talents. Thus, I will leave you in the care of Cesaro and Ryce. They will get my answers for me.”

  “But—”

  “Enough,” he snapped, waving a hand at her. Turning to Cesaro, he said, “Do not mar her face. I find it appealing. And try not to break too many bones unless it becomes absolutely necessary.” With a glance at Ryce, he added, “You have my permission to touch her now.”

  James felt her terror like a tangible object in his gut. She was thinking she might embarrass herself and start crying. None of them could blame her, though they all sent her bolstering thoughts even as Gabriel sent another thought to Harold to check on his progress. Skye was already openly weeping over the threats to her sister. Even Amber looked dangerously close to losing her composure.

  Grolkinei left the room, followed by everyone except for Cesaro and Ryce. The door closed ominously after the last Mercesti departed. When the two remaining males approached, Olivia focused on keeping her breathing steady and her expression contained.

  “Well, well, well, chickadee,” Ryce said with gleaming red eyes. “I believe it is time for a little fun.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Amber, can you restart the circulation in my hands? Olivia thought, deliberately ignoring Ryce’s comment because it made her want to whimper like an infant.

  Sure.

  Suppressing her towering fear was all but impossible. Even if by some miracle she had managed to calm her own roiling emotions, she then had to contend with the potent feelings being conveyed to her, however unintentionally, by the five people now mentally connected to her. She felt every bit of their murderous fury and intense fear for her. She felt Skye’s heartache and James’ sense of utter helplessness. She felt Gabriel urging Harold to hurry and felt Amber wishing she could send more of her power through the connection to be of some kind of assistance.

  She also sensed Caleb’s almost constant stream of thought evaluating her environment and weighing possibilities. She knew he was as concerned for her as everyone else, but he was most easily able to place a certain distance between those emotions and the thoughts focused on getting
her out of there safely. It was to his thoughts that she latched onto, prompting her into action.

  She expected there to be pain as the feeling returned to her hands, just like when any limb wakes up after being asleep. Fortunately, however, Amber’s healing ability also alleviated that discomfort. She was soon flexing and unflexing her hands, making sure she had full feeling in them.

  “What manner of tool shall we use first, eh?” Cesaro asked. He seemed to be seriously considering the question rather than merely taunting her. It was both creepy and alarming.

  “No tools for now,” Ryce responded, stepping closer to her. “Our lord said that I can touch her. I do not want to have to wait to do so until after you have finished with her. She would be in no condition for what I have in mind.”

  “You cannot do what you have in mind with her bound like she is,” Cesaro argued.

  That was exactly what she was counting on. She felt the whispers of understanding in her mind as her family caught up with her thought process.

  Can Lekwuesti only send food through their connection with another? she wondered.

  At the same time, Ryce was glowering at Cesaro. “I know that, you bloody idiot. I am going to release her.” He turned his gaze back to Olivia. The look he gave her was a repulsive leer. “It will only be more fun if she fights me, anyway.”

  No, James responded carefully to her question, understanding her meaning. But there are limitations. Weapons are not permitted.

  What about kitchen utensils? Like a carving knife?

  “It will be on your head if you end up killing her because she resists you,” Cesaro warned.

  She felt James considering and dismissing her suggestion as the two males in the room with her argued. Your skills don’t lie with weapons like that, he explained. If he’s well enough trained, he could disarm you and use the weapon against you.