I came to consciousness slowly. I could taste the coppery tang of blood in my mouth, and the left side of my face felt like someone had gone at it with a shovel. I cracked open my eyes, or eye, rather. The left one was swollen over. I had been in enough fights to know that it would be a couple days before I would be able to open it fully.

The light in the room was blinding. It took several seconds and a lot of squinting before I began to make things out. This room was different than the others. That meant I was on one of the lower levels.

It was also sparse—there was only a table and some chairs, but they had been pushed off to the corner. The walls were all bare, except for the one I was facing, which had a massive mirror built into the wall. I squinted at the mirror, and realized it was probably two-way.

Which was impressive, given the size of it. Two way mirrors weren’t easy to make—it cost more to make them than it was worth—so the fact that there was one adorning the wall showed certain disregard for the cost. Then again, I was sitting in an underground facility miles away from civilization, surrounded by some of the most dangerous environment known to man… or woman. Whoever had built it had spent a lot of resources to do so.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Blood had dried all along the left side of my face, from the wound in my eyebrow. The flesh along my jaw and cheek was purple and brown, bruises already forming. My lip was split open and swollen as well.

I tried to remember other blows, but I could only recall that woman punching me once. Yet that one punch had come close to fracturing my jaw, if the bruising was any indication.

How could she hit that hard?

Better yet, how had only two women broken down the door? When I had turned around to confront them, the corner of the door had been pulled back, and there were only two women there. There could have been more people in the stairwell, but I didn’t hear or see anything to indicate that.

The women had also been identical. It wasn’t strange in itself, but the way they had carried themselves—they were important somehow. They were definitely operatives for Matrus, that much was sure. I wondered if Ms. Dale knew that another team had been sent out after her.

I hoped Violet was okay. I remembered my quip about her coming to my rescue, but suddenly I wanted her to do anything but that. I was in trouble here, and if she came after me, then she would likely get caught too.

I shifted in my seat, and I could hear the clinking of metal on metal. It took me a minute, but I realized I was cuffed to the chair by my hands and feet—one pair of cuffs around my wrists, one around my ankles, and even one extendable pair around my knees. I leaned my head back, so that I was staring at the ceiling, and sighed, running through my options.

Escape. That was what I needed to do. Before Violet had a chance to get herself caught. It was the only way to keep her from harm. They would likely be aware that I was awake now, which meant interrogation was coming.

So, first order of business was to get out of this chair. I straightened up, and flexed my arms from where they were bound behind my back. They had slipped the cuffs through the rungs in the back of the chair, but the chair was metal, and likely weaker than the cuffs were. If I could get enough leverage, I could be able to bend or even break the chair.

Taking a deep breath, I began to pull my hands back, the chain between the cuffs growing tight. This angle was terrible for it—I couldn’t get leverage—but I pulled anyway, bringing my shoulder blades together to pull. After about a minute, my arms began to shake from the strain, and I had to relax them.

Just then, the door began to open. I rotated my shoulders and placed a bored look on my face. The door swung open, and Ms. Dale stepped in.

She was fully clothed—likely in borrowed clothes, like Violet and me—and her arm was in a sling. There were dark shadows under her eyes, like she hadn’t slept in a while, and her face was in that same neutral position that I had come to expect from her.

We stared at each other for a few seconds, and then I chuckled. She arched an eyebrow at me.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just feel like you should be saying something like ‘the tables are turned now,’ or something sinister like that.”

Her face remained neutral. “Are you thirsty?”

I pondered the question for a moment. I was thirsty, but this was a power play—if I said yes, I was acknowledging that I was under her control. If I said no, I was stubborn. Remaining silent was no better either.

“Maybe,” I hedged, shifting in my seat. “What did you bring?”

She looked down her nose at me condescendingly. “Water, of course.”

I made a face. “Water? No, thank you.”

Shrugging, she moved over to the table, setting down the cup and water pitcher that she had been holding. Leaning her hip on the table, she studied me.

“How’s your face?” she asked.

It was my turn to shrug. “It’ll heal.”

“It doesn’t look good.”

I laughed. I didn’t mean to, but I did. “Ms. Dale, I appreciate your concern, but this is nothing. You should’ve seen me after my fight with Langston Humphreys. The man had fists like brick walls. Granted, I knocked him out after a minute, but he got in a few good punches.”

“Yes. I’ve read all about your extracurricular activities,” Ms. Dale said, settling back on the table. “You are quite an aggressive specimen of a Patrian male.”

I exhaled, a flash of irritation coming over me. She made me sound like a dog when she spoke like that. “What do you want, Melissa?” I said, using her first name intentionally.

“Violet.”

“Well, that’s too bad. I don’t know where she is.”

Ms. Dale looked over at the mirrored glass for a second and then back to me. “You’re really quite impressive, you know that?”

I leaned back in my chair, recognizing what she was doing. I clenched my jaw, determined to remain silent. I was not going to rise to her bait like she did with mine.

“I mean it. I’m not talking about your physical prowess, but rather your intellect. You’re observant and have keen deductive reasoning skills. You picked up cues from me that even the most talented interrogator would have overlooked.”

I shrugged, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She studied me for a long moment, her brown eyes flicking over me as if I were some puzzle she was trying to solve.

“They’re going to kill you, Viggo,” she said softly.

“Who?” I asked.

“The twins. Please believe me when I say that I didn’t know that they were going to be sent out to retrieve Violet.”

“What does it matter if they sent out another team?”

Ms. Dale’s face tightened in a way that was uniquely her, and I straightened up, my mind filtering through the possibilities.

“You’re afraid of them,” I said, my eyes widening. She didn’t respond, but I could see the truth there.

A long silence stretched out between us. She sat on the table, staring at her hands. Her face and eyes revealed nothing, but I could sense a struggle within her. I remained quiet, waiting to see what decision she arrived at.

“I taught them everything they know,” she said eventually.

I frowned at that bit of information. Who were these twins and why would Ms. Dale be teaching them? I felt that pushing this woman on that subject would get her to close down on me, so I decided to go a different way.

“How can you do this to Violet?” I demanded.

Her head swiveled sharply as she looked over at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, you do. You may not have said it, but you do. Violet is innocent, and you’re willing to let these two women tear her apart. And for what? For a country that claims that they are pacifistic and peaceful?”

Her face hardened and she stood up. “Matrus is –”

“Just as messed up as Patrus. Believe me, I know.”

She let out a sharp breath, and I realized I had made her angry. Angry was good—it meant less control over the information she revealed.

“You really can’t be that naive,” she hissed. “Our queen was murdered. Murdered. And her murderer? Dead. If there is no one to hold responsible for this crime, if we can’t make an example out of someone for what they did…”

I gaped at her. “Are you insane?” She stared at me, her mouth still open to speak, but I barreled over her. “You are talking about condemning an innocent woman to death for regicide, all to maintain face. For what reason? To show that you are in control?”

“People need–”

“People need to be treated like adults. What you’re talking about is tyrannical and cruel. Which… I’ve come to expect from Patrus, but from Matrus?”

She exhaled again sharply, her body vibrating from tension. Her jaw clenched and she stood up.

“Where is Violet?”

I shook my head, clamping my own jaw down. “I don’t know,” I grated out.

“We need to find her.”

“She wasn’t downstairs when I went to look for her.”

“They are going to kill you if you don’t give them what they want.”

I bared my teeth at her in the semblance of a grin. “At least I’ll finally be able to protect a woman I care about,” I said grimly.

A pause filled the room, and she took a step closer, placing a hand on her hip. “I take it you are referring to your wife?”

I scoffed over the flare of rage and pain. “How deep does your file on me go?” I asked bitterly.

“Deep enough,” she replied, arching a brow.

Arrogant Matrian. I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists. “Clearly,” was all I could respond.

“Where is Violet?” she repeated. “Where is the egg?”

I shrugged, suddenly tired of the questions. “I honestly couldn’t tell you.”

She nodded, her face flat. “All right, let me ask you this. After you’re dead, who will be left to protect her?”

I froze, stunned by her words. It hadn’t occurred to me that once I was dead, Violet would be alone and unprotected. It was a devastating thought, one that made me sick to my stomach.

“If you help us find her, I promise you, Viggo, I will do everything in my power to help her get through this alive.”

I stared at her, allowing my disbelief and disdain to show. “I don’t know if you’ve just been doing this too long, or if you’re just a cruel human being, but you and I both know that it’s not true. I’m not even sure if you believe the lies that you’re saying, or if you’ve just bought in to them as well. All I know is this—Violet is capable of taking care of herself. And if you’re smart, you’ll walk away from all this.”

A slow sound of applause filled the air, and the twins sauntered in from the hallway. “What a lovely speech,” one of them said. “Too bad that it’ll be the last one you’ll ever make.”

Ms. Dale shot me a look of deep pity, and turned to the twins.

“Ladies, I was just—”

“We know, Melissa,” said the other one, her face twisted in a sinister grin. “You did your best, but now it’s our turn.”

Dismissed, Ms. Dale stepped over the threshold into the hallway. She took one last look back at me before she disappeared, leaving me and my fate to the two women standing before me.