Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)(31)

“What about the Idrisi?” asked the other guard. “Think we’ll get more?”

“I doubt it.” Altan sounded smug. Like he knew everything. “The Silent Brothers deal with their own. I hear they’re putting the rioters to death. Public execution. The boy is an exception.”

Riots. On Idris? Was it because of the tremor?

Altan made it sound like Aaru had been involved with the riots, but I couldn’t imagine how. He was so gentle.

Then, Tirta’s guard pulled her down another hall, but before she disappeared, she shot a pale smile and trailed her fingers down her braids—like a reminder to keep any shreds of humanity I could.

A thread of warmth bloomed in my heart. The Book of Love declared the importance of close friends no fewer than seventy times. Those passages detailed how we should treat our friends, how we should appreciate them, how we should put their needs above our own.

In the first level, Gerel still treated me like a disobedient child. Aaru, though we talked and tapped every night, maintained that we were allies; our conversations revolved around the quiet code, the layout of the Pit, what kind of supplies we’d need for our escape. (I hadn’t told him that my family would get me out soon. Any day now.)

But Tirta was different. With her, I could feel Darina and Damyan’s blessing. She wanted to be my friend as much as I wanted to be hers.

The warm feeling cooled as Altan shifted his attention to me. “I hope the last several days have given you enough time to think about what I asked about before.”

I glanced around the hall; we were completely alone.

“I can be a good friend to you, Mira. Or I can be your most ruthless enemy.”

“And you’ll leave it up to me to decide which you become?”

A heavy frown darkened his face. “This is not the time for imprudence. I know you have information. Be a good girl and tell me what you wouldn’t shut up about before.”

He made it sound like I’d gone around telling everyone what I’d discovered. If only I had. Instead, I’d confronted the Luminary Council about their traitorous actions and they’d responded by sending me here.

“I know it has to do with dragons.” His voice deepened. “And why there are so many missing.”

My jaw ached from clenching, but I wouldn’t tell him anything about the Crescent Prominence sanctuary. I wouldn’t.

“You know where they are.”

Blood pulsed through my ears, rushing, roaring, overwhelming. “I won’t tell you anything.” My own voice sounded far away, and in the back of my mind, I remembered again that we were alone in this hall. He could do anything. He could beat me and there would be no one to witness or help.

“All right.” The tangle of my anxiety muted his words, but he didn’t sound angry. His face—those hooded eyes, that scar-touched brown skin—seemed eerily calm, considering I’d refused him twice now. “Let’s go. Just remember, I offered you a chance.”

He hauled open the door to the first-level cellblock and ushered me inside.

Something had changed.

I paused, earning a shove forward, and stumbled farther inside as I realized the problem. Silence.

The first level was usually quiet, most people focused inward, but there was always some kind of audible evidence of their presence: sighing, scuffling, coughing. Something. But now it was so silent I might have wondered if I’d suddenly gone deaf—but I could hear my footfalls just fine. And Altan’s.

I glanced at him, questioning.

He acted like nothing was wrong.

As I approached the first cell (seven steps), I half expected the man inside to be dead. Just one body on the floor. But there was no one.

No one in the next cell, either. All nine cells that had previously been occupied were empty. No Aaru, no Gerel.

Forty cells. Zero people.

Altan opened my cell. The ring of iron was horribly loud.

“Where is everyone?” My question sounded too loud, too.

“Gone.”

“When are they coming back?”

“Get inside the cell.”

My heart pounded. I didn’t want to confine myself to that small space again, especially after the taste of freedom in the bath, but the baton hung from his hip, and the crossed maces on his uniform were a constant reminder that he was stronger and faster. Even the best fighter from another island couldn’t defeat a warrior while on Khulan.

So I went inside my cell and dropped my bundle onto my bed.

“Mira Minkoba.” My full name sounded strange.

I wanted to say something smart, but I couldn’t shake the sensation of something awful creeping up around me, so I just looked at him.

His face was hard. Lean. Predatory. His narrowed eyes met mine as he said, “I hope you use this time to reconsider your refusal.” Then, he tossed a small sack at my feet and shut the door—a second too-loud ringing.

His boots thumped down the hall, and he was gone.

I was alone.

Off-balance at this sudden isolation, I picked up the bag and took it to my bed. There was food inside, and a container of water.

I couldn’t believe he’d moved everyone away.

At least, I hoped he’d only moved them.

What if he’d killed them?

This was because of me. Because I’d refused to give him the locations of the missing dragons.