Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)(56)

Two more guards flanked him, both in leather uniforms with chevrons pinned around Khulan’s crossed maces. And there was the claw, too, which had mystified me before, but now I knew it must be the insignia for Drakon Warriors.

Did all the Drakon Warriors know about me, then? And Altan was tasked—or had tasked himself—with squeezing any information out of me?

So quickly that my head spun, Altan yanked me from my cell and practically flung me into the hall. I tried to root myself to the floor while he shut my door and prodded me forward.

The other two guards didn’t speak, or even touch me. If they were worried about the possibility of me running, they didn’t show it.

Altan had probably told them I wasn’t brave enough for that.

After four steps, Altan motioned for me to halt. I obeyed, too afraid to do anything but.

At once, I realized that I stood even with Aaru’s door, and I risked a look inside, expecting him to be sitting on the bed with his knees up, or hidden beneath the bed. But everything was different today.

Even Aaru.

He stood at his door, regarding me with fearful curiosity.

I shouldn’t have been able to read his expression, not when I’d never really seen him before. Only in dim pieces through the hole.

But now he was an arm’s length away, his stubble-covered face obscured only by the grille of metal. His skin was dark—a few shades browner than mine—and he was almost a head taller, with a lanky build made gaunt by a month of constant hunger. A mess of too-long hair framed nighttime-black eyes. He was . . . not handsome. Not beautiful. But compelling, even under the grime and starvation. I wanted to look more.

Suddenly, I realized he was studying me in the same way: noting my half-unraveled twists, my trembling hands, my face, which had been pretty three decans ago but now must be changed by my time in the Pit.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed. For this moment. For staring. For being less beautiful than I’d wanted him to see. For being the one who was taken from her cell and . . . I didn’t know what I was apologizing for.

But then Altan flung open Aaru’s door and took him by the arm. “You too.”

Aaru’s black eyes widened as he staggered forward. Questions rushed between us, but there was no time to give them voice. Altan and the other two dragged us from the cellblock, through the anteroom, and down the hallway. Numbers flitted through my head as we moved—steps, stairs, intersections.

My mind cataloged the heavy footfalls of the three warriors, and the lighter stride of Aaru. I wanted to look over my shoulder at him. He was there. I could feel him. But I didn’t know why he was here, and that was what scared me.

::What’s happening?:: His quiet code was quick, but not quick enough that it wasn’t noticed. A guard shoved him, and he stumbled. One, two, three: his bare feet slapped the ground before he caught himself.

I didn’t dare answer his question. Even if I knew the answer, Altan was too observant. He’d notice the tapped exchange and have questions.

Then we stopped in front of a door and Altan’s grip on my arm grew tighter. “Here’s your chance. You can tell me what I want to know—right now—or we can go inside.”

When I turned to Altan, my voice trembled. “What do you want to know?”

“Your secret, of course.” He smirked. “Your second secret.”

The chill that ran through my body felt like ripples from a punch.

He rested a hand on the doorknob. “I told you I would come back for it. Did you think I’d forgotten?”

I couldn’t bring myself to speak. He’d known I’d held something back, and I’d been waiting for him to ask. Of course. But what could I say to him? I couldn’t tell him the truth; that was too dangerous. And I couldn’t lie, because he’d know.

“Very well.” He pulled open the door and frightening familiarity stole me.

I knew this place. I’d cleaned this interrogation room four times, scrubbing blood and urine off the floor until my hands grew raw. I knew each stone on the floor, wall, and ceiling. I knew the crystals lighting the grim space. I knew the echoes of terrible things that had happened here.

On the far side of the room, a strange chair loomed. Leather straps hung from it like stranglemoss—harmless by itself, but deadly to creatures caught in its embrace.

Aaru stood next to me, surveying the room in absolute silence. He didn’t move, like LaLa’s prey hoping she wouldn’t notice it if it stayed completely still. Only his gaze darted around, eyes wide with alarm.

The back of my hand brushed his. A bad idea, I realized too late.

“Take him.”

At Altan’s command, the other two guards dragged Aaru toward the chair. He struggled, but he was whip-thin and hungry. The larger men easily overpowered him and shoved him into the chair.

“No!” The word was out before I could stop it.

“I warned you about making friends,” Altan said. “But now I wonder if I should have warned him about you.”

Quickly, the guards bound Aaru’s limbs to the chair. One leather strap around each wrist. One around each ankle. Two more went around his forehead and his chest.

Aaru didn’t have shoes, and even from here I could see dark scars crisscrossing his feet and forearms and the bottoms of his calves. His torn clothes weren’t quite long enough.

“You seem attached to this one.” Altan dragged his knuckles against mine, a mockery of the way I’d reached for Aaru’s hand. My stomach turned over. “That’s good for me.”