When All is Null and Void

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Without provocation, Alexander spoke. "We were training, and instead of a Void cut, this." The lie was fluid, genuine enough to be convincing. Alexander didn't even bat an eyelash, and Caleb might have believed the man had Caleb not been the one to experience the entire previous evening himself.

Rhea clucked her tongue in distaste. "Titus already told me what happened. There is no need to lie."

Alexander shrugged. "You know I don't trust you."

The smile Rhea gave was sad. "Why do you insist on perpetuating a narrative in which I'm the evil one?"

"I never said you were evil." But Alexander had grown slightly rosy around the ears.

"And yet you maintain a lie because you think I'm out to harm you, This, here, now, isn't an interrogation or battle. Let's lay aside our vendettas and torches for a moment."

Alexander sneered but said nothing more on the topic. "I'm not the one who experienced it." Alexander gestured at Caleb. "You go ahead."

Rhea shook her head. "Caleb and I will discuss it while I'm observing him for a bit, but we need privacy. You're free to wait in the garden. I'll have someone bring out some scones."

Looking ready to tell Rhea just where she could shove those scones, Alexander took a calming breath. "I'm not hungry."

"Some coffee, then? You look tired."

His withering look could have burned anyone but Rhea. "I'll show myself out," he grumbled when Rhea began to offer an escort. An attempted bracing look to Caleb before he passed from view didn't inspire much confidence.

The door clicked shut and Rhea stood still for a few moments. Caleb stared at the place Alexander had previously occupied, wondering if he ought to have run away. Then his ring seared again and with his sudden hiss, Rhea seemed to return to life, her reverie shattered.

"If you'll follow me, I'd like to take you to the lab. We'll have a much better ability to observe you in there." Proffering her arm to Caleb, he took it.

The woman known as Queen of Time was sturdy and held Caleb up without struggle. Together they limped down the hallway. "Alexander and I have quite the past," she said eventually. This wasn't the way Caleb had expected Rhea James to start a conversation.

He said nothing, mostly because he didn't think he could form a coherent response.

"He married my sister," she said.

Caleb grunted.

"Ringlock doesn't just occur during training," she went on. "Someone has to try and take your ring, and I want to know who that was." They ventured to the far end of the Estate, to the stairs that led downward. A few lab techs worked in the corner, but Caleb was unable to see what that was before a clear window shifted to an opaque screen.

"No one tried to take my ring," Caleb said eventually.

Rhea stopped. "Now Caleb, Alexander has a long history of lying to me. There's no need to continue the tradition." Leading Caleb to the same room in which Rhea had first administered the Dream Toxin, she said, "I'm not sure you're being very forthcoming."

Caleb wasn't allowed to respond before Rhea left him in the room alone. She returned moments later with a small needle—the same black liquid as Dream Toxin within.

"You're not going to inject me with that," Caleb protested, but it was feeble. He was against the wall.

"This won't put you into the Void. It's only going to put you asleep for a few minutes so I can take a look at your memory. I need to see what you did."