Chapter Warning: Violence, Interrogation tactics
For a while, silence reigned except for the ticking of a grandfather clock tucked in the corner of Janicen's living room. Janicen's shoulders trembled with soundless weeping that tried to pluck at my lone heartstring.
The ticking of the clock became a throb behind my eyes. I could kill them right here.
I should kill them. It would be justified. But what if they killed Gladys because they'd been conditioned by the third prince?
Tick, tick, Solace. Standing still was not the answer. They killed a precious phoenix. They killed Gladys.
They knew where the Tavla and his family were. Killing them would rob me of the answer.
Tick, tick. Tick, tick.
As Ursula folded her arms and shook her head at me, knowing I was weighing on the side of mercy as I regarded the two women, I swore I heard their hearts beating in time with the clock. Tick, tick. Beat, beat.
They'd participated in breaking Xīwàng's heart. They might have heard his father's beat its last. My fist clenched.
I allowed myself a few more moments of calm analysis. I had to dig out all the information from these stacks in front of me. I couldn't burn them until I did.
I shuffled the letters in my hand, putting the best ones on top. Ursula had recording devices in her backpack, and once we had all the answers, we could decide what to do with these women.
I sat down with the letters and read them one by one. The clock marked each torturous second as the chronology of Gladys's friendship with Madame Claire went from loving, to confused, to perfunctory.
And there was one thing that especially stuck out in her last missive.
"Claire Ensen," I read aloud, "You are just as evil as your father. You've taken my heart from me just as surely as if you ripped it from me yourself, and you've beaten my love and left it to die on the streets." I lowered the letter. "Ensen... why does that name sound so familiar?"
The little mice in my head that ran the internal database I possessed spun in their wheels. Eventually, they grabbed for the tidbit I sought. "Ensen... was the name of the Lord that killed the peridot seller."
There was an intake of breath, I'm not sure which one of the ladies did it, and I didn't really care. The sound was confirmation of the truth.
I trapped Madame Claire's attention with the claws of my vicious regard. "You were not in Sanfelton because of business dealings at that time. You were trying to get your father out of the city."
Her jaw clenched. "There are more Ensens in Sanfelton than Felgus Ensen."
Felgus Ensen. Her utterance of the name was all I needed. "But none that Gladys would call evil. But why would she save you?" I scoffed. "Oh, I think I know why. You played the poor me card, making her believe that you were just an innocent daughter."
"Sounds valid," Ursula chimed in.
"But..." I put my hand up. "There were five things that went wrong, leading to Gladys' betrayal."
I put down my first finger. "Your father was arrested, which was not something you wanted."
I put down my next finger, "You and Janicen were forced to agree to work for the emperor that you hated in exchange for your lives."
I held up an older letter sent from another friend named Davo, "This one clearly shows how much you wished you'd never left Aluraparine and that you hate the emperor."
I put down a third finger. "You admitted your jealousy of Gladys and her easy grace with others. I am a victim of such jealousy, so I know how ugly it is."
I put down my fourth finger. "Kohl Sanfelton had more to do with this plot than simply torturing you... he might have even been the one to spearhead it.
"That's preposterous! He tortured us!" Madame Claire sputtered with indignation.
I folded my thumb in. "What I think you gave me was a false letter that did state that Melusine was the emperor's mistress. It was easy then, for someone to take that letter and betray me. What I'd love to know is why. Why frame me? Why kill Gladys? "
With each finger, I'd gotten closer and closer to the older woman until I was in front of her. She kept her silence and my fury erupted. I slapped her and her head jerked back with the force of my blow. She cradled her face with a loud sob.
I looked down at my hand like it was a foreign entity. I had done that. Hit an elder.
"Mother!"
I widened my eyes. Mother? Ah, well that explained a lot about their relationship. It explained a lot about how they were united in their goals. I didn't care.
"The Tavla... where is he?" I kept my voice even.
"Why do you need to know such a thing?" Janicen asked, her voice growing accusatory.
"I'll ask the questions. You answer them." My hand sparked and a flame rested in my palm.
This elicited gasps from Janicen and Madame Claire. "You are a half mage!" Madame Claire whispered. "A hybrid."
I had no intention of letting her divert the conversation. "Tell me where the Tavla is." I raised my hand to strike her again.
"Wait!" Janicen's cheeks were wet with tears. "Tegyrin. He and his family were taken to Tegyrin. But why do you care, Solace? He's our enemy."
"You participated in the death of a phoenix and helped to bring the rage of a well-loved nation on our doorstep. They are not just Beltrit. They are also Calasha and Aluraparine! The three nations will band together!" I was breathing heavily after I finished roaring at them.
"So what? They can't prove we did it. The Beltritians were told they never came."
"The Tavla had a Krela bird."
The two women stared at me in shocked silence. The question of how I knew that heavy in the air.
I extinguished the flame and sat heavily on the couch. "Your sins are monumental. My visit was Faluel's will."
The silence continued with sullen disagreement. It was answer enough for me. "I am sure that you were the ones that killed Gladys, with someone's help. I am sure that your accusations of spying for the Beltritians were real, which is why the Tavla would trust you both. You cannot go unpunished."
The silence turned to sobbing.
"Yes... we are guilty, Solace. But please..." Janicen held out a hand in entreaty.
"Did the Tavla say please? Did Gladys?"
Janicen put a hand over her mouth, and I knew the answer.
I stood up and felt the last thread of my mercy fray and fall away. "Ursula, keep them still. I am going to wake up Father Candletree."
I picked up my homunculus which had charged for the hour I spent interrogating these women. Moving to the bathroom, I donned it again."
The dog had been quiet all this time, but when I came out of the bathroom, she launched herself at me, snarling as she did. Ursula said one word and the dog froze in midair and landed like a frozen statue onto the floor.
"A hedge!" Madame Claire was scandalized. "She's no mage, she's a hedge! A filthy hedge!"
I stepped forward and took the dog by the collar. "And you're a false friend and blasphemer. That's worse."
Madame Claire picked up the boomsword and aimed her barrel at me. Ursula promptly struck her with a concussive blast that knocked her flat. She did not move from the floor. I closed my eyes. I had decided on letting the church judge them, but Faluel and her own foolishness decided her fate.
I looked at Ursula, who was studying me with a new wariness, expecting judgment. When she saw none, she gave me a grim smile.
"I will return," I said as I dragged the dog out the door and tied her to a chain attached to a tree in the yard.
After I woke up Father Candletree and showed him the letters, he hurried to the house with me. He was quite astonished to find both the ladies unconscious on the ground. Ursula had healed the mark from her garotte.
"Goodness! Faluel help us! Why are they unconscious?" Father Candletree cried.
Ursula pointed at the boomsword still by Madame Claire's hand. "She and Janicen tried to attack. Janicen will wake up in a day or so, but unfortunately, I hit Madame Claire too hard. She lives, but... she may not wake up."
My heart lept that I was still not a murderer yet.
Ursula played back the listening charm's information. It had been altered to not have our questions, only the confession that Janicen killed a phoenix.
That was enough for Father Candletree. He signed the decree to have Janicen sent with us in what he thought would be a trip to His Eminence, the pope. But no. We were quite certain that Janicen and Madame Claire had been wanted in Aluraparine, and that was where she would be going for prison.
The next morning, we gave Father Candletree an extra gifting of gold for his help. The dog was to stay with him, as she was such a good watchdog.
With Janicen and Madame Claire as part of our luggage, we left Janesport, fairly certain that news of a priest tearing down the Melusine spy ring would make it to the ears of the emperor. The death of the phoenix would make it to the ears of the pope.
My eyes lit with an unholy glee at the storm brewing as we flew back to the ship. The serpents were eerily quiet, as though knowing that the world would change again soon.
Finally, finally, I read the other note from Xīwàng that I'd tucked away.
At sun's rising
The bridge of snow blossoms
Waits for you to cross
I gasped as the wind took the scrap of paper and whipped it out of my hands. It fluttered across the ocean. I grasped and grasped for it, but it was out of my reach.
I made a noise of frustration.
A bridge of snow blossoms? There had been no snow since the cataclysm.
I struggled with what his enigmatic poem meant. The only thing I could think of was a bridge in the Lows which was decorated with white flowers during the week of Good Tidings.
But the month of Saint Padoxius, saint of good tidings, was in the month we would arrive. How would Xīwàng manage that? It was a romantic idea, if he truly planned such a thing.
Lovers made their vows on the bridge, pleading good tidings from Saint Padoxius.
But the bridge would not be decorated until the last week of that month. I would have to make the trip each day at sunrise.
It seemed impossible.
I returned to my cabin briefly to write a message of return.
Snow blossoms melt
faster than my legs can run
to find your smile
I folded the note into the shape of a crane and gave it to the Krela bird.
When the Krela birds were released, one veered its way to Aluraparine, and the other bird flew to Beltrit, carrying news of betrayal, and a piece of my heart, in its claws.