Page 14
His silvery hair glistened under the bright lights, and his hooked nose cast a shadow over his thin, wrinkled lips. “There has been a slight change of plans.”
“What change?” he whispered, unsure whether the traitors were meant to hear.
Horris chuckled and patted his head. “Do not worry about them. This is their own doing.”
Saren wanted to ask what they had done, but he only nodded obediently. He had learned the hard way not to ask too many questions.
“While we are here to test your masteries, we also need to test…a bit more. I will walk you through it.”
“O-okay.”
“Good boy. Now. This one here,” he said and limped over to the biggest body—a man, by the looks of it, “is withholding a location. This one,” he pointed at the middle, “was found to be dealing with the enemy. And this child,” he jerked his chin, “has yet to be determined as a threat. You will find the location of the known rebellion camp, uncover why a refugee of New Grove was sending messages to our enemy, and determine if this child will grow to become a traitor.”
Saren’s eyes rounded. “Sir?”
“Oh,” he chortled, “Yes, of course. Your telekinesis can be showcased after. I’ll instruct you.”
Shaking his head, Saren stepped back. “Sir. I—you want me to torture these people?”
“Recovering information is hardly torture, boy,” Matthias snapped from his seat, his voice like gravel against Saren’s ears. “Shall we question whether Patryn was right about you? Or assume he was wrong and send you to the Barrens?”
“No! I didn’t mean—”
“Do as you're told,” Horris said with a faux gentleness that even Saren could see through.
“But it will—”
“Wasn’t this supposed to have been removed, Horris?” Eran asked coldly, Vyktor’s twin. The only way one could tell them apart was the lack of glasses on Eran’s face. “I thought the surgeon cut out his emotions along with his organ.”
Ice licked up Saren’s spine. His belly cramped as the monster woke, squirming and pacing, readying to burst free. He slapped his hand over the spot, bit the inside of his cheek, and reeled in his budding tears. Like ravenous sharks sensing blood in the water, they all pumped their dominance into the air. Though they all knew it wouldn’t work as nature intended, Saren still had to pretend. It was expected. “Forgive me,” he whispered, baring his throat in submission. “I’ll do it.”
“See,” Horris gestured at him with a flourish, “A good boy. We will be watching closely.”
Wobbling like a newborn lamb, Saren approached the traitors. He was thankful he couldn’t see their faces. Clairvoyance was required for the location, so he skipped the large man for now. The middle person withheld a memory. That was much easier to find. Lifting his right hand and closing the space between them, he pressed two fingers to their neck. His mastery plunged inside the mind almost too fast. The woman, he now realized, a beta and mother, shook violently against her restraints, screaming through what was probably a gag.
He winced but did not stop.
Her entire life was at his fingertips. Every moment of it, he could reach out and touch as if it were his own. It was dizzying, intoxicating, and the longer he searched, the hungrier he became. That familiar itch buzzed behind his eye—his stomach cramped and twisted. He placed his other hand on her, digging and digging. Secrets he shouldn’t have access to lit up with brilliant color. The way she met her husband through lies and deceit. The way her days were filled with cover-ups and double lives. By day, a gardener; by night, a rebellion spy.
He saw her son’s birth, the flash of fear from bringing an innocent into a world of horror. He saw everything.
When he finally pulled back, panting and itching for more, he croaked, “She was meeting with a man called Kane.”
Matthias looked…pleased. “Keep going,” he rasped, adjusting himself in a way Saren found odd.
Swallowing, he glanced between the left and right, settling on the man. He’d…save the child for last.
Saren subtly shook out his hands, desperate to ignore the urge to take more than he was told. It was time for his monthly feed. Pushing himself as he was made the sensations almost unbearable. He wouldn’t fail, though. Letting down his guardian wasn’t an option. Before Ryx came along, the only person in the world who seemed to care about him was Patryn. And because of that, Saren became fiercely loyal, even to the point of stupidity. Patryn didn’t lie to him. Patryn was right about everything.
However…
Deep down, he knew this was wrong. The empathy running through his veins would’ve been enough to make him stop if he were whole. But he wasn’t. They’d shaped him to be unfeeling, and so he would be.
Wasting no more time, he touched the man’s hulking arm, and his head whipped back as his mastery latched on like a venomous snake. The woman had screamed less. Beneath his hand, the traitor thrashed so violently he almost lost his grip, having to squeeze so hard his fingertips ached. Despite being human, he boomed commands and pumped out his pheromones to stop Saren. It didn’t work, and within ten seconds, he felt his control slip away. The hunger couldn’t be denied. He siphoned the man’s fear, his pain and outrage, his concern for his wife and son. All of it…Saren ate.
By the first seer, it felt so good. His entire body burned with newfound vigor and sang with the euphoria of it all.
The man went slack, and he found the location. Like a beacon in the fog, far away on snow-covered mountaintops. Ramshackled and poorly thrown together, the rebellion camp meant something to this man as the images flooded him with a deep sense of longing. As soon as he found it, the tension broke, and Saren collapsed to his knees.
