“I could make you let me out,” he said.
“You could try.” His ability didn’t work if I didn’t look him in the eyes. No matter what mind games he tried to play, he couldn’t deny that simple fact. “Alternatively, you can shut the hell up and stop giving everyone a headache. No amount of yelling will make the Death King acknowledge you.”
“I don’t give a crap about him.”
Damn. Was it me whose attention he’d wanted to draw? At a guess… yes, he had, and I’d given him what he wanted. “If you wanted to speak to me, are you going to tell me how you got out of jail the first time?”
That was the question which had been preying on my mind for the longest. If he’d got out of jail by himself, that was one thing, but I still hadn’t the faintest idea where the others were hiding.
“Your friend Tay made the mistake of coming to talk to me and now she regrets it,” he said. “I wouldn’t bother in future.”
I knew it was him. “You made her kill the jailor?”
He laughed. “You think if I confess to murder it’ll make them spare her life? They won’t, Bria. They’ve already made up their minds.”
Bile coated the back of my throat, and my hands itched to punch his lights out. “Look, if you know anything about the Family’s location, then I’d appreciate it if you tell me before the Death King gets to you first. Even if you’re all but immortal, I’m pretty sure you can still be turned into a lich.”
“I can’t,” he said, in confident tones. “And I think I’ll let you work their location out on your own. Get out.”
I averted my gaze, sharply, but his voice rose in volume until the words were unintelligible. He didn’t need to use magic on me to make me want to run in the opposite direction, so I retreated from the jail, hands clamped over my ears again. Thank the Elements that only the liches were in charge of guarding the jail and not the Elemental Soldiers, because liches didn’t have ears. Or heads.
I ran to the castle, up the steps and into the main hall, releasing a sigh of relief when the doors cut off the sound of his screaming. At first, I thought nobody was inside, and then I saw a fiery humanoid shape in front of the hall of souls.
“Bria,” said Dex. “What’re you running from?”
“I’m looking for the Death King,” I said. “Where is he?”
“Is it about our new prisoner?”
“Please tell me you haven’t been gossiping.”
He gave me a mock hurt look. “I didn’t even tell Liv.”
“I should hope not,” I said. “Given how she’s incapable of leaving the hell alone.”
Maybe I was being unfair on her, but she’d put a serious wrench in my plans to stop Shawn from breaking into the Death King’s castle and I was pretty sure she still suspected me of conspiring against His Deathly Highness. I didn’t need another enemy, so I’d prefer to keep my distance from her for the time being.
Before the fire sprite could reply, the Death King glided through a side door into the hall.
“Bria,” he said. “What is it?”
“Death King,” I said. “Adair just spoke to me—”
“I don’t remember giving you permission to visit him.”
“He was screaming the place down,” I said. “Still is, in fact. He also heavily implied that he used his influencing power on Tay to make her kill the jailor at the House of Fire.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling them that, not me?”
“They’re currently refusing to let me into the building or even acknowledge my existence,” I said. “Whatever happened to negotiating an agreement with them?”
“I hoped they’d be more accepting of you than they’ve been,” he said.
You aren’t the only one. I hadn’t exactly expected to be welcomed with open arms, but their attitude was grating to say the least. If they were truly plotting to execute Tay no matter what, though, how could I possibly convince them to spare her?
“I guess not,” I said. “I was their prisoner before, and I did tell you they didn’t like me.”
“Despite the fact that you turned your family in and ensured their imprisonment,” he said. “The House didn’t share the details of their location with you?”
“My brother is the one with the mind-control power, not me,” I said. “I can’t force the House of Fire to tell you how the Family escaped or where they’re hiding. Nor can I convince Adair to tell me, though he implied he knows, too.”
Even if they’d wanted to cover their own backs, you’d think the Houses would have at least tried to organise a search for the Family’s hiding place. Or asked the Death King to help. I’d assumed he commanded respect even with them… unless they’d already chosen a side.
Before I could question my decision, I said, “You might have mentioned the Order of the Elements had fallen under the control of the enemy.”
“Did Miles tell you that?”
“Of course,” I said. “Why not mention it to me? You told the Houses, he said, but not me?”
“They refused to listen to my warnings,” he said. “That was the reason for our disagreement.”
Oh. “They didn’t believe you?”
“They believe my source of information was misinformed,” he said.
“You have someone spying on the Order?” I said. “Since when?”
“I did.” There was an odd note in his tone which I couldn’t place, but he didn’t offer another word of explanation.
“Do you want me to go to the House of Fire, then?” I asked. “Maybe I can talk some sense into them and get them to believe the truth about the Order.”
“Forget the Order,” he said. “The Order’s status only matters for the inhabitants of Earth, not the Parallel.”
I wasn’t so certain about that, but I hardly gave a shit about the Order myself, not with the Family at large, Adair being uncooperative and my former best friend potentially facing a death sentence. Yet I still found room to be irked
