Chapter 49: Gisella

Palace of the Centauri Throne: Kingdom of Karil

"Who sent you?" Ronin asked for the dozenth time.

Gisella leaned against the wall, her arms folded in front of her, frowning at the scene in front of her. Not every one of the rebels had escaped the palace after their attack. A few of the guards had managed to capture this one alive. So she and Ronin had been interrogating him for days now to no avail. He wasn't talking and Ronin considered himself above more violent means of persuasion. So they were at a standstill and Gisella didn't see any way past it.

"We can do this all day," Ronin said, standing up straight and glaring down at the man seated before them. Gisella grimaced. Could they?

She had offered to manipulate his pulse. Not to kill him but just for encouragement. Heart rate was closely linked to emotion. Speeding it up released adrenaline into the system, putting a subject on edge, making them paranoid, stronger, more fearful. Putting more force behind the speed made them lazy, dazed, sick. Lowering it did the same but in a different way. She wouldn't stop it altogether, she had promised Ronin that, but still he wouldn't allow it.

Ever since he had confronted her about her magic, ever since she had told him everything there was to tell about her abilities, what she could do and how the former king had known about it, Ronin had been supportive but standoffish. It was as if he hadn't determined just how to handle the information yet. He saw the value in it, certainly, and the advantage to having her by his side in a fight. But he saw the threat of it as well and she knew she hadn't yet earned enough of his trust for him to feel entirely at ease with her. Not yet.

"We know you were with the Rising Star," Gisella said then, pushing off from her place at the wall and striding forward, leaning over the man as a tactic of intimidation. She doubted it worked but, for optics sake, it looked like she was still trying. "We've tied your organization to this incident as well as the former king's assassination."

The man snorted.

"Shows how much you know," he jeered. "That assassination wasn't us."

Gisella cocked a brow.

"So you know who it was," she tried. Ronin leaned forward in interest.

"No," he replied, blanching a little and giving his own lie away. "But it wasn't us."

"You know. And you're going to tell us. Probably not today. Probably not tomorrow. But the dungeons get awfully damp this time of year. And iron chains have been known to drive a Magi mad."

For the first time, his smile faltered.

"Iron?" he croaked.

Gisella leaned back, crossing her arms and staring him down.

"Iron is rare," he argued, desperate, glancing from her to the Captain in terror. "You don't have–"

"This is the kingdom of Karil. Where do you think iron comes from? Who do you think is likely to have a store of the world's rarest material?"

He was panicking now, his eyes moving frantically from her to the Captain and back.

"Let's try something new," Ronin interjected, leaning down so that he was at eye level with their captive. "Who killed the king?"

The man turned pale, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of a way out of this.

"I- you won't put me in the irons?" he asked.

Gisella and Ronin exchanged a glance.

"We won't," Ronin promised.

"I've heard about an island. One in the Kipdes. There's a keep there that belongs to the former king's brother. Halvor sent out a decree that any Magi are welcome to live in peace and harmony on his lands. I-I wasn't able to book passage. I couldn't afford it. But a lot of members of the Rising Star left to join him. The girl who did it, I knew her. She had been one of ours but she left on a boat just weeks after Halvor's offer and I didn't see her again until she killed the king."

"So you're saying King Maurin's brother, Halvor, arranged his assassination," Ronin repeated.

"I'm saying she left to join him and then she shows up again just long enough to kill Maurin and flee. I don't know if he gave the order. I don't know who did. I just know who she was, how she left."

Ronin and Gisella exchanged another glance.

"Take him back to his cell," Ronin ordered to the guards standing nearby. "No chains."

"Thank you, sir," the prisoner cried as he was led away by Ronin's men.

When he was gone, Ronin and Gisella turned to one another, deep in thought.

"Do you believe him?" Ronin asked.

"It fits with what we know," Gisella answered. "And it makes sense. Even Nicolas was convinced that his uncle was involved from the very beginning."

"We should tell him."

Ronin turned to leave but Gisella stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"He's angry with me," she said, simply. Ronin frowned but he did not disagree.

"It isn't ideal that the spies you brought on helped plot a massive invasion of the palace, Gisella," Ronin reminded her. She closed her eyes and looked away, ashamed of her failure. "But he still trusts you. You're not entirely out of his good graces. He will forgive you for this. But he needs time. Tread carefully until then."

She nodded. It was good advice. She hoped she could take it.

Without another word, she and Ronin left the interrogation room just off of his office and strolled through the halls toward the king's study. But once they got there, they were told that he was welcoming guests in the throne room. They exchanged a glance, a feeling of unease growing between them. The king had visitors that he hadn't told them about?

They practically ran to the throne room and, when they pushed open the enormous doors to enter the chamber beyond, Gisella couldn't breathe. A deep red cloak in the center of the icy blue chamber. The Chaos turned slowly to face her, his handsome features quirking up into a smirk as he took her in. She blinked back at him in shock, her chest rising and falling in the silence.

"Gisella," he drawled in welcome. "How lovely to see you again."

"Kazimir," Nicolas began, his knuckles turning bone white from how hard he was gripping the arms of his throne, "was just claiming he had news for me."

Kazimir? Gisella blinked, looking from the king to the Chaos. Was that his name? How had she not known that? How had she never even thought about a man who called himself the Chaos having a real name?

"I was just about to send for you," Nicolas told Gisella and Ronin as they walked forward, giving the Chaos a wide berth as they passed him on either side and moved to stand near their king. "On with it, Chaos."

"I'm certain, by now, dear Gisella has informed you of my intentions regarding the great country of Karil," the Chaos spoke, his words dripping with sweet venom. Gisella narrowed her gaze.

"She mentioned that you seek an alliance. She did not, however, tell us why."

"Karil has been the cruelest to my kind. We are all aware of that. I seek to make change, true change, not only in policy but in hearts and minds. It seems the best place to begin that work is within the country most prejudiced against us."

Nicolas did not speak. He just watched the Chaos closely.

"You've heard of the Andhakaar?" the Chaos asked then, seemingly changing the subject completely.

"I have," Nicolas answered calmly, his expression giving nothing away. Gisella admired his ability to maintain such a cold countenance.

"So you know it is beginning. The age of prophecy is upon us."

Nicolas' fists clenched tighter.

In that moment, the Chaos produced a burlap sack from somewhere. Gisella hadn't been watching very closely. Perhaps it had been sitting beside him all along. She found it impossible to look at anything but his wild eyes, his confident smirk. Without warning, he opened the drawstring and emptied the bag's contents.

Two heads rolled unceremoniously across the floor, both stopping just inches from her feet, leaving a trail of blood across the smooth stone. Gisella gulped, trying to surface above the wave of nausea threatening to overtake her. She didn't want to look at them but she had to. She had to know who they were. One was a girl, young and familiar. She had seen her before, only once, when Gisella had ordered the guards to take her after she had assassinated the king. The other, a man, middle aged. She didn't know him but he bore such a striking resistance to Maurin that he could only be one man. The former king's brother, the current king's uncle. Halvor.

She raised her wide eyes to the Chaos who tossed the bag aside.

"What is the meaning of this?" Nicolas exploded.

"Consider it a gift," Kazimir replied with a shrug. "A show of goodwill. I did not order your father's death. I will not lie that it benefitted me. I see you as far more likely to work with me than your father ever would have been. But I did not command King Maurin's assassination. That was your jealous and foolish uncle and the murderer he was bedding."

The Chaos nodded once more at the decapitated heads of the couple before us. Nicolas did not look at them again. Instead, he set his lips in a grim line and narrowed his gaze.

"What do you want in return?" he asked.

"You've heard the prophecy. Delos has chosen her. Idoria has me. Now, you choose."

THE END.

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