‘What the actual f...!’

Both unnerved by and glad for the soothing effect of the room, I struggled in horror to imagine what their familiarity with that deranged asshole meant for me. On the one hand, it could be a good thing. In exchange for some info, they might - well, at the very least, let me go. Or it could go horribly wrong. A case of getting locked in a lab and hacked to pieces until they figure out what makes me tick.

“All right, she’ll be here in a minute. I’m not going to ask you any more questions until she arrives, so please make yourself comfortable.”

‘Huh? What? When? How?’

Warrant Officer Pinescar didn’t get up from the table or use any magic tool. He just sat there and - kept his eyes on me.

What I didn’t miss, though, was that he referred to their captain as a woman.

The notion that I might find some sympathy with her because of that vanished the moment the door opened. The hairs on my body bristled while every fiber of my body screamed at me to run away. Of course, I didn’t. Instead, I froze, not daring to take a breath.

[Warrior: ₪₪ sigils]

‘Warrior?’

She certainly was the first female city guard I had seen with a different array than Guardswoman; however, that in no way made me look down on her. By contrast, even with the Lattice telling me the same shit about her as Warrant Officer Pinescar, there was no doubt in my mind that she stood in the upper range of those two runes marking the unknown.

‘Shit!’

Dodging the woman’s piercing gaze, and making myself small, I flinched as she shut the door behind her. Sizing me up, she took a deep breath, straightened up, and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Pinescar, I hope you have a damn good reason for calling me down here.”

“I wouldn’t if I hadn’t, Captain.”

“Then cut to the chase. What’s the issue?”

“Yes, ma’am. Korra Grey here claims she used to be a slave of Frederic Dungreen.”

“Of The Alchemist of Potions?”

‘The bloody heck was it with that name? Was that deranged asshole so famous?’

“Yes. Should I leave the room, ma’am?”

“Well, I’ll leave that up to you, Pinescar. But know that this is something that might be of interest to Imperial agents.”

“That’s what I thought. In that case, I will excuse myself, ma’am.”

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‘Wait, he was leaving? Just like that? Just because she mentioned some agents? Shit! Shit, shit, shit! What have I gotten myself into?’

Just as Warrant Officer Pinescar was closing the door behind him, me wishing I could go with him, a wave of pleasant warmth washed over me, making me feel...at home. It was so lovely, so gentle, so...sickening. A shiver ran down my spine, I actually shivered, doing everything in my power to shake the disgusting feeling off.

“Impressive,” the woman spoke, eyebrows raised, still standing, hands behind her back. “Not necessary, but impressive. Meant only to calm you down, as there is no reason for you to worry. The Empire is not interested in you, but in your former master.”

Sure, for now. But the question was whether that would remain the case once they found out what the asshole had done to me.

“Let me introduce myself: Castiana City Guards Captain Sanysia Rayden. Now, could you put your hand on the identification station - again - for me.”

Not really having a choice, I did as the woman said and let her see my Grid in all its glory.

“I see. Korra Grey, a Slave, and with a considerable number of sigils at that. Actually, with a number, that would suggest that your escape from your master was no mere luck,” she said, paused, and took a breath. “I’ll be blunt: did you kill your former master?”

‘I really, really wish I did.’

Whenever I sniffed my hands, I could have sworn the smell of the blood of those the bastard made me kill still clung to them. The thought made me seethe with a fury threatening to awaken the beast slumbering within me.

“N-no, I was close to, but no.”

“I see,” Captain Rayden said, and as her hand went up to rub the bridge of her nose, she sat down across from me, clasping her hands together on the table in front of her. “Then, can you explain how you got free? I have a hard time imagining a man like him just letting you go.”

“No, he didn’t.” I couldn’t help but agree with her, thinking hard of the best way to answer. “He...he had me killed and disposed of.”

“And yet, without any weave giving you the ability to do so, you survived, and on top of that, you made it all the way to… to Esulmor?” She raised an eyebrow after reading the report. “Or was it one of those weaves you switched?”

‘Why the bloody hell did she care so much about why I didn’t stay dead?’

“N-no, I just did,” I growled, pushing that half-lie through the disgusting urge to blurt it all out hurled at me by the room’s enchantment.

“Look, Grey. I’m not your enemy here. But you must understand that Frederic Dungreen is a person of interest to the Empire.”

“Is he...is he that dangerous?” The deranged asshole was certainly crazy, but...one growl from me, and he shit his pants.

“I wouldn’t say he’s dangerous as opposed to what he does. But I don’t have to tell you about that, do I?”

‘Oh, so they bloody well knew about him doing experiments on humans? And they didn’t do shit about it?!’ Sudden rage swelled within me, pushing a low growl out of my lips.

“I was there for over a year and a half!”

The woman nodded, unfazed by my anger. As a matter of fact, unless I was mistaken, sympathy and understanding flashed through her eyes. “Then you might know something that would help Imperial agents find him - and prevent others from going through what you did. Anything, any small detail about where he might be located might help.”

‘Was she bloody shitting me?!’

“Don’t those...agents have no idea where he is? When you mentioned them, I thought that they were the ones who got on his tail, that they were the reason why they wanted to move the asshole.”

“THEY who?”

“Huh? Well...there was this mind-controlling bitch...”

That was as far as I got to say. The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew heavy, making the hairs on my body bristle and my instincts screaming at me to keep my mouth shut. For whatever reason, Captain Rayden was burning with fierce rage.