Two weeks had passed since Gordon’s funeral, and Ranun finally readied himself to get himself involved again with his brother’s murderer. He walked down the narrow, ivory agency halls alone. He eyed the rooms to his immediate right, noting Anemone would work in one of them soon enough.

Damn, Ranun had missed her the past few days. With her initiation tomorrow morning, she had moved into the apartments nearby all by herself. Like that, the Spring house was empty to only Ranun and Calace.

Ranun carried on, taking a deep breath. He didn’t have time to swim in any of his insecurity. He had to be tough. A man worthy of being a king. He was here for vengeance, after all.

Perfume masked the foul stench of Ranun’s ash-stained orange jacket, a compromise he made with Calace. She understood why he felt he must wear it but didn’t want Ranun to bring others around him to the same torment he endured. Though, Calace looked out more for Ranun’s wellbeing than anybody else.

Two Colorswords greeted him to the prison wing of the elite agency building, and they saluted, Ranun echoing the symbol back, fist to his heart. They were, of course, armored up. These days, most Colors wore a lightweight set of armor during work. No matter how tough the warriors were, heatstroke was a hammer that shattered the heaviest of armors.

Ranun entered without small talk, and his eyes no longer swayed from left or right. Not that he’d see anything other than empty cells. There was only one prisoner here, one they couldn’t hold anywhere else out of a fear he would otherwise be killed by patriotic prisoners upset about Igor or that the Green Chefs could infiltrate and smuggle him out of Soucrest’s hands.

Ranun stopped near the end, where there was an iron door instead of iron bars, entering inside. There, Don sat cuffed in his seat with two Colorswords guarding him. He wore a pale yellow, collared prison uniform. His big, brown eyes stood out on his stout figure.

“You may leave,” Ranun said to the Colors. They obliged, leaving Ranun alone with Corolla’s henchman. He hadn’t said a word to anybody in his entire two weeks here. Questioned every day, Don hadn’t yet revealed anything.

Ranun sat down and drank from a glass of water the Colors left for him beforehand. He didn’t know what he could do that the investigators could not. But people assumed their king capable of anything. But this? Getting criminals to talk wasn’t something Ranun had high hopes of.

They asked him here to get Don to talk, yet Ranun sat only staring. There was a feeling of intense animosity in Ranun’s eyes, but Don had a stone face, something that wouldn’t budge to a harsh look. Ranun knew few interrogation tactics.

Growing up, torture was the favored method to get somebody to talk. Some kingdoms still preferred that method, but Ranun promised to be better than that.

“Are you thirsty?” Ranun asked, not seeing a drink on his side of the table. Don’s eyes shifted slightly, but that was all Ranun got out of the exchange. But then, his stomach grumbled. “So you’re hungry?”

Nothing.

Ranun sighed. “Seriously? Not a word? Why?”

Don crossed his arms, wrinkling his sleeves, then turned his head away. His stomach, however, spoke for him.

Ranun snapped his finger, and sure enough, the Colors were listening on the other side. Merkael entered first, a Color of four years stationed in Falcon Hill, a pretty face with long, curly hair. “Yes, Ranun?”

“Can you fetch me a plate of food from the cafeteria?”

“Yes sir,” Merkael turned around sharply, leaving.

“If you won’t speak, you’ll at least eat, right?” Ranun asked.

Don didn’t even nod.

Ranun, lost for what to do, leaned his head back and started to think. What can I do to get him to speak? Direct questions don’t work, and neither do sympathetic ones.

“Where’s Corolla,” Ranun asked. “Please.”

Finally, it wasn’t much, but Ranun caught Don’s cheek twitch at the word of his former boss. Ranun decided to dig for facial reactions first, see if Don favored Corolla despite trading him away for Gordon’s armor. Otherwise, Ranun might figure out how to take a step forward with the investigation.

“Have you no pride?” Ranun asked. “What Corolla did to you, I heard all about it. He threw you away for coins. Coins! It’s sick, isn’t it? So why are you defending him? Why not bring him down with you?”

Finally, some motions of the face, almost like rippling mud, as the prisoner continued to avert his eyes. But that could be a sign of anything. He, for one, might be angry Ranun was portraying Corolla in a way that didn’t conform with the image Don had in his mind. Or, he might agree.

“I’m building a case to dismantle your crime empire, and whether you want to be a former associate or an active member is up to you. I don’t know how you ended up where you are, or how you were born, or what made you decide it was okay to hang around a man as dangerous as Corolla. I think you know Corolla better than anybody. Why did you stay when fuel added to his flame? Now you’re burned, Don. What now?”

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“What do you want from me?” Don finally said. He mustered the courage to look Ranun in the eyes. His teary eyes and slow rivers flowing down his cheeks signaled that he broke. “What could I possibly do now that will make anything better?”

Ranun, careful, tried not to put Don into a corner. He had to see freedom as an option, even if it wasn’t possible. “You can help squash the fire.”

“I want a lawyer,” Don said. “I know how these… talks work. You’ll do anything to get a confession out of me.”

“The shit your in, I’m sorry, but a lawyer isn’t awarded to international criminals. We have many options on how to proceed forward from here. One, you can be housed here for the next few weeks or so while we catch Corolla without your help. Then, you’ll be tried appropriately, where your noncompliance will result in a possible death sentence. Or, if we don’t feel like dealing with you, you’ll be sent to the Pit of Avarich.”

The last was a bluff, though it was an option Ranun could explore if he were more sinister. The Pit was where nations sent either international criminals or local terrorists to serve their punishments through harsh and brutal labor. They were, how some words describe, worked to death.

“And if I cooperate? Come on, there’s no future for me,” Don said. “I was there when Corolla slaughtered your precious town. I even killed a man myself. I’m culpable. I was there when this city was ordered burned to the ground, and I said nothing. Nothing!”

Ranun’s heart dropped. There was an awkward sense of closure mixed with despair. The fires were confirmed, not an accident. He figured as such, but to truly know was a feeling unlike anything he had felt before.

“There! There’s your damn confession!” Don exclaimed. “Can you kill me now, please? I’m sick of it!”

“Your guilt was never a question,” Ranun said softly. “It doesn’t matter if you spoke or held your tongue the entire time. We didn’t need to know anything you just said. And frankly, I don’t need that right now. All I want is information regarding Corolla.”

“He’s out of your league,” Don said. “You may be a king and think of him as a trivial drug lord, but in person, he’ll kill you.”

He doesn’t know I’ve already fought him. Then again, I wouldn’t have believed a word he said before my encounter with him. What makes him so dangerous anyway?

“Oh? A drug lord killing a king? Why is that?” Ranun asked. Pretty good lie for once. Then again, it’s always easier when seeking truth.

Don turned his head away, unconvinced to answer.

“Come on, tell me? Just this little bit of information, please?” Ranun asked. He wouldn’t lower himself to plead, figuring it wouldn’t be healthy for what mattered. “If not that, how about where your base is? That much, and I’ll pull strings.”

“Yeah, right you will,” Don scoffed. “You kings and cops are all the same. You aren’t fooling me for one second.”

Ranun raised a brow. He genuinely considered giving him some leniency if he complied. But then again, it wouldn’t be fair to the victims of Igor to let him go scot-free…

Ranun lowered his head. Dammit! Why is this so difficult? I’m trying my best here. He took a sip of his water, hearing Don’s stomach again rumble.

“I get it. You won’t snitch on Corolla or tell me anything that will lead to his downfall. But can you at least help me understand you and why Corolla abandoned you? You obviously respect him enough not to tattle but are conflicted enough to twitch every time his name comes up. Do you think it was a mistake? No. I think you understand it wasn’t. You just want desperately to believe otherwise. Am I wrong?”

Don stiffened, grimacing at Ranun. “You don’t understand anything. How could you? You don’t understand me, and you never will.”

“Is it wrong for me to want to? And you speak as if you understand me? Do you know how broken I was for the past season you’ve been in my life? I don’t think you do, so listen to me for once. I asked you my questions, so ask me yours. How do you think I feel, sitting across from the man who we got in return for my brother’s body. Do you think I’m happy with this deal?

“Corolla has taken enough from me. A thousand lives, Don, then my very brother on top of that. Do you know how hard it’s been to carry myself for this long? It’s not easy, not at all. And I hate myself every second I stare into your eyes and treat you decent despite all you’ve done to me and mine.

“This scuffed-up jacket I’m wearing? I wear it all the time to remind myself of the horror Corolla brought upon my kingdom. And to think… I have so much sympathy for those who had none for those they slaughtered.”

Don, lost for words, said nothing for a moment. “You’re a king. Why do you care about a thousand deaths when you have millions under your domain? That’s not even a whole percent, and yet you’re on the verge of weeping in front of a criminal.”

Ranun tried his best to keep his composure strong and his eyes from closing, even though they were irritated, and waterworks were an inch away from bursting.

“Why?” Don asked.

“You said it already,” Ranun said. “I’m the king. Isn’t it my job to protect them? And what does it matter if I save millions, thousands, or even a single individual? Anyone who cares enough to call me their king, I care enough to help them.”

Ranun, who felt those words to be stretches of the truth in the past, said them naturally as if he believed them as gospel. And maybe he didn’t give himself enough credit. Maybe he was the Great King; the leader everyone said he was.

“I see,” Don said. “And I’m just a bastard, honestly. I won’t snitch. I’m… sorry.”

Ranun sighed. “Well, I’m saddened to hear that. Regardless, it was… interesting to meet you,” Ranun said, standing up. He opened the iron door, and finally, Merkael arrived with a tray of food. “Oh, right, I forgot. Let him eat the meal in the comfort of a chair today, gentlemen.”

Merkael nodded, though he seemed skeptical about providing even a basic luxury to the prisoner. He entered the room and gave Don the tray of food. When Ranun caught his eyes through a small gap between Merkael and the Door, Don looked surprisingly grateful for the meal.

“So you got nothing, eh?” Merkael asked as he walked down the hall with Ranun.

“Nothing of note,” Ranun admitted. “The most I got is an admission they were responsible behind the Falcon Fire, but he won’t say anything about Corolla. You’ve interrogated people before, right? Why do you suppose he won’t speak?”

“Often,” Merkael sighed, “guilty men often hold on to an invisible thread of hope that it isn’t over, even when it is. He may believe someone will break him out and won’t say anything that will upset his boss when saved. Though our security is so tight, that won’t happen.”

“Keep him treated decently,” Ranun said. “I don’t think you’ll get much out of him from here on out, but make sure he is well-fed. Give him some exercise as well.”

“Sir, after all he’d done…” Merkael trailed off.

“He’s still a human being,” Ranun said, finishing his sentence with a slight smile. Ranun expected nothing more than scum to be in front of him going into the conversation. A vile creature that appalled Ranun to look at, let alone converse with. Yet with Don, this criminal who had done so much harm to Ranun, there was a sense of regret and pensiveness that reeked of certain circumstances. Since when was humanity so questionable?