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Elide hadn’t been able to respond Had only nodded

Vernon was here At the Gap Not in Morath with hiswhen Arcas landed in the cavernous opening into the Northern Fang The rough-hewn rock loo her sto, undoubtedly, but also a sht, airless corridors

The two Fae males silently fell into step beside her as they entered No sign of Lorcan, or Aelin Or her uncle

Men lay dead in soh, killed by the rukhin when they’d swept in None of them leaked black blood, but they still had that reek to them Like this place had infected their very souls

"They’re just up here," Gavriel said quietly--gently

Elide’s hands began shaking, and Fenrys placed one of his own on her shoulder "He’s well restrained"

She knew not with mere ropes or chains Likely with fire and ice and perhaps even Lorcan’s own dark power

But it did not stop her fro, from how small and brittle she became as they turned a corner and beheld Aelin, Rowan, and Lorcan standing before a shut door Farther down the hall, Nesryn and Sartaq, Lord Chaol with the Elide decide

Lorcan’s grave face was frozen with rage, his depthless eyes like frigid pools of night He said quietly, "You don’t need to go in there"

"We had you brought here," Aelin said, her own face the portrait of restrained wrath, "so you could choose what to do with him If you wish to speak to him before we do"

One look at the knives at Rowan’s and Lorcan’s sides, at the way the queen’s fingers curled, and Elide knehat their sort of talking would include "You mean to torture him for information?" She didn’t dare meet Aelin’s eyes

"Before he receives what is due to hilanced between the male she loved and the queen she served And her limp had never felt so pronounced, so obvious, as she took a step closer "Why is he here?"

"He has yet to reveal that," Rowan said "And though we have not confirlance toward Lorcan "The call is yours, Lady"

"You will kill hio, she had told hireed to do it That had been before Vernon and the ilken had co to eo with hiave her the courtesy of silence "I would like to speak to him before we decide his fate"

A bow of Lorcan’s head was his only answer before he opened the door behind him

Torches flickered, the chaainst one wall

And her uncle, bound in thick irons, seated on a wooden chair

His finery orn, his dark hair unkeled while they’d bound him Indeed, blood crusted one of his nostrils, his nose swollen

Shattered

A glance to her right confirhtened as Elide stopped several feet away, the door shutting, Lorcan and Aelin mere steps behind The others rehty company you keep these days, Elide," Vernon said

That voice Even with the broken nose, that silky, horrible voice raked talons along her skin

But Elide kept her chin up Kept her eyes upon her uncle "Why are you here?"

"First you let the brute atto Lorcan, "then you send in the sweet-faced girl to coax answers?" A smile toward Aelin "A technique of yours, Majesty?"