Page 113

“Were you controlling it? Did you call it?”

“The gods can’t be controlled,” she said, the first words she’d spoken since Harlow had come in the room.

“We killed all your friends,” he said, voice so soft, Fox barely heard him. “There are no savages left to help you. So tell me, where are you keeping the dragon?”

She only glared back him at.

He stood after a moment and walked around the room, brushing his fingers against the weapons along the wall. When the chief commander stopped next to the last one, a finger running along the metal, Sofia went even grayer. He was caressing the branding iron.

“Is the resistance trying to bring the dragons back?”

“The dragons are dead,” Sofia said.

“You and I both know you don’t believe that. You never have. Now, tell me, where is the dragon?”

The questions went on for another hour, the chief commander never raising his voice or even his hands. He didn’t so much as threaten Sofia. He knew, just as Fox did, that pain wouldn’t convince her of anything. His father had tried that tactic.

Eventually, Chief Commander Harlow slipped from the room, motioning for Fox to follow, leaving Sofia slumped on the floor.

They walked halfway down the hallway before the chief commander turned to Fox.

“What are your thoughts?”

“Sir?” Fox felt wrung out and too tired to understand what Harlow was asking of him.

“How might we get her to talk? Put all that strategy reading to use.”

Fox had to swallow back a startled laugh. The chief commander was using this as an opportunity to train him, to teach him. He pushed away all thoughts of Sofia. He couldn’t think of her.

“Pain won’t work. Threatening her own life won’t work. And—” he paused, wondering if he should say it, but knowing the chief commander wasn’t ignorant. He knew what Fox had seen in the room. “And I don’t think she’ll give anything up to you specifically, sir. She doesn’t appear tolike you.”

“I imagine she hates me and wants me to burn in the dragon hells or whatever those heathens believe in.” He smiled and Fox let out a breath. He’d passed the test. “She won’t admit anything to anyone with only her life on the line. Take her back to the cells and put her with the rest of her comrades. We’ll see how she feels when her friends start their interrogations.”

Fox nodded, realizing that in trying to save Sofia, he might have just condemned her friends.

“Fox,” the chief commander spoke again even as he turned away. “You’ve done well. Marking the base, escaping, and returning to immediately help with the interrogations. You’ve already proved my judgment correct. You’re going to make a fine soldier, Junior Major. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He turned, taking his time returning to the cell where they’d left Sofia. Despite the exhaustion and the horrors from the last day, the chief commander’s voice rang in his ears and sent a thrill racing through his blood.

I’m proud of you.

CHAPTERFORTY

SOFIA

Sofia was only half-aware when Fox returned without the chief commander, freeing her from her binds and carefully picking her up. Even with his slow and gentle gestures, the movement sent waves of pain through her body and she almost threw up on him. She thought he might have whispered something to her, but she didn’t hear it. She didn’t hear anything after that.

When she opened her eyes an indeterminate amount of time later, the pain hadn’t stopped. But the aches had settled into something bearable in their sharp presence. At least the aftermath was predictable and steady.

She was lying on the ground again, cheek pressed against cold stone. But the darkness was no longer impenetrable, and this time, it came with voices and the sound of movement around her.

“Sofia,” a voice whispered.

The voice, sharp with anxiety, roused her before she slipped back into unconsciousness. Someone was crouched in front of her and there was a dim light coming from somewhere above.

“Fox?” she muttered, mouth clumsy around the word.