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I looked around warily.

"Don't worry," he said with a chuckle. "Holden and the other assholes aren't here. You're fine."

I nodded. As long as they weren't here, no one objected to Harry bending a few rules with me. And Iwasn't going to say no to eating real food … or the intel I could gather while doing so.

"Harry," I said, taking a seat next to him. "Surprised to see me?"

He frowned. "Sorry about that. Those collared mages freak me out. Looks like you made it through just fine, at least."

"Only because of Maderoth," I hissed. He'd warned me that my name had made the list, but hadn't been able to do anything else. I didn't blame him, and it had all worked out fine. But it was a painful reminder of just where I stood with the guards. They were fine playing cards with me, but not much else.

"You'd think me surviving would dampen the other prisoners' hatred," I continued. "But it only made things worse for her. They're convinced she's a monster, and I think she's starting to believe it …"

I gobbled up sweet flat cakes and salted graiel, letting my words sink in.

"Poor girl," said another guard, setting down his koffee cup. "Between Holden and your friends — saints, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. I don't know the details, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to hurt your friends. You should tell them that."

I nodded. All the guards were extremely tight-lipped about a few things, and what happened behind the red doors was one of them.

"Yeah," grumbled another guard. "WhydoesHolden have it out for her? They have some history?"

I shrugged. I'd heard Holden was one of the traitor wolf shifters, so I'd assumed it had something to do with that, but we'd never actually talked about it.

"Anyways," Harry said. "Nothing we can do about it." He turned to a large, hairy guard at the table. "Now, Syd, say a truth or a lie. I bet you 10 coins Liam here can correctly guess which it is."

Five minutes later, Harry patted my back and took our winnings as we made our way to the janitorial closet.

"As always, thanks for your help." He pulled out a small bottle of moonshine. "I got you the good stuff this time."

"Pleasure is all mine," I said, with a forced smile. I'd been trying to find the right time to slip in the question about the location of the force-bonded prisoners, but the moment never came and now Harry was about to walk away.

"Quick question for you," I added as nonchalantly as I could manage.

He paused, eyes meeting mine, then inclined his head.

"I heard rumblings that the prisoners Maderoth takes are still aboard the ship somewhere. You hear anything similar? It could go a long way to making people hate her less, if so?"

Harry's eyes went wide, and he shook his head. "Sorry, Liam. Some rules can be broken with a slap on the wrist. But what you're asking for — well, it could get me hung. I can't take that risk." He patted my shoulder andsmiled apologetically. "Enjoy your moonshine, though." And with that, he went back to his table.

Damn! He'd been the easiest route to answers, and if he wasn't willing to give me the information, would Tye really be any different?

I sucked on my teeth as I tucked the bottle away and turned back to the closet.

At least I'd been able to convince him to sympathize with Kaiya — at least a little. She needed as many allies as possible — especially if she went through with her plan tonotescape with us.

If not for Holden, I'd have gotten more — but that bastard was like poison to everyone around him, and he hated Kaiya with a passion.

The thought of her staying back on the ship with him made me sick, but now was not the time to dwell on that. I needed my full focus to get info on Gram, Mirrim, and the others … and unfortunately, there was only one person in this room who might tell me.

Gods be damned.

Shaking my head, I grabbed the mop and bucket, and surveyed the room for the giant.

One head stood above the others at a table beside the far wall, white hair poking out from his hat.

My cheeks burned as the dream played in my mind …that head of white hair between Kaiya's legs …

A part of me wondered if perhaps Jaiel was right and morewasbetter.She'dcertainly been happy.