“Oh, you will be.” Cian jerked the chair and the man upright, kept his face close. “Do you know what I am?”
“I know what you are.” The man used his bloodied mouth to sneer. “Traitor.”
“That’s one viewpoint. But the important thing to remember is that I can give you pain beyond what even such as you can stand. I can keep you alive for days, weeks, come to that. And in constant agony.” He lowered his voice to a hiss. “I’d enjoy it. So let’s begin again.”
He didn’t bother to ask the question, as he’d warned he wouldn’t repeat it.
“Could use a spoon,” he said conversationally. “That left eye looks painful. If I had a spoon handy, I could scoop it right out of its socket for you. Of course, I could use my fingers,” he continued when that eye wheeled wildly. “But then I’d have a mess on my hands, wouldn’t I?”
“Do your worst,” the man spat out—but he’d begun to tremble a little. “I’ll never betray my queen.”
“Bollocks.” The shudders and sweat told him this one would be easily and quickly broken. “You’ll not only betray her before I’m done with you, you’ll do it dancing the hornpipe if I tell you to. But let’s just be quick and direct as we’ve all better things to do.”
The man’s head jerked back as Cian moved. But instead of going for the face as his quarry anticipated, Cian reached down, gripped the man’s cock. And squeezed until there was nothing but screams.
“There’s no one else! I’m alone, I’m alone!”
“Be sure.” Cian only increased the pressure. “If you lie, I’ll find out. And then I’ll begin to cut this piece of you off, one inch at a time.”
“She sent only me.” He was weeping now, tears and snot running down his face. “Only me.”
Cian eased the pressure a few fractions. “Why?”
The only answer was raw, rough gasps, and Cian tightened the vise of his fingers again. “Why?”
“One could slip through easily, unnoticed. Un…unremarked.”
“The logic of that has spared you, at least for the moment, from becoming a eunuch.” Cian strolled over, got himself a chair. After placing it in front of the prisoner, he straddled it. And spoke in conversational tones even as the man whimpered. “Now, this is better, isn’t it? Civilized. When we’re done here, we’ll see to those injuries.”
“I want water.”
“I’m sure you do. We’ll get you some—after. So for now, let’s talk a bit about Lilith.”
It took thirty minutes—and two more sessions of pain—before he was satisfied he knew all the man could tell him. Cian got to his feet again.
The would-be assassin was weeping uncontrollably now. Perhaps from the pain, Cian thought. Perhaps from the belief it was ended.
“What were you before she took you?”
“A teacher.”
“Did you have a wife, a family?”
“They were no use but food. I was poor and weak, but the queen saw more in me. She gave me strength and purpose. And when she slaughters you, and these…ants who crawl with you, I’ll be rewarded. I’ll have a fine house, and women of my choosing, wealth and power.”
“Promised you all that, did she?”
“That and more. You said I could have water.”
“Yes, I did. Let me explain something to you about Lilith.” He moved behind the man, whose name he’d never asked, and spoke quietly in his ear. “She lies. And so do I.”
He clamped his hands on the man’s head and in one fast move, broke his neck.
“What have you done?” Shocked to the pit of her belly, Moira rushed forward. “What have you done?”
“What needed doing. She sent only one—this time. If it upsets your sensibilities, you might want to have your guards take that out of here before I brief you.”
“You had no right. No right.” Her belly wanted to revolt as it had constantly since he’d begun the torturous interrogation. “You murdered him. What makes you any different from him that you would kill him without trial, without sentence?”