Reign Shadowfell's Arc

Chapter 16 of 29

The guards forced the scout to his knees on the study floor. Reign stepped around the desk and looked down at him. The gag had slipped, and the man was already talking through split lips. He begged. He named a wife. He named a child. He said he had only been told to count the guards at the gate. Reign let him speak until the words ran out. Then he crouched so their eyes were level. "Your life as a scout for the Church of Light is over," he said. "You will not go back to them as their man. You will go back to them as mine." Vixen stepped behind the scout and set her hands on either side of his head. Her fingers were small and very strong. She tilted his jaw back until his throat opened to the ceiling. Lyla knelt at his side and held his shoulders down against her knee. The scout tried to twist. He could not. The red stone at Reign's chest swung forward as he leaned in, the silver raven and ouroboros catching the lamp. The scout saw it and made a sound in his throat that was not a word. Reign drew a thin knife across the inside of his own wrist. Blood welled up in a dark line. He held the wrist over the scout's open mouth. Three drops fell, then two more. He watched them land on the tongue. Then he pulled his arm back and pressed his sleeve to the cut. The scout began to convulse. His heels drummed on the floor. His eyes rolled white. Vixen held his head still so he would not crack his skull on the stone. Lyla kept her weight on his shoulders and did not flinch. A thin foam ran from the corner of his mouth. The imp watched from the doorway, small hands on the frame, quiet for once. Reign counted the seconds under his breath. He had done this once before, in the reeds, with a girl who was almost dead. This man was not almost dead. The blood took him harder for it. After a few minutes the scout took a deep breath. His back settled. His eyes opened, and they found Reign at once and stayed there. The whites were clear. The begging was gone from his face. Vixen let go of his head and stepped back. Lyla eased her hands off his shoulders. Reign stood over him. "Tell me your chapter's name," he said. "Tell me who sends you. Tell me what they know of this house." The scout answered. He answered every question, and he did not stop until Reign told him to. Before dawn the scout walked back down the road toward the town with his silver sun rehung at his throat. He carried a false count of the guards in his head and a true count of everything he heard in his mouth. Reign watched him go from the high window. He had eyes inside the Church now. The inquisitor had a name by breakfast.