Corvus was surprised to find that Valenne was merely tied to a chair. Knowing what they did, they thought Vos’iin would have done more by now. All her clothes were still on. None of them were ripped or torn off. She hardly looked disturbed at all.
Stepping into the room, they left the door open as they reached out to touch Valenne’s face. She was soft and warm. Rhythmic breaths escaped her at patterned intervals. Was she just sleeping? Had she woken up and Vos’iin hadn’t noticed?
Snapping their fingers in front of Valenne’s face, Corvus frowned when nothing happened. The elven woman remained undisturbed. They definitely did not give the dark elf so concentrated a serum as to induce such an effect.
“Are you…Are you just pretending?” They mumbled, noting that Valenne’s eyeballs didn’t move beneath her lids either. “He probably wouldn’t get off by fucking an unconscious body, I guess. Not the worst bid.”
But not even they could tell. It almost felt like they were looking at a corpse. The breathing was too perfect, and Corvus couldn’t feel any heat or energy coming off them.
They felt along the sides of Valenne’s face. While their knowledge of the Mask of Many Faces was poor, they did recall Reaver using it to mask his presence.
The elf in front of them was perfectly visible however. No visual interference.
“This is pointless. What the hell are you?” Corvus sucked their teeth. “Fuck, is this beyond me…? Nothing makes sense anymore.”
They walked back out into the hallway. Locking the door behind them with a simple spell, Corvus grimaced. Nothing was gained from looking at her. As such, they instead walked into Adrian’s room and kicked him until he woke.
“How does the Mask of Many Faces work?” They asked the moment he groaned and opened his eyes.
“Fuck off,” replied Adrian hoarsely.
Corvus grabbed a fistful of his growing hair and wrenched his head back. Their patience was beginning to wane. In their other hand they flipped a blade into a downward position. Without warning, they drove it into Adrian’s right thigh.
Letting the man scream, Corvus angled their blade towards his abdomen but held it.
“Tell me how it works or so help me, Giarmund, I do not care if you’re that rat bastard’s chosen, I will castrate you right here and now.”
“Are all of you sorcerers fucking crazy?” Adrian coughed. It was difficult to speak. “You act…Like there are rules.”
“All gods have rules.”
“Doesn’t apply if they don’t tell you what they are.”
Corvus glared at him.
In the adjacent room Veleria had opened her eyes the moment she heard Adrian scream. She looked around, frantic, taking in the ropes that Vos’iin had restrained her with. She could burn them off.
Stay calm.
Veleria steadied her breathing.
We may be outnumbered.
He’s here, Veleria replied. She was careful not to use her voice. We found him.
So we have. We must be careful not to reveal ourselves. Any advantages we have must remain carefully guarded—
Caellach was cut off when the lock on the door jiggled. Not as practiced as her other, Veleria failed to return to a sleeping position before Vos’iin caught her open lids.
Seeing him nearly caused her to faint again. There was a warmth in her chest, however—Caellach was with her. She was not alone this time, unlike before. There was comfort in that fact.
“There you are,” Vos’iin chuckled. He locked the door behind him and moved to stand before her. “Slept well? It has been a few days.”
Veleria’s eyes widened.
“A few days?” She asked. As she did so, she looked down again at the clothes the God of Many Faces designed for her. They were unmarred. She looked back up with a single eyebrow raised. “You just tied me up and left me here?”
“What good are you to me while unconscious?” He turned, pulling a chair towards him. It was difficult to see any details in the room. As far as she could tell there were no windows and it was rather small. Vos’iin sat down and leaned back with his arms folded in front of him. “Now then, before we get to know one another more intimately, I’m afraid that I still have to question you.”
She didn’t like that word. Intimately.
“About?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be here on orders from Althalos Cromwell?”
Veleria stared at him, “and if I am?”
“It doesn’t really matter to me if you are or aren’t. Really, it just absolves me, in that I captured you for selfish reasons.” Vos’iin shrugged. “Want to tell me the reason? Otherwise, we could start a little earlier and I’m sure it’ll come out eventually.”
She really didn’t like what he was implying.
“What will you do if I refuse to say?”
Vos’iin offered a grin that Veleria wished she could punch off his face. He stood up, approached her from the side, and took her chin between armored fingers. The nails on each were dangerously sharp.
Regulate. Our blood remains cold.
Why was Caellach saying that? Veleria looked between the sharp point on the thumb that was tracing her bottom lip, and to Vos’iin’s face inching towards her. She looked away, just as Vos’iin chuckled at her defiance. The nail sliced a long gash into her lip. She yelped, but her voice was muffled when Vos’iin kissed her.
She tore away, disgusted at the sensation of Vos’iin’s tongue that was forever etched into her memory now. Releasing her, the elf backed away. The look on his face was one of pleasure.
“Think on it,” he told her.
Veleria spit blood upon his leaving.
Vile bastard, she commented to Caellach.
He seemed the type to harm us.
I could have told you that. Veleria squeezed her eyes shut. She was struggling to keep herself cool. If she did heat up, then her lip would heal, and who knew how Vos’iin would react to that. What are we supposed to do now?
Forgive me for saying this, but I believe we keep up this charade.
Veleria scrunched her nose.
Until?
Until the decisive moment. They are not often here together. Many times the other being, the sorcerer I presume, sits in another room alone where Adrian is not.
She considered his words. They needed an advantage that wouldn’t pit them against both Corvus and Vos’iin, and they needed to get Adrian to some degree of safety before they were forced into a corner. With enough fire they could get themselves out of plenty of situations, but Veleria didn’t want to hurt anyone.
She had never killed before.
Could she…Would she?