Chapter 33

On cue, magenta eyes flicked toward her, unreadable. Perhaps there was some sort of relief there, but it was gone in an instant.

“You requested my presence?” she asked.

Lavender eyes flew toward her too. “That was me. My brother thinks I tried to kill him. I figured a torture machine shouldn’t be the only thing questioning me.”

Uncertainty simmered within her and Brian’s silence was dreadful. But the small, subtle nod from him had her feet moving closer toward them until she was standing beside Alicia.

“I will ask her the same questions. Over and over,” he said. “Do what you must.”

There were no further instructions, and instinct rioted at releasing her magic when the court hadn’t been the most welcoming of it. But she nodded, too, and knelt, easing energy into her fingers. They glowed, dimmer than the device’s glow. She bit her tongue when the larger energy in the room sensed hers and crowded around her, a crawling sensation that pushed her back.

Mabel directed more into her feet unt