I repeat, wanting to make sure I heard him right.
“Yes, a rumor.”
Disappointed, I grit my teeth. “You want to bargain with hearsay?”
His eyes narrow. “You want to save the king, don’t you? If I’m offering a way to help the one who did this to me, then you should be more grateful.”
“You’re not innocent,” I challenge. “You murdered someone today. His name was Tibbs and he was a better man than you.”
“I have a name, too. It’s Glen, by the way.” He nods toward the other prisoners, who seem to be in worse shape than him. “And that’s Rufus and Earlwyn. We were good men once. Then our mates died in the plague. Fated matches. How lucky we were to find them, only to lose them just a few years later.”
We’re getting off track, and I wish he hadn’t said all that. Knowing personal details only makes it harder to witness his pain.
He could be lying to get my sympathy, but what would he have to gain from that?
For a second, I want to be like Quinn. Her power would come in handy right now because I don’t know if I should believe him. He has no reason to help me. I certainly can’t help him in return.
But if he’s telling the truth, then they were pawns for the coven. Just pieces in their games, manipulated by heartbreak and mate withdrawal.
Groaning, he jerks, and his body convulses for at least ten seconds.
“Hey.” I start to panic because I might be too late. “Hey, don’t die.”
When the seizure passes, he goes limp and his voice is barely above a whisper when he says, “I’ll give you what you seek if you’ll end this for my friends and me.”
My heart lurches.
Beheading. That’s what he wants. That’s the deal, which explains the ax from the dream and why it was in my hand.
Even if it is the humane thing to do, I don’t know if I have it in me to chop off someone’s head. Three someone’s heads.
“That’s not all,” Glen grunts, his face contorted with a grimace. “Then, you’ll give us a proper burial on the water. They plan to dump us after we die. I don’t want to be fish food. Burn us. Let our bodies float up to the sky as smoke and ash, so we can find our place next to our mates.”
Sweat breaks out on my forehead, and my stomach threatens to reject my anti-nausea tonic. “What if the king won’t allow that?”
“He will if you say so.”
Would Damon do it if I asked? Probably. He’d do anything for me, just like I would for him.
“P-please,” Glen sputters. “Don’t let me die this way. It would be a great mercy.”
He looks at me like I’m his hero, not his executioner, and I know it’s pointless to refuse. No matter what he asks for, I need that rumor. It must have value. I wouldn’t have dreamed about it otherwise.
“Okay,” I give in, releasing a breath. I’m totally crapping on Isla’s verdict and undermining Damon.
“Swear it.”
“I swear, but your secret better be really fucking good.”
“Rufus.” Glen tries to nudge his friend, but he’s too restricted, and he just ends up squirming. “Tell her.”
The lump behind him doesn’t move. He’s lying on his side, with his back to me. For a second, I think maybe he’s passed out, but then I hear a gravelly whisper. It’s so quiet I have to strain to hear.
“I know someone who works at a distillery. They’ve been doing tests.”
I wait for more. When he doesn’t continue, I bite back a growl of frustration. “What kind of tests?”
“The unethical kind. The cruel kind.”
Fucking fae and their non-answers. “Do you really want to draw this out longer?”
Rufus makes a series of noises, and I can’t tell if it’s from pain or if he’s laughing at me. “They were trying to find a cure for iron poisoning. Many men died in the process, but eventually, they realized the bloodstream can be cleansed with distilled day water. Glow can flush it out.”
It sounds too simple, and I shoot a skeptical glare at the back of Rufus’s head. “So they just have to drink it?”
“No. It has to be injected. Preferably into an artery, and it must be done immediately—within minutes. Once the veins turn black and harden around the heart, the Glow can’t get in.”
Oh my shit. Quinn’s medical supplies—the stuff she took from the hospital. There were needles and syringes in that trunk. I already have half of