There was another Aedh near.
"Why don't you show yourself," I said, "or are all Aedh cowards?"
"I have no desire and no need to show myself," the disembodied voice whispered out of the darkness from near the door. "And I do not understand this term cowards."
I shifted the phone, pointing it toward the corner where the voice seemed to be coming from, but its light failed to pick up anything in the shadows.
"It means you're spineless." Which was pretty much a given when I was talking to a being who was little more than energy. "Afraid."
"It is not I who needs to be afraid," he said.
As if to prove the point, the sense of him briefly amplified, burning my skin and making my head hurt again. My breath hissed between clenched teeth, but I resisted the urge to curl up into a defensive ball. I had a vague feeling that any sign of weakness would just make the situation worse. That these people—these beings—would respect courage more than fear.
Whether that would actually save me remained to be seen.
"Why have you dragged me here?" I hesitated, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice and not entirely succeeding as I added, "Or is that a stupid question?"
"You are here because you need to answer questions. Whether you do that willingly or unwillingly is your choice."
He obviously hadn't caught the sarcasm. No surprise there, given Azriel apparently didn't, either, and they were basically two sides of the same coin.
I blinked. Azriel. Maybe he could get me out of this hellhole. I closed my eyes and ran his name through my mind. He'd stated he would hear me, anywhere, anytime, and although he apparently couldn't follow me while I was Aedh, I wasn't wearing that form now.
But there was magic here, and a powerful Aedh. I didn't know if he could—or would—get through, either.
"Look, as I keep telling everyone else who is hunting down my father, I have no fucking idea where the bastard is."
"And yet you were talking to him in that building. We felt his presence."