It wasn't long before Valentine talked to another guard outside for a little while, then told me that I had gotten permission to go with her to interrogate the prisoners. "She trusts you to act appropriately alone, but sending you to talk to the people who were supposed to be guarding you just seems like a bad idea."

"Can I come too? Please?" Wren was clutching my hand and looking up at me with wide eyes. "I'm your bodyguard."

I considered this for a moment. "Wren, we're going to talk to people who were recently being tortured. Can you deal with that?"

"Probably better than you can," replied Wren, before her eyes widened a bit more, and she cringed a little, adding, "Mistress Sasha."

I petted her head gently and she calmed down. "With the two of you by my side, I'll feel perfectly safe... can you lead the way, Val?"

Valentine nodded, and lead us out, and back down to the dungeon. "Oh. Kalei or Ava first? Ava's being held in a different area."

I hesitated. I didn't want Ava to suffer a moment longer than necessary... but the taller one was the one who hesitated, seemed remorseful. Why? Was it, in fact, Ava? ...maybe trying to get the truth out of someone else first would be a little easier, and it's not like Kalei deserved to suffer, probably. "Kalei."

Valentine nodded, and lead us further down, to the dungeon we had been staying in just a couple of days ago.

Warden was sweeping the floor, looked over at us blankly as we entered, but her tail wagged a little. "Arms up." The pale dog-girl sniffed at each of our underarms in turn, before nodding, satisfied. "You're all okay."

I swallowed. "Um, hey, Warden, why is Ava being kept in a different area?"

Warden shrugged. "I don't know. Not my dungeon, not my responsibility. Now, follow me to Kalei's cell, Miss Sasha."

As we got closer, a voice screamed out, and it sounded hoarse. Warden opened the door, and there was a girl with long, beautiful rainbow-colored hair turned away from us on something a bit like a recliner, her wrists and ankles chained to the end, trembling and murmuring something to herself. She realized someone was entering, and sat up straighter. "Princess?" Her voice was full of desperate hope.

"Um, no, sorry. I'm here to see if I can prove your innocence." I walked around, and as I did, I noticed there was the sound of slight hissing above the apparently naked prisoner. My eyes quickly flicked upwards -- a snake? -- but no, it was just a little V-shaped funnel, wobbling slightly as it filled with liquid. The funnel tipped towards the side closer to Kalei, and she screamed hoarsely as a drop fell out of the funnel, landing on her bare thigh, convulsing for a moment before she managed to right herself.

"Oh... thank you for coming." Her hope seemed mostly gone, her sunken and tear-stained eyes focused on that little funnel above.

"I'm sorry, that looks like it hurts."

"It's... not even the pain. I could endure the pain, maybe. It's half of the time it doesn't hurt, it spills the other way. That's the torture. I've already confessed to everything, I don't know why she's still doing this... does Princess want me to ask her to sell me? Is that what she's waiting for?" Kalei laughed hoarsely. "I don't know why she's bothering. She can do whatever she wants with me."

"...wait, so you confessed to the assassination?"

Kalei blinked. "...no? What assassination?"

Another drop started to fall down on Kalei, and she tensed, but a large hand moved in the way, catching the drop in her palm, where it slowly evaporated as Val's hand trembled slightly and she made a slight noise. "Please relax." She smiled down at the naked and pathetic woman with a soft reassuring smile.

I pressed my fingers against a vein in Kalei's throat-- her wrists were covered, after all -- and looked into her eyes. "There's a mind magic where I can tell if people are lying by certain signs. Just be honest with me, and we can get through this."

"Understood."

"Why don't you know about the assassination, Kalei? I imagine it's quite the topic of discussion."

"...I've been hiding in my room for... weeks." She paused, and looked back over to Val. "...wait, is that famed ex-gladiator Valentine? What's she doing here?"

"...she became Princess's slave."

"Oh, wow, what a catch... wait, if there was an assassination, who died?" I could feel her heart beat faster as she looked back to me. "Princess didn't die, did she!? Warden won't tell me anything...."

"No, Princess is still alive. The assassination attempt was a failure. I think you were suspected because you're short, good with a sword, presumably, and denied knowledge of the event."

"Even if I'm good with a sword, it's all noble styles, I shouldn't be a suspect."

"The suspect was using noble styles."

"...that's one expensive assassin."

"I certainly imagine that, yes. So: why were you hiding in your room?"

She lowered her eyes. "I'm useless. I've always relied on slaves, and now that I'm one of them... I don't have any other skills, other than swordwork. And mine is more focused on aesthetics than practical."

"...why'd Princess choose you? No offense."

"She saw me at my father's palace when she was travelling, and despite how I've been treated like royalty, I have no great rank myself... she asked for me as a gift, and he gave me to her as her slave."

"...what? Despite being the daughter of a, I don't know, king?"

"A king, yes-- and his slave. I was a beautiful little bird made to make a pretty gift for someone... but once gifted, she soon tired of me."

"...can't you just learn new skills?"

"I've tried, but it feels like everyone's always laughing at me. My supposed grace in what I do know doesn't help... I wish my father had had me trained in something useful."

"So... why didn't you ask her to sell you to someone who would appreciate you?"

Kalei let out a slow, shuddering breath that might have been a sigh if her throat wasn't so hoarse. "I like girls. I like Princess most of all. I'm too much of a coward to go out and get better, and too much of a coward to flee."

I stroked her throat, casting healing magic as deeply into it as she could, and she tensed and looked up at me fearfully. "No, please, I don't... oh. You healed me." Even her voice was beautiful now, melodic and mournful.

"Yeah... it sounded painful." I pondered for a moment. "I don't think you're lying. I'll speak to Princess on your behalf."

Kalei closed her eyes. "Maybe I should give up and ask her to get rid of me, to sell me off to some other woman, perhaps."

"...maybe. But let's not be making drastic life decisions when you're tortured, okay?"

"...okay. Thank you."

I stepped back outside of her cell, and looked to Warden. "Can you stop her torture until I talk to Princess on her behalf?"

She stared at me, then shrugged with a lazy smile. "I haven't been specifically told not to... so sure." She walked back in, and stroked a tile on the wall that was marked with what I assumed was a magical pattern, and the hissing stopped. "That good enough, Miss Sasha?"

"Are you going to be okay being chained up like that for a little while longer, Kalei?"

She laughed softly, like a whispering stream. "I do, at least, have practice in being bound."

"Okay, I think we're good, then." I petted her head gently. "I'll come back for you soon, if it all goes well."

She started sobbing, and I took a step back, glancing to Val and Wren with a "what the fuck am I supposed to do in this situation" sort of stare.

They just followed my lead, stroking her head and shoulders.

"It'll be okay..." Wren's voice was soft. "Now that you've suffered, you'll be a better slave, right?"

Kalei nodded desperately.

"Let's practice sword dancing sometime once you're out," said Val, less softly, but her expression as she looked down at Kalei was sympathetic. "I've heard you're good, but never gotten the chance to see it."

She nodded a little more, sniffling. "Go and talk to her, before I get my hopes built up." A slight pause. "...I mean, please go and talk to her. I know I'm not above you."

"Okay. We just have to talk to Ava first, since she's been getting tortured too, and then we'll be right out."

Kalei let out another soft sob as she looked up at me in confusion. "...Ava? Why is that bitch in trouble?"

"...your fellow slave was also a suspect," I said a bit pointedly.

"Oh, sorry... just, she always looked down at me. 'Perhaps under my training, you could become a useful slave' and other little jabs."

"Um... well, I don't know the context, but maybe she was just trying to be helpful? Or dominate you because you're cute? You do seem to be having some trouble with the whole slave thing."

Kalei shook her head. "I don't care what these slaves say, my body belongs only to my Princess. That, at least, is a little bit of pride I have left."

"...okay, but do keep in mind she didn't mean it badly, all right? She's really nice if you get to know her."

"I did mean it badly," said Ava, staring at me guardedly. "Come to fish around inside my mind?"

"I guess. Give me your hands and look into my eyes?"

Ava was off in a little cell off the main complex, unchained and wearing a white dress. The room was nice, rather than the little torture cell Kalei was in, and one couldn't help but think she was getting preferential treatment. She gave me her hands and stared into my eyes

I slid two fingers of each hand under her wrist to find her pulse, lightly grasping her hands with the otehrs. "Now, if you lie, your heart rate will increase, and you'll find it hard to look directly at me... and focusing on controlling those will just make it easier for my Mind Magic to pierce your defenses." There. That seemed like a better sell.

"What do you want to know?"

"...can you three leave me with her for a moment?"

Warden shrugged and moved out, but Val seemed more hesitant. "We are supposed to guard you...."

"And follow my lead, right?" Val stared for a long moment.

"Please, at least let me stay with you, Miss Sasha?" I glanced over to Wren, who was trembling slightly... right. I nodded.

Val seemed satisfied, and left as well, closing the cell door -- if one could call it that -- behind her.

"Interesting, but how do I know they're not listening in?"

"Well, Val and Warden are very loyal to our Princess, right?" I took a deep breath. "Our Princess is a stupid power-hungry bitch with no sense of reciprocity."

Wren gasped.

Ava glared at me, and if looks could kill, I believe I'd definitely be dead. "...did she really send you?"

"Yes, but--"

Ava squeezed my hands roughly, stopping my words in their tracks as she glared down at me harder. "If she wants me confess to this crime that badly, tell her I will. I owe her that much, she doesn't have to send her fiance's little bitch to badmouth her just to force me into the situation."

I took a step back, and she released my hands. She stared down at me. "I had thought better of you, Sasha. Leave."

I opened my mouth, but was unsure what to say.

She pulled off an armband, her skin reddened underneath -- a torture device, perhaps? -- and threw it on the ground. "I'll do whatever she wants. I'll say whatever she wants. Leave."

"...Okay. Sorry, Ava."

She turned her back on me. It hurt, I had been worried about her, and... well, liking her didn't seem like it'd... I could cry about it later.

For now... both of them seemed quite loyal to me. I wonder if those words would be equally convincing to our Princess.

I wondered why they were so loyal to the woman who had casually ordered them tortured on a hunch.