Page 87 of Ashen Torment

“He’s suffocating, Dorian! He will not be able to tell us anything if you keep this up!

I ignore the warning, I lift Hale’s hair from his forehead and look him dead in the eye.

“Will you speak now?”

His body shakes, tears streak his face, snot and drool leak from the corners of his mouth.

“Mmm-Yee! Yee-sh! Mmmph!” he nods, trembling, terrified.

I pull the rat from his mouth and he takes a desperate, gasping breath.

“Fuck... you...” he wheezes, the words scraping against his raw throat.

“You’re insane. You’re a fucking demon. I hope you choke on your own blood... you fucking animal!”

“It seems,” I say, my voice low and sharp, “that you like the taste.” I lean down to pick up the rat, which is barely moving.

“V-Varlen!” he screams, his face contorted by fear and urgency.

I stop, my hand suspended.

“Varlen... Varlen started the project!” he gasps. “Then I met... I met Lestrade and Ashford. Every time... every time I had to fix a problem, that fucking Lestrade was there. With Varlen. Always behind him... making sure... making sure everything went smooth. Always watching.”

I stare at him.

He tries desperately to sound convincing.

“Ask Clerk Edmund Searle... if you don’t believe me!”

Lucien tilts his head, doubtful. “Clerk of the County Concessions Office?”

He nods, panting, almost imploring. “Y-Yes, yes!”

I slightly loosen my grip on Hale’s hair. His body collapses onto the table.

It is not enough.

I seize his hair again, gripping it firmly from the scalp.

“Where are Varlen and Lestrade?”

He groans, his head rebels under my fingers. “I-I don’t know... I haven’t seen them since then!”

“Dorian, that’s enough now.”

With a sharp movement, I push Hale’s head onto the table again, turning his face toward Lucien.

“Apologize.”

“W-w-what?”

I tighten my grip on his hair. “Ask my brother for forgiveness for calling him a bastard.”

“Dorian, let’s go.”

I rip out a tuft of Hale’s hair. “Ask for forgiveness!”

“Forgive me...”