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.There was no doubt in her mind everyone around Tessa would have faced immediate extermination.Thompson gave him a sour smile.“As long as it doesn’t interfere with national security,” he reminded, “you’re in the clear.”“We’re not a threat,” Gwen reiterated.Addison glanced toward the two-way mirror.“They’re bringing one in,” she announced.Gwen tried not to wince as one of the Mer women who’d attacked them was led into the room.Gone was the tight-fitting fish-leather suit, replaced now with a plain green jumpsuit with PRISONER stenciled across the front in large yellow lettering.Hands in cuffs, the woman was barefoot.Despite her captivity, a look of hate mingling with defiance lingered in her narrow eyes.Gwen clenched a hand at her side in an attempt to keep herself calm.An unsettling thought wiggled through her brain.That could be one of us.The few days she’d spent in restraints were enough for her.She never wanted to be that helpless again.“This is the one you identified as Doma Chiara, correct?” Thompson asked.Clearly shocked by the change in the woman, Tessa nodded.“That’s what I knew her by, in Ishaldi.”“If you don’t mind, we’d like you to attempt to communicate with her,” Blake Whittaker said.“Anything you could get her to say might be helpful.”Tessa nodded.“I understand.”One of the agents opened a door leading into the interrogation room.“If you’ll come this way.”Tessa slipped out of Kenneth’s embrace.“Stay here, babe,” she said.Gwen stepped up.“I’m coming with you,” she said, speaking in a voice far stronger than how she felt inside.Blake gave his superior a look.“Okay?”Thompson waved them on.“She’s restrained.I think we have her under control.”Nodding, Whittaker escorted them into the small chamber.Doma Chiara eyed them with a combination of suspicion and hostility.Gwen forced herself not to flinch, staring back at this creature that was, for all intents and purposes, totally alien from herself.Despite the fact that Chiara was handcuffed, she still didn’t trust the woman.Tessa took a seat opposite Chiara and the agent guarding the prisoner.Blake Whittaker stood at the end of the table.That left Gwen to hover behind Tessa.Chiara’s eyes narrowed in recognition at Gwen, clearly remembering the psychic fight they’d had a few days ago.A low growl of disgust broke from her throat.Tessa glanced to Whittaker.“What do I say?”Whittaker thought a moment.“Ask her if she feels she is being well treated?”Tessa relayed the question.No answer.“Try speaking to her in our language,” Gwen prompted.“She doesn’t have a soul-stone to help her read the psychic vibrations, and her grasp of English probably isn’t that solid yet.”Tessa nodded.“Good point.” She asked the question again, this time speaking in the Mer tongue.The words sounded odd to Gwen’s ears, probably because it had been so long since she’s heard it spoken.When they were smaller, their mother had often communicated in the lyrical language.The girls had picked up bits and pieces, enough that they could talk amongst themselves as long as the conversation remained simple.To her surprise, she heard Chiara give an answer.“They starve us,” the Mer said.Tessa translated the brief answer for the humans in the room.Whittaker nodded his understanding.“Tell her that we will make every effort to provide what she requires to sustain her body.Ask her if she’s able to eat normal food.”Tessa spoke to Chiara again.Her dexterity with the Mer tongue was slow and a little clumsy, but she was able to make herself understood.Chiara made a face.“To eat with the mouth is for the lessers.We have moved beyond the physical.”The two women had a brief conversation.Gwen followed as well as she could, picking up on the fact that Chiara would rather starve than belittle herself by eating like a human.She leaned toward Blake, relaying the information.Tessa was trying to talk some sense into the woman, but Chiara refused to listen.The Mer had stated she would rather die than accept anything touched by human hands.Blake rolled his eyes.“God, why do they have to be so dense?”Gwen bristled.“She’s not stupid.It’s simply the belief she was raised with.In her mind humans are a lesser species and she will treat them as such, even though she’s the one in chains.”“Can’t she see how much easier it would go for her if only she’d cooperate?” he groused.Gwen shrugged her shoulders.“Try telling her that.”“Well, before she starves herself to death, ask her if Massey is still alive.”Tessa asked the question.The obstinate woman lifted her chin.“He wisely serves my queen,” she answered in haughty but perfect English [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]