Soar

“Is Angola a state prison? Why do they let you keep your prisoners there? I mean, do they get the same trials and everything?”

“They don’t let us keep our prisoners there, we let them keep theirs.” Levi looked at her in the rearview mirror. She seemed nervous around him. Luckily, I didn’t have that effect on her. Too bad I couldn’t get another effect out of her.

“Oh. Do we need special clearance to get in?”

Toby reached over me to take her hand. “Don’t worry. It’s all taken care of.”

What the hell was wrong with him? Did she want someone babying her like that?

“Angola Prison Rodeo?” Casey pointed at a sign. “It that for real?”

Allie turned in her seat again. “Uh huh. I’ve never been though.”

“Do Pteron’s participate?” Casey asked.

Levi turned off toward the first gate. “No, it wouldn’t be a competition if they did. It’s for humans only.”

With such a large group, I expected we’d have to go through the normal security line, but luckily the guy running the check recognized Levi. He probably earned himself a fat raise by quickly ushering us through once we assured him none of us had weapons. We had no need for them. We were stronger using our own hands, and guns just seemed stupid. Where was the fun or skill in that?

We went down the stairwell that led us underground to The Society section of the prison. Instead of the regular prison guards, we used our own, and even I felt a little intimidated by the size of the men greeting us.

“Your majesty, we are honored to have you visit.” The largest of the guards bowed his head slightly.

“Thank you. As we told you, we are here to see one prisoner in particular.”

He nodded. “Yes. We have Mr. Florence ready.”

My skin prickled. It was just another reminder that my brother had made such a stupid decision of where to put his loyalty. I hated hearing our family name associated with a prisoner.

Levi noticed my reaction and cast me the closest thing to an understanding look he had in his repertoire. I nodded and he turned back to the guard. “Let’s see him then.”

Toby pulled Casey off to the side and I listened in. “I don’t think they’re going to let you in the actual interrogation room.”

Casey nodded nervously. “Okay. So I just wait outside?”

“I’m not going in either.” Allie stopped, causing Levi to stop moving as well. “You can wait with me.”

“Okay.” Casey nodded again. I wouldn’t have voiced it, but I was glad Toby wasn’t even giving her a choice. Talking to Bryant would be hard enough without worrying about the stupid things he’d say to a couple of human girls.

In the end, only Levi, Marv, Toby and I went in. Owen wanted to, but Levi suggested he look out for the others, in other words, Allie.

Bryant was seated at a large rectangular table. With his hands and feet tied to the chair, he shouldn’t have looked intimidating, but he did. There was just something about the set of my brother’s jaw that made him appear as a force to be reckoned with.

“Oh, look at this. All my friends came over to play.” His icy glare landed on me.

“Hello, brother.” Two could play at that game.

“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

“Don’t play dumb.” Levi stepped closer to the table.

“I’m not playing at anything. They don’t even give me toys here.” He didn’t need to say what toys he was referring to. I was glad the girls weren’t in the room.

Bryant liked to brag about his sexual exploits, especially after Dad sent him to Europe because he fell for a Pteron. Dad’s plan to get him away from the Pteron worked, but it also created a monster. Bryant had always been arrogant, but he came back something much worse.

“I already told them you’re involved.” Marv spoke for the first time since we’d arrived at the prison. His whole body was tense, and I could almost see the fear rolling off him.

“Did you? How thoughtful.” Bryant sneered.

“They were going to find out anyway.” Marv sounded a little more confident this time.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Bryant turned his head to look at Levi. “The new king isn’t exactly known for his brains.”

Levi laughed. “And you are?”

“Even my idiot brother is smarter than you, Laurent.”

“Is he?” Levi tried to hide a smile. He wasn’t getting angry, and that in itself was impressive. Maybe Allie was rubbing off on him.

“Have you figured out why you needed an Enchantress yet?” Bryant referred to the title of what Allie was. An Enchantress was a human who had the power to pick the next Pteron king. Allie was the first one in several hundred years.

“Don’t even think about Allie.” Levi crossed his arms.

“I think about her a lot. She was the last girl I saw before getting thrown in here after all. Who else would I think about having wrapped around my dick?”

The table flew across the room and Levi had Bryant, still attached to the chair up against the wall. “Think you’re funny, huh? Think you can talk about my queen that way? I have news for you, your life just got much shorter.”

Toby inched toward Bryant too. I guess he did still care about Allie in his own way.

Levi dropped the chair. It fell backwards in the process and left Bryant sprawled on the floor.

“Is there a problem in here?” The guard tentatively stepped inside.

The girls all peeked in. Not smart.

“So you did bring me toys. Excellent. I’ll take the taller one since Allie’s already taken. She definitely looks like she’ll provide some good entertainment.” He licked his lips and Toby punched him in the face. I wanted to do the same thing, but Levi restrained me.

“No. No problem at all. We were just leaving.” Levi kicked the remnants of the table as we turned our backs to Bryant.

“Leaving?” I gave Levi a disbelieving look. “We can’t leave yet. We need answers.”

“We’ll get them. I know an expert at extracting information.”

“Let me do it.” I caught Levi’s arm before he could leave the room.

“No. I can’t expect you to torture your own brother.”

“Levi, I can handle this.”

“No. You can’t. End of story.” He stepped through the doorway.

Levi was wrong. Bryant was my brother. It was my job to get him to talk.