Chapter 160

Charles and I were midway through dinner when the door to the apartment burst open, and five officers stormed in, weapons raised.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Charles demanded.

At the same time, both David and Theo jumped into action but were brushed aside by the officers. The one toward the back stepped forward, holstering his gun.

“Elena Laurentia?” he asked.

“Yes?” I answered, unable to feel my lips.

“You are hereby under arrest for crimes against the king, Orlune, and the government.”

I looked over at Theo, who mouthed the words, “Don’t say anything.”

I nodded and sat very still in my chair, just waiting for them to make their next move. When I didn’t try anything or protest in any way, that officer came forward, pulling handcuffs from his belt. He drew me out of the chair by my arm and cuffed my wrists together behind me.

The cold metal of the handcuffs bit into my wrists as he clamped them down. I gulped back tears, trying to focus on my companions and on Charles.

Charles growled and fought against David’s grip, but David held him back, whispering furiously in his ear. As he did, Theo watched helplessly as the officer marched me towards the door.

When Charles let out a feral snarl, David clamped a hand over his mouth and whispered something else in his ear, causing Charles’ eyes to flash, but he stopped struggling momentarily. Just as I was passing through the door frame, Theo called after me.

“Elena,” he cried. “Don’t worry. We’ll come for you.”

I nodded and blinked hard at the tears that now threatened to fall freely. I wasn’t going to cry in front of these officers. They wanted to intimidate me, and I wasn’t going to let them have the pleasure of seeing how well they were succeeding.

Instead, I ran over all of the things that I had been through since breaking the first story back in Lustrum. I’d been hunted by a murderer. I’d seen my friends die on the street. All of that was to prevent the sort of corruption that we’d uncovered at the very base of the government here. And if I could handle all of that and not break down, then I could handle whatever it was that they intended to throw at me.

Today would be nothing. It wasn’t like they were killers like Culpepper and were going to hunt down and kill somebody that I cared about right in front of my eyes.

I swallowed hard, fresh fear stabbing through my gut. That was all an assumption on my part. What if they actually did hurt someone I loved?

In the end, my fears were not completely unfounded, but it wasn’t the others who suffered on my behalf.

Instead of going to the police precinct like we had before, I found myself taken into the depths of the palace. If it were a palace like in stories, I would have said they led me to the dungeon. In reality, it was more like a sub-basement.

We went down the elevators, past the parking garages, and came out into cement rooms that were cold and poorly lit. From there, they escorted me into a cement cell with no windows and only bars for a door.

They stuffed me inside and removed the handcuffs. The officer looked directly at me with no shame or compassion in his stare.

“Undress,” he ordered.

“What?” I gasped.

“Undress!”

“How far?” I demanded.

“Everything. Take it all off.” He produced a bag that had been folded inside his pocket. “Place your clothing in here.”

Suddenly, real fear took hold, and I trembled. If they were going to make me strip, what were they going to do to me next?

“Do I get a female officer for this?”

He shook his head and thrust the plastic bag at me. “Hurry up,” he demanded.

Now, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I cried as I took each part of my clothing off. My tears ran harder and faster the more intimate the piece was.

Finally, I shoved my underwear in the bag and stood before him, naked. He leered, glancing at my body from top to bottom. I had never felt as dirty as I did in that one moment.

He handed the bag off to somebody outside the door, and I realized that all five of the officers, plus two additional guards, all men, were standing out there, staring at me.

“Now I have to check you for hidden objects or substances,” he said.

His breathing grew heavy, and a sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead as he used his fingers to probe even my most intimate crevices.

By this time, I was bawling unashamedly. He might not have placed his penis inside me, but I definitely felt like I had been raped. This was a whole spectrum of violations that I had never experienced, even with Craig back at the office and his unwanted sexual advances.

I had an even deeper sympathy for the poor women whose stories I had told on the dark web. This is what some of them had gone through or worse. I tried not to imagine that these guards might come in and start taking turns actually sexually assaulting me.

Thankfully, those fears were dispelled when somebody else from out in the hall handed the officer probing me a garment, which turned out to be something like a hospital gown. The robe wrapped around me but didn’t actually cover up everything.

The guard who had probed me grabbed my shoulder and pulled me close to him. He stared in my face, glaring at me.

“If you want to retain any shred of dignity, you will tell me everything that you’ve done wrong.”

“Since I was a baby?” I snarked, unsure where the sassiness came from in such a situation.

He growled and shoved me backward.

My head slammed against the concrete, and stars burst in front of my eyes.

“You and the other dissidents think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he snarled. “All we want to do is maintain peace and order, and worms like you just have to go upsetting that balance. But we’re not going to allow it to happen. The population is happy here, and you won’t be the reason something like that falls apart.”

He shoved me up against the concrete again. “I’ll give you one more chance,” he growled. “Tell us about everything you know concerning the dark web. Who’s setting it up? And who is behind that criminal organization? Comply, and you might get off with just jail time.”

“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” I said.

He slammed me against the wall, and my head thudded dully. The last thing I remember was a waft of his scent, like beached seaweed on a hot day. Then my world went black.

Through the darkness came echoes of pain, and I registered screams that a small part of my head admitted were coming from me. But my consciousness was doing the best that it could to block out what was going on with my body.

I was just about out of willpower when the darkness around me shifted, glowing soft and gray like moonlight. Through that fog, a figure stepped.

A deep, instinctual part of me knew that it was the moon goddess, and I cried out to her, begging her to stop the pain.

She stepped silently over to me and ran a cooling hand across my face. Under her touch, I could feel that it was swollen and abused.

“Be strong, my daughter,” she soothed. “You are doing my work.”

“I’m just trying to help,” I cried out to her. “Why am I being tortured like this?”

She ran a hand across my face again, this time on the other side, soothing other hurts. “The right thing and the easy thing are not always the same,” she murmured. “In this case, you have chosen the right thing, and I am pleased with that.”

“Why did you choose me?” I cried, tears streaming down my face.

“Mortals do not get to know the why of the universe,” she said. “You only need to do your part. You are doing yours admirably. I need you to hold on just a little longer, my daughter. I promise, in the end, all of your suffering will be worth it, for you have had and always will have my blessing.