The woman standing before her, Ella, was not what Corabelle had expected.

  She expected someone old and wise, perhaps someone as old as her grandmother had been, maybe even older from the timber of her voice.

  But, no, this woman was barely as old as her mother. Only an echo of grey streaked her umber hair. Other than the wrinkles of stress that haloed her face, she appeared rather young; Perhaps barely 40 years of age.

  The calm nature Corabelle had experienced during her questioning was completely gone, replaced with a simmering fury. At what particular part of the situation, Corabelle didn’t know. She wasn’t paying as much attention to the chaos around her as she probably should.

  Instead, her eyes were on Zaramir.

  With all the tubes removed, the orifice that was once his shoulder joint sealed, fresh pink scar tissue taking its place

  Corabelle stared instantly, waiting. Some part of her half expected his arm to regrow. Whatever was preventing it was surely tied to those tubes, right?

  But no, nothing of the like happened, not like when it had been burnt to nearly nothing fighting the Elemental. No bone sprung forth, fresh and ivory, no muscle wrapped it, no skin sealed it. Only scars..

  Maybe there had to be something left to regrow from. The bones of his arm were entirely removed, leaving only a small protrusion where his collarbone and shoulder blade extended. At least the skin healed over. The initial wave of blood that accompanied the first tubes being ripped out had long since healed, a film of scar tissue stretched across the gap.

  He remained unconscious, which didn’t surprise her. Whatever they’d done to him, she doubted it would be a fast recovery.

  Corabelle was startled out of her investigation by Ella’s sharp voice echoing across the room once again, “Everyone but Steel, Cora, and whoever the hells this is,” Her glare narrowed as she eyed Zaramir. “Out. You three,” She gestured to Sterling’s team. “ Scout and begin sending people home. I’ll be having this conversation with you later.”

  The mass of new people was all too eager to file out of the space and away from the two Faedemons. It wasn't long before the room fell blessedly silent.

  “Explain,” Ella demanded of Sterling.

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry. This is my fault,” Corabelle wasn’t going to let Sterling take whatever wrath was about to be dealt out for this mess.

  The heat of her gaze turned on Corabelle, “I assumed you were at least somewhat responsible. So are you going to tell me who this might be?”

  Corabelle hesitated. This woman was never going to believe finding Zaramir was a coincidence.

  Thankfully, she didn’t have to find a way to explain, “This is the silo,” Sterling said shortly. “But as Cora told us, this entire village isn’t even supposed to be here. From what I’ve managed to gather, this entire place was constructed for… this,” he gestured to the room, the bodies, around them.

  Ella’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t interrupt.

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  “I’m certain Cora has told you what the Fae are doing; using Faedemons to make more Faedemons, building their army. I believe this is one of the… places they use to do that.”

  Ella’s eyes went to Zaramir, the dozens of Runebinds gracing his bare arms and chest, then to the rest of the space around them, “He’s old. So I’m to assume he’s the one they were using to make new Faedemons?”

  “I believe so,” Sterling confirmed.

  As a thick silence began to envelope the room as Ella examined her surroundings, Corabelle knew she would have to confess if she had even a shadow of a chance at convincing Ella to help them.

  “Ma’am,” She took a deep breath. “You need to know something.”

  Her attention flicked back to Corabelle.

  “I’m aware of how unlikely this sounds, but I promise you, I didn’t know about any of this before I got here,” Her voice cracked. “But ma’am, this is my friend.”

  “I didn’t suspect he was a stranger,” She drawled. “What I want to know is; who is he, and why were we called here?”

  “He’s not just a friend, ma’am,” Corabelle answered, feeling her grip tighten on Zaramir instinctively as Ella’s glare burned hotter. “He’s the one we talked about. The one who saved my life.”

  Ella released a slow breath, her glare melting to a somehow more uncomfortable expression of disappointment, “Ah,” She finally said. “So, Steel, that is the reason you called me.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Sterling replied.

  “And, please tell me I’m wrong, I assume you called me to request to bring this one back with us as well?”

  “You are correct ma’am.”

  “Well,” she rubbed her eyes. “I at least appreciate that you elected to ask this time.” She muttered.

  “Ma’am,” Sterling said. “If I had a better way to contact you I would have. But It was imperative you be notified of this discovery.”

  “Mhmm,” She grumbled.

  “I told Sterling I won’t be leaving without him,” Corabelle confessed. “If that means I can’t come back with you, I accept that.”

  Ella opened her eyes to look at Sterling, “You gave her your real name?” She couldn’t keep her surprise hidden from her voice.

  “I did, Ma’am,” Sterling gave a curt nod. “I trust her.”

  “Clearly,” She murmured, pensively.

  No one dared to interrupt her silent contemplation, even as it stretched an uncomfortably long time.

  “Alright,” She finally said. “One thing is for certain, things can’t keep going on the way they were back at the base. I know you’ve noticed how scared people are, and keeping Cora in that prison cell isn’t helping curb the rumours.”

  She didn’t elaborate, seemingly trying to condense her thoughts, allowing the silence to stretch once again.

  Finally Sterling spoke, “It seems like you plan on leaving Cora here. You do realize what will happen when they find her?”

  Ella looked up, locking eyes with Sterling, “If I planned on sending her back to the Fae I would have done so when you showed up together at our doorstep.”

  Her eyes turned to Corabelle, “Against all better judgement, I do actually believe the things you tell me and from what my teams have gathered, it seems that the evidence is also in your favor,” Her voice softened. “You seem like a good girl, but our people don’t think so and why would they? We’ve done nothing but keep you locked up away from them. They know nothing about you. What I think is, if we have any hope of helping you and, in doing so helping ourselves; you need to meet my people. Properly.”

  “Ma’am,” Sterling interjected. “If I may say so, even if the both of us trust her, they won’t. You know this.”

  “I do,” She replied. “And I don’t expect them to welcome her with open arms, but if there’s any hope of a possible proper alliance, this is the start.”