"...Could I have somebody with me?" I asked in reply, some of the tension leaving my shoulders.

"Yes, of course," Dain replied. "Who do you want?"

I ended up with Kamharida, sitting on a comfy couch in comfy clothes, one of her arms around my waist and her other hand holding one of mine in her lap. Dain kissed me before putting up the one-way wall, taking a seat in a throne-like chair. He'd set up the room so that I was looking at it sideways, able to see both Dain and the people he was interrogating, rather than having to look into their eyes.

Lord Miaquen remembered nothing of the day I'd been drugged, nor the day before. His voice trembled as he spoke, stumbling over his words as he looked into the calm face of an implacable killer.

"I believe you are as much a victim of this as I and my soulmate are," Dain said when the fae man at last fell silent.

The lord looked at him with shock, his hands trembling.

Dain gave him a small nod. "You are known to be a quiet and respectable man," he said, keeping his voice level, though I could see by the way the tips of his tails flicked that he was working hard not to be frustrated and furious. "I think you have been taken advantage of, and it is my intention to find the person responsible and hold them to justice."

"You're... not going to kill me?" Lord Miaquen asked, his voice shaking.

The thwap of Dain's tails hitting the floor rang through the room, making the lord jump. "Your body was used to commit a terrible crime, but to my knowledge you had no part in it," Dain said, the edge of a growl entering his voice. He closed his eyes and visibly relaxed, then pinned the fae lord with his golden gaze. "It is not my intention to kill those who have also been victimized by the person who attempted to murder me. You are free to go, my lord."

To say that Lord Miaquen scuttled out of the room would be an unkindness to scuttling creatures everywhere.

Axily, as soon as he understood what had happened, prostrated himself on the ground and offered himself in eternal service first to me, and then to Dain.

Dain glanced towards the wall he'd built for me, looking somewhere a bit to the left of me, then got down on his knees next to my guard, and put one of his hands on Axily's head while the man trembled. "You aren't responsible for things someone forces you to do," he said, his voice holding an edge of pain. "We may not be close friends, but I have seen you act honorably many times, soldier. I do not want to accept your service for this."