"Oh finally, arresting someone who really did hurt someone." Liadan said. "You just had to retire first."

Shawn wasn't about to get into a battle of wits with Lia. It never ended well, mostly because she was stubborn, obstinate and filled with her own type of hatred she couldn't see past. He left the room, Cort in tow.

"If those momzers hurt that girl why are they still breathing?" Liadan asked Brighid.

"Because we only found out just now? Ila kept the mark and her past well hidden."

Liadan scowled. "Do you think she could identify all of the men who hurt her so we can gut them?"

"Possibly. Unless she's blocked out the memory of them." Brie shook her head. "Truthfully, if I'd been in her place, I may have done just that."

"It might be nice to not remember." Liadan spoke from experience. "But we can't have them around, they're the worst kinds of momzers and will probably hurt her again, and hurt others."

"I only know that  two of the false Neleks bought her from there."

"They need to die too." Liadan said angrily.

"You won't get any argument out of me. Or Xavier. It's been all he could do the past two weeks to not give in to the temptation to end Mazi."

"I should have killed him when I had a chance." Liadan said.

"We all hoped he could be broken down for information. I don't know how we can defeat them. We don't even know how many are here."

"Give me some time with him and some forks, if I can't get him to speak he doesn't have anything to say." Liadan said.

"Didn't you already try that out in the garden the night they tried to take Millie?"

"I never should have let them take that momzer from me." Liadan was regretful.

"I suppose had everyone known how unbreakable he was...well, Xavier would probably have joined you."

Liadan pulled a rusty twisted fork from her pocket. "Let's go make him talk or kill him."

"Lia, the guards aren't going to let you near him and you don't want to be in the dungeons. And I have to make enough food for an entire village with no help."

"What's more important, dinner or getting some answers?" Liadan asked. "I skipped dinner more than once before, and a lot of these people can stand to skip dinner, some deserve to skip dinner."

"I'll admit, I don't feel like cooking for this lot. They all have fireplaces in their rooms, there's no reason they can't be cooking for themselves. I'll go along but I still doubt the guards are going to let us in."

"I've never had trouble getting into dungeons." Liadan said.

"You don't want to get in that way. You don't know if they would put you in cell next to Mazi."

Liadan stomped off for the dungeon.

Sileas burst into the kitchen, causing her mother to jump. Sileas stared. Her mother and Questa were all alone except for the bloodied and earless old woman on the floor. "What...Questa, I told you to get Wulfsen or Xavier," she fussed.

"Yer said yer wanted their ears." Questa held up the bloody ears.