POV: Lyra
Agnes was taken aback by what I'd just said, but she stubbornly insisted, "No, I did. It was me. Please. I've always h-hated Ellia Morgan, a-and I wanted her p-position, a-and..."
"Who do you love most, Agnes?" I interrupted with a seemingly unrelated question.
Agnes looked confused, but seeing my warm, encouraging smile, she nodded uncertainly. "M-My child, Your Hi-Highness."
I smiled wider and leaned closer. The interrogation chamber's harsh lights reflected off the metallic walls, making Agnes's opalescent Kaelari skin shift nervously between colors. "A boy or a girl?"
"G-Girl." She was still lost, her multifaceted eyes darting between me and the one-way transparisteel window.
"What's her name?"
"B-Bethany... we call her Beth."
Only then did Orion and Christian understand what I was doing. Getting Agnes to trust me enough to open up. The neural inhibitors in the room prevented any mind-touch, but I could still read her body language—the way her elongated fingers trembled, how her skin kept cycling through anxiety colors.
"How old is she?" I asked with genuine interest.
"Four. Well, five next month, my Queen." Agnes said, stuttering less than before. Her skin shifted from nervous yellow to a calmer silver.
"Is there anything in particular that Beth likes?"
When Agnes looked into my eyes, she saw no manipulation, no hidden agenda. Just genuine interest in her little girl.
Agnes cleared her throat, offering a small smile. "Chocolate, especially the Terran fondue they serve at the recreational centers."
"Oh, so does my niece! We always get her chocolate fondue instead of a nutrition cake for her birthdays." I shared, letting my own skin shift to a warm, friendly blue.
Agnes was drawn into the conversation. "That's actually a good idea. Peter and I never thought of that. Probably time to do away with the cake tradition."
I chuckled lightly, encouraging her to smile wider.
Agnes suddenly remembered where she was—Station Security's high-level interrogation chamber, accused of attempting to assassinate a Council member. I caught her regaining awareness, so I reached for her hand again. The neural sparks were minimal—we weren't matched, but Kaelari could share calming energy through touch.
"Agnes, we know you didn't do it. It's okay if you don't want to tell us who asked you to do it, but I need you to tell me something." This piqued everyone's curiosity. Wasn't finding the culprit the whole point?
I peered into her lilac eyes—unusual for a Kaelari—and asked with genuine worry, "Beth and Peter, are they safe?"
Agnes's eyes widened, and she was about to break down, but I leaned closer. "Agnes, tell us where they are. We can protect them. We've been looking after Ellia and the others for days. They're all safe. The three families are safe. We can offer you the same protection. But you have to let us help you. You don't have to tell us anything yet. But we need to know where your partner and child are."
Agnes was terrified and shocked. "H-How did you..."
"Your colleagues were forced to do things they didn't want to do because they wanted to keep their families safe, too. Agnes, were you given a timeline to make this false confession?"
Agnes blinked, furrowed her brows. "Uh... I have until three in the afternoon, she said. What time is it, by the way?"
Everyone caught the word 'she.' The three of us knew exactly who we were after.
Orion's pathways flashed as he mind-touched Christian through their private Lyrokan frequency. I couldn't hear it, but I saw Christian's pathways respond before he disappeared into the security chief's office.
I checked my communicator. "It's one in the afternoon. There's still time. Now, Peter and Beth..."
Before I could finish, Agnes willingly said, "Peter is at work in Gauss Enterprises on Level 47. Beth is in Pokey Oaks educational facility, about a ten-minute shuttle ride from Peter's place. I didn't tell him about any of this."
I nodded in understanding. "Okay, we'll go get them." I turned to Orion, who gave me a head nod. His pathways pulsed with determination.
When my eyes cleared from his private frequency message, I looked at Agnes again. "Is there anything you need while you wait? Nutrients? Hydration solution?"
Agnes shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself. The temperature in interrogation chambers was always kept uncomfortably cool—another psychological tactic. She got lost in thought before saying in despair, "I just... really need them to be safe, you know?"
I matched her despair. "We all do, Agnes. What's being done to you isn't right."
Agnes's eyes locked with mine. "If you have Ellia and the others, it means that... you already know who's doing this."
I gave a small smile. "We have a good guess, but until we hear it from you, Agnes, it's just a gue—"
"Helena Tanner." Agnes said.
I nodded sadly. "Yeah."
For the next agonizing fifteen minutes, the room was dead silent except for Agnes's anxious breathing. The ventilation system hummed overhead, recycling the same stale air. Then Orion's pathways suddenly brightened from purple to gold—his happiness color. He walked over, caressed my shoulders lovingly before turning to Agnes.
"We got them, Agnes. Your partner and daughter. They're on their way here."
Agnes let out a sigh of relief, tears flowing down her cheeks, making her opalescent skin shimmer. The weight she'd been carrying from the moment she was threatened was finally easing.
I held her hands, locking eyes with her. "You did the right thing, Agnes. You saved your family."
Another fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Christian held it open, allowing Peter and Beth into the room. The couple embraced, and Agnes wrapped her arms around the little girl who called out, "Mommy!" The child's skin was already showing the beginning of opalescent patterns—she'd develop her full Kaelari coloring by adolescence.
Everyone else left the room, giving the family privacy. Outside the interrogation room, Chief Dalloway had bad news. His Lyrokan pathways were dim with frustration.
"Tanner is not at her office on Level 15. Our team at her habitat on Level 3 couldn't find her there either. We tried contacting her partner and sons, but they seem to have vanished. Neither turned up for work, and no one has heard from them since yesterday."
Orion asked, "Security footage?"
"The cameras in their habitat have been disabled since this morning, my King."
"Anything before that could be helpful?" Christian asked.
"Not that we know as of now, your Grace."
The cousins exchanged worried glances. Orion then asked, "How is the progress with the rogue Lyrokan?"
"He's being very cooperative, Your Highness. But I don't know how much more he knows. There seems to be no end to his knowledge of everything you've asked of him."
If the rogue Lyrokan could give them everything they needed about Wu Bi Corp, there was no need to let the five people from Ellia's list roam free any longer. They had to be arrested and detained before anyone else got hurt.
Orion looked at me—I was watching the family reunite through the transparisteel without hearing their words. His hand reached for my waist, and he sent a private message through our bond. We have the rogue now. We don't need to hold the arrest of those five for corruption any longer. We should detain them before anyone gets hurt.
I didn't say anything. With a straight face, I gave a firm nod as my eyes stayed fixed on the family. Orion got Christian to give the order. Dalloway, though stunned by the names he was asked to arrest—all high-ranking officials—deployed his teams again.
Orion pressed his lips to my temple. What's on your mind, star-heart?
I shook my head in dismay. This happened because Tanner wasn't arrested earlier. Because I said we shouldn't touch any of the five yet. Despite my hardened expression, my eyes betrayed how I really felt inside—the weight of command, the cost of strategic decisions.
"Star-heart, hey, come here." Orion pressed me into his chest. Although he didn't hear me sob, he felt moisture on his bio-suit. His chest tightened, and he kissed my hairline. "None of this is your fault, Lyra. The plan was to not touch the five to find the sixth party involved. We just found the rogue to get that information. We didn't know Tanner could be arrested earlier."
Someone could've gotten hurt.
He parted our bodies, cupped my cheeks, pulling my face up to meet his. As heartbreaking as it was to see my reddened eyes and the moisture trails on my opalescent skin, he peered into those black multifaceted orbs he loved with his entire being and said firmly, "But no one got hurt, Lyra. It was a possibility, but it's not anymore. Look at them, they're safe. The danger they were in is now gone. Because you saved them. You got Agnes to talk to us. Star-heart, the criminal is Tanner. This is none of your fault. Please, don't blame yourself, my little freesia. Don't you see they're only safe and relieved now because you got the truth out of her?"
Christian was minding his own business until he saw my teary eyes. When he realized I was blaming myself for Tanner's threat, he slammed his forehead against the metal wall.
"Christian, are you okay?" I asked in a hoarse voice when I heard the loud thud.
Christian groaned softly, his pathways flickering with annoyance. He rubbed his forehead. "My Queen, I'm not the one who shielded a child from Oleander poison, went unconscious for hours, was close to termination, woke up drained, and then got the truth out of a victim who was stubbornly confessing to a crime she didn't commit to protect her family. I think I'm quite fine."
I wasn't expecting that response and had nothing to say. Orion lifted my chin. "You're more, Lyra. Much more."
I smiled at him gratefully before leaning into his chest. His arms wrapped protectively around my small body as I took in his psychic signature—acacia wood and Terran forests—to calm myself.
How are you feeling, star-heart? Any dizziness or neural fatigue?
No. Just tired.
Orion chuckled lightly. "We should head back to your quarters then." I nodded with a small smile.