The Smallest Quiver

"You would do that? You would let them go?" Penelope asked, not ready to believe anything Zagan had to say. He had a peculiar look on his face right now like the cat that ate the canary, and she didn't know what to make of it.

His black eyes were locked with hers, and she shivered imagining how he had compelled her. She did not want that to happen again. She wanted to look away, to hide herself from him and stay safe from whatever unspoken plans he was formulating and would not say, but this was too important. The lives of the others hung in the balance, and if he was truly willing to let them go until the time that August was able to successfully end his existence for him, then she needed to make sure he went through with it and didn't change his mind.

"Yes, I will let them go," he finally said.

Penelope was frozen in disbelief. The words were too easy to say.

"You do not appear happy," he remarked, his eyes scanning her face.