“Not now, big brother. I’m busy.” Nevari’s attention was entirely on Leander, who shivered. “That’s it, my friend. Be afraid but don’t let it stop you. Fear is a good thing. It means you’re paying attention.”
Leander was afraid, there was no denying that fact. But he wasn’t afraid for himself. For his plan to work, he needed Nevari to see reason.
“I’ve never seen a slave brand before. Where is yours, Leander?”
The demigod glanced over at Jarryn, whose eyes were narrowed into slits, but he nodded all the same. Leander loosened his breeches and pulled down one side. The site still hadn’t healed. It was red and scabbed over, vivid in contrast against his pale skin.
Leander felt exposed as he stood in front of Nevari like this. The second he was given permission, he hitched back up and tightened his trousers around his waist once more.
“Looks painful. And larger than I expected,” Nevari muttered. There was pity in his gaze.
“I had to follow through with Saeren’s laws in order to protect him,” Jarryn said defensively.
“Well, I never knew my opinion mattered so much to you. How flattering. But sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, brother,” Nevari muttered, gaze flickering over to Jarryn before returning to look at the now covered site of the brand.
“Leander has just as much right to?—”
“Everyone thinks they have the right to a future, to peace, even. Happiness and health. They don’t. They have the right to nothing except what they carve out for themselves. From my understanding, Leander has spent his last few months in Cariun doing nothing for himself except drinking himself into a stupor each night. Hardly worthy of the right to anything.”
Nevari was not what Leander expected. He had whispered his lie into the ear of a spoilt little boy. In front of them now was an intelligent and philosophical king with a hardened heart.
Someone was guiding him, because no boy-prince could change like this in the space of a few months. Leander had the distinct impression that Machus had continued his machinations quietly, probably without the rest of the divine court’s knowledge. It was frighting just how duplicitous the God of War could be when he wanted something done.
“But now you are losing my interest and that isverydangerous.”
Here, Leander and Jarryn were little better than the captives of the king, and they had no clue what was going to happen next. They stood at Nevari’s pleasure, at his mercy.
Something in Nevari’s gaze, so like Jarryn’s in some ways but in others so different, was… crazed, almost, wild and untameable. Frightening.
There was no reasoning with such a man.
The King of Desanne was beyond help, Leander thought. He was utterly beyond reason as well, too far gone and this was not at all the picture he had in mind when he whispered the lie into the boy’s ear all those months ago. He wanted to take it back, to go back in time and make it so it had never been. But then Jarryn wouldn’t be his, at least not in the way he was now. That was something far too precious, something he wasn’t willing to give up so easily.
Leander had meant what he said: he had no regrets.
But Machus’ words still reverberated around Leander’s mind, and he would not risk pissing off the god even more, because he had no doubt that he was watching, listening, waiting for Leander to fuck up.
He said nothing of his knowledge of Machus’ involvement.
“What are you going to do with us?” Leander eventually asked quietly, somehow managing to keep his voice even despite how his heart practically convulsed behind his ribs.
Nevari took a seat. “What I planned to do from the beginning. Jarryn is guilty of patricide and regicide; he willdie for his crimes. And you... well you are property of the Eleinium family, and your ownership will pass over to me. Of course, our laws in Desanne are different, you will be an honoured guest, free to do as you will… within the confines of the palace. For your safety.”
“How many times, Nevari?” Jarryn immediately said, seething with frustration at a conversation that had clearly been repeated over and over again. “I didn’t do it. I was on a hunt the night father died, nowhere near him. I would tell you to ask my men, but you slaughtered them all.”
“How inconvenient…” Nevari mused.
“You expect me to be evil, to be some monstrous thing.” Jarryn spoke very calmly, as if he were merely discussing the weather with his brother. “Youneedme to be the embodiment of hate and greed, because it kills you to be responsible for your own shortcomings. Tell me, brother, when I have been executed, will you breathe easier? Sleep better at night? Or will you find another enemy to chase, just to hide from the nightmares of what you have done? I have made peace with who I am and who I must become. Can you say the same? Go on, tell yourself another lie.”
Leander watched the two brothers as they argued. They could have been Verin and Venser, the way they moved around each other.
“I am not the monster you think I am,” Jarryn finished.
Nevari slowly stood back up, his eyes locked on Jarryn, his expression impenetrable. “Whether you are a villain or a hero in this story depends entirely on which way the proverbial knife is pointing.”
“And yet, you are unrecognisable to me.”
“I grew up. It happens when your brother murders yourfather. I had no choice but to wear this heavy crown, to do the job you so mindlessly threw aside when you took it upon yourself to commit regicide.”
