Saer kicked him under his ribs, a jarring blow that took Errshek’s breath away.He seized and choked, recoiling when Saer reared back again.“Alright.Alright,” Errshek gasped.He lurched over and spat on the ground again.Errshek let out a growl in turn, though it came tinged with equal parts agony and—Saer noted with bloodthirsty satisfaction—returned anger.
“I didn’t know.”Envy curled an arm around his torso to hold his broken bones in place.
“That’s exactly what you said on that day,” Pride snarled.
Nodding, Errshek gritted his teeth and moved to a shuddering kneel, a fractured, swollen mess.Rainwater sluiced through the blood.Dark fluid ran down his skin in vermillion ribbons.
“It’s still true,” he hissed.
“Explain.”
“It was supposed to be you,” Envy whispered, a bitter confession.Saer lunged towards him and Errshek yelped, flinching back.
“You wanted our creator to unmakeme,” Saer roared, barely staying his hand.
Errshek nodded with a jerky movement as he swallowed, inching away.“You were the problem.Neyu was…” Her name left him as a sigh, and Saer just kept from backhanding the younger demon.Errshek finished with a loving whisper, “She was perfect.”He lifted his bruised eyes, repeating, “She deserved better than you.”
“Your resentment got her killed!”Saer screamed and let his fist fly, hammering into the side of Errshek’s jaw and sending him once more to the ground in a shower of red.“It almost gotall of youkilled!”
Errshek groaned and shook his head, moving his trembling limbs back under his body.He muttered something under his breath.
“Speak up.”
“Resentment is what Iam, Eldest!”Errshek wailed from all fours on the ground, terror forgotten in the face of blood-curdling acrimony.He shivered and tilted his head to meet Saer’s gaze.“Do youknow?Do you have any concept of what it is to want?To reallywantand knowthat’s all there is?She—” Choking on the word, Errshek sobbed and bowed his head again.“She’s the only one who could make it stop.With Neyu, I could just be...me.It was enough.She understood.”
Saer made a noise of disgust and turned away, his clenched fists loosening.The murderous resolve in his chest simmered while he raked bloodied hands through his hair, curling his fingers at the back of his neck.He squeezed his eyes shut, the pulse of his heart beating behind the lids.
Everything in him yearned for slaughter.
“She called me the King of Want,” Errshek whispered.
Saer’s eyes snapped open.
‘This coming from the Queen of Want.’
His own voice echoed Errshek’s, a mirror to a teasing term of endearment he’d used for Neyu.
Saer pivoted to Errshek, the younger brother shuffling to a stand, despondent and hostile all at once.
“I knew you’d find me,” Errshek said.“I didn’t expect to look forward to this once you got here.”
What?
One of the younger demon’s hands remained wrapped around his waist, rubbing at his ribs while Saer stared, slack jawed.When Errshek lifted his gaze and glimpsed the incredulous way Saer responded to his statements, he shrugged and bowed his head.“If she can’t be with us here, I’d rather join her.”Grief lined Envy’s face, so reflective of Saer’s, a pang of it struck his own chest.“Part of her has to be in you, or you would have finished the kill already.You destroy me...we’ll all be together.”
Gaze widening a fraction, Saer took a shuffled step backwards.
He’d absorbed Neyu.Pieces of her became more and more apparent as they were sought, as his insight grew.He loved her.He welcomed those pieces.
What would it do to him, to be PridewithEnvy?
To be self-assured and uncertain?
To know he was superior and stillwant?
Who would he become?
Whatwould he become?
