Dante
"He came to me first ten years ago, around the same time that the first rumblings of an uprising began. He has plagued me ever since, as have the rebels.”
– From a Recently Recovered Letter Signed By Eximius of House Avus
It was days until anyone came for me again. Even the beast in the corner seemed to be losing patience with my imprisonment. Those red eyes never left mine as it prowled back and forth, restless.
I merely hung my head and tried to maintain my sanity. I'd never known just how important it was to the psyche to have an understanding of how much time had passed. That prince had dumped all that information on me and left me to sit with it. I'd done nothing but battle guilt and regret since he'd left.
Knowing Adrian was still out there, that Kleio had known where, that Valin had lied to me, that the whole damn city of Pavos and the gods themselves were lies, hollowed me out in a way my grandfather never could. I thought of all the years wasted preparing to lead a First Ring House in a city whichturned out to be based on an oppressive system far older than the one we'd imposed on each other. I thought of Bria, sitting in her little library right now, studying useless books about counterfeit gods. I thought of all those zealots who'd worshipped Adrian and I as Saints, killed on the Deck for believing in something that turned out to be just as crazy as what everyone else did. So much time, so muchlife, wasted. And for what? For a city divided and on the verge of war? For the Viper heir to end up chained in some foreign power's dungeon far away? What was thepoint?
Finally, the door of my cell opened again and footsteps so light they were barely discernible even in the silence of the empty room approached me.
I didn’t have to look up to know it wasKsenia.I was surprised, however, when she produced a key and fit it into the locks of my manacles. With a single twist, the chains fell away, first from my wrists then from my ankles. I rubbed the skin there, red and raw from being restrained so long, before peering up at my kidnapper and uttering the first word I’d spoken in what must have been weeks.
“Why?” I asked. My voice was hoarse from disuse and the word cracked in every imaginable way as it escaped my lips.
Kseniamet my gaze and then stepped away.
“Prince Leo’s orders,” she informed me. “You’re to be given a choice. Return to theGeistwhere they'll continue to lie to you, to use you to kill your own kind, and to force you to be subservient to them. Or remain here. Learn our ways, have a home of your own, and live as you please. Find a new way to live, a way you never knew existed, and a new ruler to serve.”
“Rulers are all the same,” I grunted. “Why should it matter if I serve this one or that?”
“They aren’t all the same, Dante,” she said quietly.
I reeled back in shock at her utterance of my name.
“You knew who I was,” I muttered. “You’ve known all along. What was all this, then? Some elaborate test?”
“In a way. You kept their secrets. We can only hope you’ll keep ours.”
She turned away then, striding toward the door, my manacles dangling from her hands.
“That’s it?” I called after her. “You’re just letting me go?”
“Humanity has nothing if they do not have free will. You’ve been given the chance to choose your fate. Choose wisely.”
Then she was gone. She simply strode straight through the door of my cell and out into the hall beyond. The beast rose from its spot in the corner and padded after her without so much as a final glance in my direction. I watched them go, dumbfounded.
A choice. That was what they'd given me. And the chance to make the right one. But I couldn’t remember a single time in all my life anyone had truly given me a choice, had actually allowed me to decide my own fate. My life in Sanctuary had been ruled by my grandfather, my life inPavosby theGeist, byValinand his commander. But here in this strange land ruled by people whom I'd been conditioned to believe were my enemy, people who the rest of the world deemed inferior and weak, here I was truly given a choice. Did he know? Did the prince know what such a gift would mean to me? Was this another elaborate ploy to use me just as the others had done?
I clenched my fists at my sides and stared at the door. I could leave. All I had to do was take a few steps forward, wrench open that door, and stroll out of here. But then what?
Kseniawas right. I could go back to theGeist. I could trek across miles of endless desert and make it to the other side just to…what? Report on what I'd seen? Fall in line again behind two-faced commanders who'd never been honest with me about why I was truly there? Resume my lessons with a god who was one step away from prison himself? No. There was no life for methere anymore. My faith in the gods had been broken long ago. Now, it lay shattered in pieces beyond repair.
But could I stay here? DespiteKsenia’sassurances, I highly doubted there would be anything akin to a quiet life for a former Victor of theGeist’sTrials, an immigrant from Sanctuary, aVerdunn. Even if they accepted me, their people would not. I represented the enemy to them, an enemy they'd been unable to defeat for thousands of years. They would look at me and see the countless loved ones they'd lost to an unwinnable war. I wouldn't be accepted in the streets. I wouldn't be allowed a common life. But perhaps here, in the palace, where they knew what I was and, if they didn’t accept it, were at least forced to tolerate it by their lofty prince, perhaps I could stay here. Though I doubted I would be welcome without offering something of my own in return. And I knew exactly what that was.Kseniahad made it clear from the moment I'd awakened in this cell.
I strode forward then, making my way out of the cell and into the dim hallway. There was only one way to go so I followed the narrow hall to a slim stairwell and up until I crested a landing and emerged within a wine cellar.
“Three minutes and forty two seconds,” a familiar voice proudly announced, and I looked up to seeKseniagrinning. “I told you it would take him less than five. Pay up, Roman.”
A surly man grumbled from where he stood next to her, reaching into the pocket of his pants and slapping a bunch of coins into her hand. She jingled them in her palm while he glared at me. He was a young man with dark skin, a shaved head, and a great bulk of muscle. He towered at least a foot overKseniaand his expression seemed to be set in a permanent sneer.
“You bet on me,” I croaked, cheeks heating with rage.
“It’s truly the only viable option, Dante,” another voice spoke from the shadows and the prince stepped forward, smile glimmering in the light. “And as I said, you're no fool.”
“That’s yet to be determined,” Roman grumbled.
