“But I see nowthe folly in such thinking,” I sighed sadly. “Attachments do nothing but hold one back. If I’m to rise, I need to purge myself of such things. Ensure I have no weaknesses, you understand.”
Vissy looked up warily,his eyes flickering back and forth between mine. The dim flame cast long shadows across his cell, leaving a strip of light to illuminate his eyes as he leaned forward, making his golden orbs look like they were glowing.
Makingthe rage and disgust within them more than clear even within the dark womb of the palace.
I stiffenedas he pushed himself up from his sprawl. He sauntered over to the door slowly and leaned his elbows where the bars intersected, his hands clutching tightly to the dark metal. He tilted his head, leaning the side of it against one of the bars, as his eyes bored into me.
Strippingme bare straight down to my soul.
I felt frozenin that moment, unable to do anything more than look back at him and let him see all that I was. All that I had become. A different beast than the one he’d grown up with, I knew.
Destiny had toomuch in store for me to remain unchanged. When I accomplished everything I sought, it would prove my detractors wrong about me. It would show Father, even in the Otherworld, why I was always the best choice of heir. The one good decision the gods had made.
My mother wasthe only one on my side now. She served her role well, charming the court and especially the king of Dawn, right out of their secrets and into everlasting loyalty.
I had once thoughtVissy would always be there, believing in me when most of my family would rather see me dead and gone. The loss of that certainty caused an ache in my chest, and it felt as if lightning bolts of pain radiated out from it.
“What areyou going to do now, huh, Cyrus?” Vissy laughed bitterly, a sound I had never once heard from his mouth. “You say you can’t have attachments, but what about Asteria? Hmm?”
I blinked,breaking from his intense stare, and sighed slightly in relief. Shaking my head, I snorted at his question. “Asteria will be at my feet where she belongs.”
“Oh,a woman like Asteria doesmuchbetter on her back,” Vissy smirked, a nasty snarl hiding beneath it. “But then—you wouldn’t know that, would you?” He laughed, looking as if he’d won something with this bizarre turn of conversation.
“I will,”I told him seriously.
Vissy just laughed more,shaking his head. “Not truly. You’ll never get to enjoy the experience of awillingAsteria.”
He leanedhis head closer to me, the stink of unwashed male making me wrinkle my nose and lean my head backward. “And let me tell you,brother,it isexquisite.”
His smirkas he pulled his head back was a familiar one, one I recognized as the smirk he would often don when speaking of his many conquests, bragging about the men and women who’d throw themselves at him for the mere chance at a night in his bed.
Fury rosehot and uncontrollable within me. I lashed out, my hand grabbing him by the throat and pulling him into the bars, his head bouncing off the metal with the force of it.
“You didn’t,”I growled, my canines lengthening as the truth of their betrayal solidified within me.
He just laughed once more,golden eyes twinkling with perverse joy. He’d actually done it.Shehad done it. Vissy didn’t own her after all, not like I did. The one sticking point between us, preventing her from opening her legs like the slut she clearly was.
“When?”I demanded, shaking him by the throat. “When did you start betraying me, you piece of shit?” I loosened my grip, allowing him to answer through my grip.
“The nightof your betrothal ball, of course,” Vissy answered easily. “You spent so much time teasing her, Cyrus. Winding her up and up with no relief to come. The poor girl needed an outlet.” He licked his lips lasciviously, making me snarl in response. “And I was oh-so-willing after that taste you gave me. Desperate for more, even.”
I screamed in anger,tightening my grip around his throat and watching as he lost that awful smile until his hands came up to try to pry mine off, and his face began to go red and then purple. Through my anger, though, I realized this wasn’t the way.
I let him go abruptly,watching him hit the ground with a thud. He coughed harshly, curling up on his side and reaching up to rub his throat with a much hoarser laugh.
“Going to kill me now, Cyrus?”He moved onto his knees, watching me with suddenly dead eyes. And then I realized that it was exactly what he wanted. Time in this dungeon had drained him of the will to live.
Well,that certainly wouldn’t do.
“Not yet,”I answered honestly, and he sagged a bit, whether in disappointment or relief, I couldn’t be sure. Even when driven to the brink, men ready to die often find they aren’t as ready as they thought when it comes.
“Guards!”I called, and they came running around the corner. A guard with short blonde hair and blue eyes who looked familiar arrived with a dark-haired and pink-eyed man who didn’t. It took me a moment to recognize the blonde. He was one of the guards on duty the day Zerlina prevented Asteria from taking shelter during the attack on the city.
After I realizedthat was the day she had met Calix, I had punished the guards who’d been there with dungeon duty, a severe step down from guarding the royals. I eyed him speculatively, but ultimately decided to move forward.
“Lord Visitahere is to be delivered to Kesshuu at the North Camp,” I instructed them. “I want him put on the rack and left to wait for my arrival, understand?”
They both nodded immediately,and I turned to look back at Vissy, who sat glaring at me.
