“God, he is such a bitch,” I say, making sure it is loud enough for Drako to hear. I wonder if he’s playing it up for his little Vikar friends. He can’t show them that he bonded with us, so like a boy beating up his favorite teddy to prove he’s not a kid anymore,he’s going to publicly bully us. He has no idea how weak that really makes him look.
“Seal me up! I say. “I’d rather die than see your ugly face again.”
There’s a short burst of laughter from outside the cave. I don’t think it’s from Drako. I think I just got a laugh from his boys. That’s got to hurt.
I might not be good at survival tactics, but I grew up with two sisters, so I know how to hit someone where it hurts.
“Come out right now, and the public beating you get will be given with your underwear on,” Drako drawls. “Keep talking back to me, and you’ll be stripped in front of my crew and…”
“Boring!” I interject in the middle of his threat. “I might care if I were naked in front of a lot of people, but your clan aren’t people. You’re animals. It would be no different than being naked in front of my pets.”
“By the gods,” Thor groans. He’s not actively stopping me from talking, but I can tell he doesn’t think this is a good idea.
“I’m going to cut your boyfriend’s cock off if you don’t come out this second.”
Oh, poor Drako. He must have felt such a surge of satisfaction at having realized he had us cornered, but his shit talk game is weak.
“Makes sense. It’s bigger than yours. Sew it on and improve yourself as a man.”
Again that muffled laughter comes from people who know they’re not supposed to be laughing, but can’t stop it.
“You’re going to get us both killed,” Thor says, though he is smiling too.
“At least we’ll go out with a bang,” I say. “Not from Drako though! Because his penis is inadequate!”
“Holy shit. I don’t think I have ever heard the word inadequate used to quite such devastating effect,” Thor snorts.
We are having a good time again. I know that any moment, that good time is going to violently end and terrible things will happen to us and we’ll be powerless to stop them, but that’s why asserting any kind of rebellion feels so good in this moment. When someone has you cornered and fucked up, there’s nothing as powerful as letting them know you still don’t care about them.
“Come out. Now. Girl first. If I have to say it again, we will come in full force.” Drako tries to act serious to reclaim some kind of gravitas. I am doing more damage to his reputation from inside this cave than I bet anybody has done to him in years. Maybe decades.
“Don’t act like you know how to come in anything with that little cock,” I shout back.
“Selene!” Drako yells, losing his temper and his patience at the same time. “Out here. Now.”
“Fine. I’m coming. Just don’t hurt Thor. Promise you won’t be mean.”
“Little girl, I am always mean. Come out. Now!”
“Wish me luck,” I say, beginning to shuffle out of the cave. I know Thor wants to protect me, but all that will happen if he goes out first is he will probably be killed where he stands.
I am well aware that what I do next will determine whether or not either one of us survives.
I creep into the light of day and find Drako standing in front of the cave in full Vikar regalia. He is wearing tall boots that come to his knee, black and fur-lined. His leggings are likewise black, probably leather, and there is a long coat that covers them almost all the way to the boots. That coat is also black and fur-lined, but cinched enough that it makes the most of his broad shoulders and powerful waist. He towers above me, his long dark hair tied back in a braid, his beard likewise tamed. His glinting blue eyes regard me with cold triumph.
He reaches for me and drags me toward him, one hand at my collar.
“You think that was funny?” he says calmly. “You are going to pay for that disrespect.”
And that is when I stab him.
He didn’t suspect a knife. Didn’t think I’d have any ability to defend myself. He assumed I’d come out of that cave as useless and passive as he always imagined me to be. That was a mistake he will not soon recover from. The knife goes into the space where his neck, his shoulder, and his heart all meet. It pierces his ribcage and probably splinters a rib on the way in.
He drops me and I fall to the ground, spattered in an arc of his blood. It is warm, and the warmth is pleasant for many reasons.
His men move quickly. Two train weapons on me, bayonets in my face. The need to affix a blade to a gun has always fascinated me. I always thought it was stupid and redundant. Now I get it. They’re very intimidating.
“Leave her!” Drako says. “Arrest her, but don’t hurt her.”
