The king rolled his eyes, tired of the mis-truth. “You are not my creation.”
Confused silence echoed between them, and Giaus was content to wait. To allow Sinadim to draw his own conclusions, whatever they may be.
But then the prince’s wide, shocked gaze fell to Renegade, and with his fingers palpating that hated, crescent moon bleeding high on his shoulder, he said, “Sheinfected me.”
“Yes,” Giaus hummed, because there was no use in a general ignorant of his own lineage. “It would seem that in her, the virus has become something with less of a tumultuous nature. In Balkazar, doom,” he sneered. “But in her? Well…” A smile creased his lips, and carding his claws through strands of silky black, Giaus took a moment to admire her fine, elegant features. “Something else.”
“A new strain,” Sinadim whispered, as if afraid of who might hear it. Awed, even as he tipped his head back and pulled a breath between his teeth. Testing his new sense with an altogether different perspective. “Mutations that are stable… Giaus. Do you know what this means?”
The king flicked an arrogant sneer at his general. “If she succumbs,” he said, and left the worst of it unsaid. “If she fails to thrive and never opens her eyes again, there will be no kingdom. No feral army to march on your precious Silver City. I will kill you all and the Nine themselves will tremble at my feet.”
For a long while, Sinadim let the threat shiver in the impenetrable gloom. Saying nothing as he watched the king with his queen. He held the rut at bay through sheer force of will and tasted their interactions, testing the depths of his blooming gifts, where the sensory pits had formed along the roof of his mouth.
And then, “I have known hundreds of Omegas,” Sinadim murmured, scratching at his silver eye, at terrible scars that no longer wept or oozed. “Tasted a thousand more. But none of them have beenher. She will wake,” he said, and offered a tight, crooked smile. Confident in the way of the truly ignorant. “Because she is equal to this suffering.My Liege.”
Giaus couldn’t help the flash of teeth, nor the grin that split his face wide open.
It was a fragile moment shared between enemies.
One destined to shatter, for it couldn’t last. Their private bubble was doomed to burst.
From above, chaos. The desperate shouting of males in need of leadership.
From below, the rumble of a thousand footfalls.
“What in the name of the Nine”—Sinadim staggered to his feet, claws extended, mane standing on end. His rut muted by the only thing that could truly distract him from the clutches of his rut.
War.
Giaus alone remained. His jaw tight. His scowl deep as his grip threatened to grow cruel where it was wrapped around tender skin. Only one word spilled from his lips. An explanation and a proclamation all in one.
“Horde.”
8
Sinadim blinked, staring down at Giaus for just a moment. Just long enough for that word to settle into his skull and take root.
A horde.
“By the Nine…”
The rumble of a thousand marching feet drummed a warning that trembled in Sinadim’s spinal fluid. Felt in the small of his back, where his severed tail flicked an agitated, unseen rhythm. Where the ghosts of his youth wailed for mercy as they were swallowed in a single, greedy gulp.
“We have to get out,” Sinadim breathed, testing limbs now miraculously free of injury. Limbs that surged with the promise of a strength he’d never known before and couldn’t test at the bottom of a pit. “We can fortify the cave,” he said, lucid with the rush of panic pounding in his chest. “Block the entrance, if we’ve got the time. Spears, if we don’t.” He scanned the shear wall in search of a way out. “Even then, it may not be enough. The hybrids…Sickle… They’ll be slaughtered if we can’t escape.”
Giaus hummed, but that was all.
Whirling, Sinadim scowled down at the mutant. “You’d let them die?”
“I’d let them live,” the giant countered, and shrugged. “If they’re worthy of it.”
A chill rippled through Sinadim’s mane, his jaw hanging slack as he looked upon the male who dared to call himself king—and wouldn’t act. “Giaus…” Sinadim shook his head. “You’d let them die for nothing. You’d be king ofnothing. For what?”
Eerie, luminous eyes flicked up to meet Sinadim’s scowl. Eyes that gleamed feral gold laced with sinister amusement, reflecting what little light there was.
“Have you forgotten?” Giaus asked, and tucked Renegade’s pale, limp form deeper into the crook of one massive arm.
“Forgottenwhat?”
