You are my kingdom. My empire…
My everything.
Some part of me knew this was inevitable.
I’m not stupid. The way I’ve felt for Angel has been different, since the moment he first showed up for his revenge. It’s been something I can’t deny, or ignore, or fuck out of my system with dozens of other meaningless bodies.
He’s been in my head since I found him in that closet when he was three. And no, I didn’t think of it that way at the time, because I’m not a disgusting creep. But I can’t deny that it seems like he was meant to be a part of my story…
Maybe he was always going to be my redemption. The one thing worth more to me than this whole villainous empire that’s sustained me for so long.
Something told me to spare him that day; whether you want to call itconscience, orfate, or some other vast existential entity we can’t quite fathom… I left the scared little bird breathing, knowing the chance of him coming for me someday was strong.
And ultimately,thiswas the reason. The plan set forth by the universe, in all Their infinite wisdom.
He was the only one who could slay me bynotkilling me.
The thing I realized when I found him missing, the thing I’ve known all along, but fought against with all my might, is that Angel Alvarez is no possession. He’s a bird who cannot be caged.
Mi pajarito deserves tosoar.
And I have to admit, those few minutes between finding out he’d gone, to speeding down here like a crazed madman, were the most horrific sense of fear I’d ever experienced.
The battle was a gory one. My soldiers were going full-force from the moment we learned of Russo’s untimely passing. When I discovered that Lex Luthor Deon and Warren Xavier were, in fact,alive, that they’d returned, and broken my other prisoners free, I saw nothing but red.
My fury was vibrant, insistent and hungry. And so my soldiers were instructed to advance and defeat, by any means necessary.
Kill them all.
I was prepared to sit back and wait until they delivered me Jonathan Chevelle’s head on a silver platter… But then I found his cage empty.
And the weight of reality came crashing down on me like a hundred pounds of concrete rubble.
They had him…
They hadmy Angel, and there was no conceivable way they weren’t planning to use him as leverage.
Either Angel was finally coming to his senses, and was ready to kill me. Or Jonathan would kill him for his own revenge. But either way, it was over.
They’d won. And nothing else mattered.
In that moment, it was as if someone had snapped their fingers, and I was awoken from a decade-long trance. The reason I’d been fighting this war in the first place, refusing to stop when IknewI could’ve ended it tens times over already…
The reason I’d been keeping Angel locked away in his cage, fighting him off like a goddamn seesaw of terror, despite how damn good it felt to justbewith him, was because I’d convinced myself Ihadto.
That was it… Power and dominion.
And suddenly, I wantednoneof it.
He was, and is and will be, more important to me than all the riches, the faithful servants, the territory and the control in the world.
I would gladly give it all up for his safety.For him to keep flying.
I’ve gotta say, it was a moment of euphoric clarity, followed by a few seconds of staggering doubt.After all, who am I, if not The Ivory?
I don’t know how to be anyone but this… It’s been too long. Too many years of steeling my resolve, hardening every bit of who I am into stone and cement. Encasing my heart in barbed wire, to remind it that even a single pump is meant to cause pain and draw blood.
Evil is all I’ve lived for… and now I was calling off the war and racing to surrender. All forone person, who could very well kill me himself, should he so desire.
