The silence stopped at the entrance to the dungeon. The witch guards were on high alert, and even through the thick doors, I heard screams. The growls of hellhounds hidden further down the long halls of the dungeon echoed.
I made my way to Cyrus’s cell. The two witches standing guard moved aside, neither looking at me as I came to a stop in front of them.
“He hasn’t made a sound in hours,” one of the witches said, her gaze steady on the wall behind me. “We checked on him an hour ago, and he was fine. Didn’t speak to us.”
My stomach twisted, but I nodded once. “I won’t be long.”
They didn’t bother responding, instead opening the door for me with a wave of their magic. Cyrus looked up as I entered, but he didn’t move or say anything until the door closed softly behind me.
“The memories are coming back,” I said, crossing my arms. “But they aren’t matching what you told us. Every single memory I’ve had so far tells me I should be terrified of you. They tell me I should tear you to shreds for the part you played in my torture—in the torture of those other children who were with me.”
Something shifted in his eyes as he stared at me for a long moment, lips pressed together, like he was considering how much he should reveal. Or maybe he was reading a weakness in me that I couldn’t hide.
“You were born in the compound,” Cyrus said after a moment, releasing a harsh breath and dropping my stare. “Your mother was brought in as a breeder. She’d been…specialto Dante.”
Bile rose in my throat as my back hit the door. “Who was she?” I asked, though I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to know.
“She was one of his…acolytes, I suppose. But she fell pregnant after finding her mate at the compound. Another wolf shifter. He was an Alpha brought in for testing.” Cyrus shook his head, disgust warping his features. “That was when everything started changing. It stopped being about the changes that needed to be made to the current system and started being about control.”
“Who was she?” I asked again, this time my voice breaking. “And what happened to her? To them?”
Cyrus glanced up, our eyes meeting. “She gave birth to you and was forced into a shift. She was useless to Dante because she was mated. Your father was made to shift too, but he fought back. He almost died for it.”
I wasn’t sure how to react to the knowledge that I had parents. Afather. Someone who had fought Dante, a mother who birthed me. When you spent all your life thinking you were abandoned, it was hard to reconcile that with the knowledge that you weren’t.
My parents hadn’t dropped me off at Phoenix’s doorstep and walked away. They hadn’twantedto give me up.
“I’m sorry,” Cyrus said, voice deep with shame. “I wish…I wish I had done something then.”
“You let him torture me. Torturethem,” I said, referring to the other children I’d been with. “They didn’t deserve that.Ididn’t deserve that.”
“You’re right,” he replied. “And I will carry that regret until Nyx claims me.I should have done more to protect you. To protect the others. But I didn’t. I was a weak male too wrapped up in my own needs to see that what they were doing went against everything I was fightingfor.”
Although he seemed sincere, I couldn’t bring myself to accept his words. I’d spent so long looking to him as my mentor, the closest thing I had to a father, that his words just felt empty now that I knew the truth.
“Where are the other children?” I asked, ignoring his admission.
“You were the only one I was able to get out successfully,” he replied, voice dark and full of guilt. “They wanted you dead. You were never going to serve their needs, so they needed you gone.”
My jaw clenched as I looked away from him and into the darkness around his cell. I recalled one of the earlier memories I’d unlocked, the one about us refusing to shift because there’d been an Alpha amongst us. I didn’t want to ask why they wanted me dead, because I was almost certain I already knew.
But I still asked anyway. “Why did they want me gone, Cyrus?” My eyes flickered back to his, and our gazes met. “Why would they want me, a fucking child, dead?”
“You already know why,” he replied, lifting his chin. “You aren’t stupid.”
I swallowed hard and shook my head. “Say it.”
“You were their Alpha,” he said, sitting back, the chains rattling with each movement. “And that made you a threat.”
31
Rowan
The lack of sleep nagged at me, throbbing in the back of my head. The herbal tea I drank couldn’t even ward off the oncoming headache. And yet, I kept searching.
Kept hoping forsomething.
There had to be more in here than just…nothing. Surely, Dante and his minions hadn’t taken everything. Surely, there was still some kind of hint, somekey, that could save my mate once we got her back. No rune created by either my hand or Adrian’s would be strong enough to go against the power of the Old Gods—and I wouldn’t waste my time testing it.
