Ahnna shifted slightly in the shadows, but James reached out a hand, steadying her even as a plan formed in his head.
“Do you know how Ithicanians execute people, Carlo?” He watched the Beast’s shadow pass over the opening as he circled. “They dangle them waist-deep in the waves and then chum the waters.”
“She’s only a child. She had no role in this.”
James chuckled but there was no amusement to it. “One could say the same of every Ithicanian child who will soon eat poisoned bread. Do you think the survivors will see Nina as innocent when faced with burying their children? Or do you think it will be an eye for an eye?”
Carlo cursed, and there was no mistaking the fury in his tone. Which meant it was possible that Katarina had taken a step too far for her madman of a son, and James fully intended to exploit her mistake.
“Are you going to stand around and wait for your daughter to die, you fucking coward?” James demanded. “Sit here in Riomar with these painted fools while your mother sacrifices your Nina for the sake of unsatisfactory kills? You could still stop this. You could save her.”
Carlo barked out a laugh. “Sloppy, nemesis. I am angry, not stupid.”
“You are no nemesis of mine, Carlo. You’re afraid of a little old woman—it’s pathetic.”
The Beast stepped close to the opening. “Everyone fears her, and rightly so!”
Dust rained down on James’s face. “You disparage my brother, but you are no different than William. A patsy. A pawn. And just like William, you don’t even seem to know it!”
The faint light of the opening was blocked out as Carlo fell to his knees, and James heard the man’s nails scratch against stone as he gripped the opening.
“All you asked for was one thing,” James said, circling beneath and knowing the monster above was trying to pick him out of the shadows. “To kill me in a glorious fight to the death. And she won’t even give you that. She’ll take your daughter’s life but not even give you mine in exchange, because the truth is, Carlo, your mother is the biggest coward of all.”
“Lies! She fears nothing.”
“She fears Alexandra. She fears Harendell. It is fear that controls you, Carlo, and how am I supposed to call you nemesis knowing that?”
Carlo snarled and shoved his arm into the hole, the shadow of his hand slashing through the air with a knife despite James being far out of reach.
And already moving.
Catching hold of Ahnna’s waist, he flung her up high—
Where she caught hold of the Beast’s arm. He snarled in protest even as James jumped, climbing Ahnna’s lean form to latch his own hand around Carlo’s arm.
The ground around the opening trembled and Carlo shrieked for help, but his voice was lost to the cries of all the prisoners. Seeming to understand this, Carlo whispered, “Well played.”
Then all three of them were falling into blackness.
50
Ahnna
She let go of Carlo’sarm as the ceiling of the cell collapsed, throwing herself sideways the moment her feet hit the ground. Her shoulder struck the wall hard but she ignored the pain in favor of lifting her arm, rubble striking her even as it rained down upon the two grappling shadows before her.
It was impossible to tell who was who in the darkness, but she picked up a piece of rock and held it at the ready. “James!”
He didn’t answer, but one of the shadows had the other on the floor and was slamming him repeatedly against the stone. Certain Carlo had the upper hand, she raised her rock high to dash it down on his head, only for the pair to roll. Back and forth they fought, the heavy thud of fists and feet against flesh seeming deafening in the tight space, but she could not see enough to successfully intervene.
The pair ceased rolling, and her ears filled with the strangled noises of someone being choked out. “James, I can’t tell if you need me to save your ass or not.”
“Not today, Princess.” The words came out as a growl, punctuated by Carlo’s heels drumming against the floor, the Beast desperate to breathe. “I’ve waited a long fucking time to end you, Carlo, and my only regret is that it’s going to be quick.”
“Don’t kill him!” The words exploded from her lips. “We need him alive!”
“What?”
“We can use him as a hostage to get out.” She dropped to her knees next to them, and catching hold of the fabric of her shirt with her teeth, she ripped the filthy material. “Choke him out and then we’ll tie his wrists.”
