“It isn’t fair,” he sounded like a petulant child.
“It’s no different than the offer you made me at the start of all of this,” Nuri pointed out.
Ah.
Nuri was teaching him a lesson.
Silver hung his head. “All right. I agree.”
“Great.” Nuri held the orb closer to the ground but didn’t drop it. “N.I.M, roll the dice for the Emperor, please.”
He looked this time, wincing when the dice were tossed and he’d gotten five total. He’d hoped that Nuri had simply undone the coding he’d given N.I.M. but what if he’d—
“N.I.M., roll the dice again, please.”
Seven.
“You rigged the game,” Silver whispered. He rested back on his legs entirely, completely defeated now, and squeezed his eyes shut.
“It’s not so fun being tricked, is it?” Nuri dropped N.I.M. to the ground, letting it roll where it pleased. “Either way, you lost.”
“What do you want?” He was almost too afraid to watch when Nuri went for the door and grabbed onto the handle.
At the last second, he turned back, meeting Silver’s gaze unflinchingly. That cold, disinterested look back in his eyes.
“Let me go, Silver Rein.”
Even though every atom of his being screamed at him to chase after him, Silver remained on the ground, listening to the sound of Nuri’s footsteps get further and further away.
Chapter 29:
Nuri escaped to his apartment, half expecting Silver to follow. He didn’t even bother locking the door for that very reason, though it’d been months now since the Emperor had figured out his door code.
Was it his own fault for not putting his foot down sooner?
For always turning the other cheek whenever Silver overstepped an obvious boundary?
He didn’t make it further than his living room. Plopping down on the couch, completely drained and feeling like reality was slipping away from him. While it was true this was what he’d always wanted—sort of—finally being free of his position wasn’t as satisfying or relieving as he’d envisioned.
Nuri didn’t feel happy.
He felt…
Lost.
Empty.
Alone.
Curling his legs, he wrapped his arms tightly around them and buried his face against his knees. The tears had started a while ago, around when he’d quickly dressed and rushed from the mansion to hail a cab. No one had stopped him on the way out, not even Falc, and the guards at the gate had bowed at him like they usually did and that was all.
Meaning Silver hadn’t ordered them to confine him.
Was he actually going to listen this time? Did he intend to respect Nuri’s wishes now that he’d been caught in such a heinous lie?
Yeah, right.
He wasn’t going to fall for that.
