Okay, he needed a new plan. His body was on fire while it still felt like ice was in his veins, but the beating he was taking was probably what was going to kill him.
Rolling over onto his hands and knees, Theo shook his head to clear his vision. He tried to push up but his arms went out from under him.
“Is that all you can take?” Bramley mocked, striding toward him.
Theo tried to scramble away. Nope. Not happening.
Bramley laughed. “And you are who our father wanted to succeed him? You! You are nothing but a weakling.”
Weak. Loser. Theo had heard all the hateful words his entire life.
“I have always been superior,” Bramley claimed. “Me! I was born from pure unseelie royalty. Our father the unseelie king and my mother the leader of the sluagh. They belonged together. As their offspring, I should be the ruler of the unseelie.”
“You are,” Theo reminded him. “Dude, you rule over half the fae realm. I am no threat to you!”
“You are a threat just by existing!” Bramley shouted. “My mother left because of yours! When our father chose a common feline shifter over a powerful sluagh!”
Theo didn’t know what a sluagh was. He finally managed to push himself back to rest against the cracked wall. “I’m sorry about your mom. This doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
Bramley crouched in front of him. Long gone was the attractive human and he was full monster. “Your apology means nothing to me.”
Theo cried out as Bramley grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head back.
“My mother was queen until yours fell through a fae trap and landed at our father’s feet. He was instantly smitten. Your mother knew about mine. She was nothing but a whore.”
Gritting his teeth, Theo wanted to defend the woman who gave birth to him but decided to keep silent. He was getting more information out of Bramley than he would ever learn on his own. Even knowing his father had once been an unseelie king. Surely someone knew something about him.
“But I took care of everything. As soon as your mother announced that she was pregnant, I knew what I had to do,” Bramley said.
“What did you do?” Theo asked.
Bramley tightened his fingers that were still buried in Theo’s hair. “I killed our father, of course.”
Hellcats! This guy was wacko!
“Your mother was brave, though. She escaped back through a portal into the human realm,” Bramley told him. “And hid from me!”
Smart woman. Theo had to give her credit for that. “Good.”
“I had an uproar to handle over my father’s death.” Bramley grinned.
Oh! How had Theo missed those sharp teeth?
“Of course, everyone thinks your mother killed him,” Bramley said. “I started that rumor. Even if I hadn’t come for her, she never would have lived. She had the entire unseelie realm after her. I placed my spies all over your realm until one of them finally found her for me.”
Theo very purposely did not look toward Garrett, Bo, or Aurelia. Probably not a good idea to remind Bramley that they weren’t alone. Sure Garrett and Bo were both at the cell bars and had been yelling for Theo. The little brownie had scampered into the cell, taking protection between the two bigger beings. Tears ran down the brownie’s face. Theo felt sorry for her. Aurelia didn’t want to be there any more than Theo did.
“But I finally found her,” Bramley claimed. “Yes, I did. Unfortunately, it was after she’d given birth to you. I would have loved to kill you both at once but that wasn’t in the cards.”
If it was Theo’s destiny to one of the chosen, how would that have worked if he’d been killed? Would Alek, Dario, Wylder, and Mitch have another mate? Theo didn’t like the thought of that at all.
“She escaped my assassins long enough to hide you away. But she didn’t get far. And I put her head on a spike in front of the palace so every creature could see that I avenged my dearly departed father.”
This dude sucked. And Theo was really getting tired of him running his mouth. Theo wanted information but Bramley needed to be taken down a peg or two. Not that Theo was up for that job. He was barely able to breathe as it was.
“But you got away. Hidden from my view. Your unseelie blood bound.” Bramley put their faces only inches apart. “It’s there inside you, you know. Trapped and making you a weakling.”
“I might be weak but at least I’m not an asshole.” Oops!
