“We are,” Shen replied when no one else did. “Weareprisoners here.”
“And what were your crimes?” Snow whispered, his fingertips digging into the soft leather of the armchair. “What led you all here?”
He’d blindly walked into a den of thieves—or worse. Half of Snow grew terrified. The other half felt guilt. They’d been nothing but kind to him so far. Assuming the worst was wrong of him. Yet, he was a tiny omega in a room full of massive alphas.
Alphas who may have committed horrendous crimes.
“The only one of us who might deserve his punishment is that one,” Klaus said, throwing a snarl towards the door Greer had disappeared behind. “The rest of us are guilty of being flawedhumans that crossed the wrong omega. I was imprisoned for being selfish, the wizard claimed. Shen was trapped for his pridefulness. Hwa, for his quick anger. Lazlo for his idleness. Owan for his lusts.” Klaus’s gaze moved from Snow to Vor. “And what of you, Vor? I don’t think you’ve ever told me your sin.”
“Hunger,”Vor muttered, his gaze lifting to Snow for a split second before lowering.
Snow’s belly tightened more from that look, a hunger of his own growing deep.
Klaus scoffed. “That’s all I get, hmm?Hunger?I’m sure it was more to it than that.”
“That’s all you need to know,” Vor grumbled.
“I daresay it’s not,” Klaus snapped.
“Enough!”Hwa roared, looking at Klaus. “I tire of your constant bickering and jealousy.”
“I amnotenvious of Vor,” Klaus bellowed back, jumping from the chair. “He lords himself around as if being the first here gives him the right to rule over us. He is no one.Iam the second son of an earl. If anyone should lead us, it should beme.”
“And there it is,” Vor muttered without turning around. He never lifted his gaze from Snow’s legs. “Noble birth means nothing here, Klaus. You can stick your father’s title up your backside and fuck yourself with it for all I care.”
As several of the others snickered, Lazlo laid an arm across Klaus’s chest, holding him back. Klaus didn’t try very hard to reach Vor, though. As small an alpha as Lazlo was, Klaus could’ve easily overtaken him in Snow’s opinion. Instead, he shoved Lazlo away and dropped back into his chair in theshadows, simmering with rage and leveling his angry stare at the back of Vor’s head.
“I am no leader,” Vor said to no one in particular. “I simply ensure all do their fair share. Unlike the world outside this prison, we have no kings. No lords to laze about and have the low men do the hardest of the labors. Here, we are all equal in our suffering and equal in our work to survive. Wealldo what must be done.”
“You assume I would laze about?” Klaus said, rolling his eyes. “I, too, have the curse of laboring placed upon me. I must cut, just as you all do.”
Vor spun to face him. “But when the sun goes down? Tell me you wouldn’t lord over us and make us do your bidding if we allowed it.”
Klaus turned his gaze away.
“You tried that when you first got here,” Vor said.“Remember?You commanded we serve you, as if we all hadn’t done three times the backbreaking labor you had that day.”
“My hands were covered in blisters,” Klaus lamented, lifting his hands as if they were still raw and painful. “They werebleeding.”
“Had you asked with a speck of kindness, we would have helped you—as we all have done for others who were new here or injured,” Shen said. “Instead, you acted the spoiled, entitled lord and demanded we tend to your every need. Little has changed since.”
Klaus’s face fell, eyes widening. “I’ve not asked anyone for a single thing since that night.”
“No, you haven’t,” Vor said. “You withdrew, sulking in the shadows. You’ve grown angry and spiteful that we didn’t seem to know our place, continuing to see yourself as the rightful leader because of some imagined birthright.”
Klaus blinked a few times before muttering, “I haven’t.”
“Then why do you continue to claim dominance all these months later, as if being the second son of a know-nothing lord has any bearing here?” Vor asked.
“How little you’ve learned,” Hwa murmured, shaking his head at Klaus. “We’re all stuck here together, all of us the same. You work alone, toiling for toiling’s sake because you cannot allow yourself to workwithus to make the day’s labors easier. You sit apart from us, rarely speaking to anyone but Lazlo. It must besolonely being you.”
Klaus cringed, turning his face away from them. Snow almost pitied him. From the look of exhaustion that appeared to take over his body, perhaps the reality of his situation had finally been made clear in his mind.
“Leave him be,” Vor murmured lowly when Owan opened his mouth to add on. “We’ve given him enough to think about this eve.”
Owan nodded and turned back to the fire without argument. Vor sat back down on the stool and took one of Snow’s feet in his hands.
“I can do this,” Snow whispered. “We are all equal here, are we not?”
