The Nycto Reaper had stirred the hornet’s nest again, and I’d die before I let him know who she was. Not my precious Petal.
“Some masks are mercy. I did what you told me. I made the problem mine.”
“Good.” His smile stayed dead. “Then you’ll take the consequences too.”
Codrin stepped forward, then back—caught between instinct and fear. “Father—”
“Be quiet.” Father didn’t even glance his way. “I am speaking to a disappointment.”
He launched into the same sermon he’d thrown at me since childhood. Loyalty. Strength. Bloodline. Honor. The empty commandments of a man who mistook fear for legacy. Every word another brick in the wall I was forced to kneel against.
“Loyalty is all that matters. Loyalty to me. To this family. To what I built with my hands while yours shook,” he hissed. “You are nothing without my name.”
I’d heard enough. I’d lived enough. I’d stopped listening years ago.
He took off his belt with ritualistic precision. “You want to be a martyr, Cezar? Fine. I will give you a cross.”
Father started to drag me into that room—the one etched into my nightmares. Codrin reached for his sleeve, but I stopped him before he could pull the devil’s hand away. His eyes widened, horror swallowing his face. I held him there, fingers digging in, and shook my head.
Let me.
My father smiled like he was pleased with the spectacle. The door shut behind us, and it was just me and him again.
The first lash snapped across my back. I didn’t flinch. The second seared down my spine in a streak that burned. My vision distorted, but I didn’t hear his sermon anymore. All I heard was Lina telling me to go. All I saw was the door closing. The beltfell again. My blood hit the floor and my thoughts never strayed from her.
I would never leave her.
She needs me.
At least that’s the lie I tell myself.
And if she didn’t—she’d have to kill me.
The belt tore into me again, opening my skin wide. I tasted iron and thought of her mouth instead. He leaned in, voice calm as a graveyard. “You will not shame me again.”
I laughed through blood, split lips curling. “It’s all you have left to feel, isn’t it?”
His eyes went flat. The next lash wasn’t a punishment—it was a sentence. Something meant to break bone, not just flesh. When his rage finally drained out, he dropped the belt and walked away like I was nothing more than another ordered hit.
Only she can truly kill me—and I’d thank her for doing it.
I was left alone in the silence, bleeding on the floor. And still I smiled through bloodied teeth. Because pain meant I wasn’t done. Pain meant I would crawl, if I had to, back to her.
Codrin crept in. He stopped when he saw me, my back flayed raw, crimson seeping into the old wood. His hands hovered, trembling, but he didn’t touch me. He had seen the aftermath, never the rite. “Why didn’t you let me stop him?” His voice broke.
I pushed onto my elbows. The room tilted. My vision caught on the ceiling—old water stains shaped like dying continents.
“No one can stop him.”
Chapter 64
CEZAR
Codrin stayed where he was, caught between wanting to help and not knowing if he was allowed. I saw the regret on his face, the sadness in his eyes—but I couldn’t focus on any of that now.
“Codrin, I need you to find her.”
His jaw tightened. “Her?”
