“And for that, I thank you,” he said breezily, as if my lifelong bondage to Ravok meant nothing. “Noc and I were grateful, and I am still grateful. But this is not about the debt between us, Kai, this is about the years you owe our Maker.”
The sound of my old nickname drove a spike into my heart.
Owe him? I’d given up my freedom to keep my brother and my friends alive. I’d bonded my soul to a monster, in order to save theirs and now not even that sacrifice mattered, because Romulus was—had always been—allied with the enemy.
“Ravok’s a fucking threat to everything we used to value. How could you possibly help him?”
Seeing him, hearing his voice, everything came flooding back. The battle. The chaos.
The moment Ravok sank his fangs into my throat and I’d known I was doomed. That nothing that happened after that moment would matter, because I was no longeralive.
After all these years, I’d assumed Romulus and Noc were both dead. But now, looking at him, I realized the truth. “Ravok turned you into one of his thralls.”
Romulus smirked, his face completely devoid of amusement. “Something like that. And I have served him faithfully ever since.”
The weight of his words crushed me. It shouldn’t have been possible, to claim someone in such a way, not locked away from the world, not…unless…
“When?” I demanded. “When did you become his thrall?”
That gloating smile turned purely evil. “From the beginning. Long before you stabbed him in the back. He foresaw your betrayal, and put insurances in place, me, being one of them. Noc is another. Tyberius was supposed to keep you in line, but…” He shrugged his shoulders. “Your brother was always the weak one. His mind couldn’t take the strain.”
My mind scrambled over this new information, but nothing made sense. How far back did this go? How long had I plotted and planned, only to have been outplayed this entire time?
“Tyberius was Ravok’s thrall?”
“I’m surprised you couldn’t see the truth. I told the Master it would not work, that you knew your brother too well, but…I suppose in the end…you didn’t know him at all, did you?”
When I’d found Ty—in Laurent’s company, no less—I’d been shocked by my brother’s appearance, his descent into corruption and madness. I thought he’d given up, but instead…had he been slowly going mad?
I sagged against the wall, the shackles cutting into my wrists.
Romulus was right. I hadn’t known my brother at all.
A bitter sound escaped me, more of a croak than a laugh. “And now you serve him?”
Up until this moment, I’d hung onto some shred of hope, some miniscule belief I might escape this cell alive. That all shattered apart on Romulus’s cunning smile.
He looked down at me with something akin to pity. “I serve him because he is my Master. Because he gave me strength. Loyalty is not about the past, it is about the future. And my future is with him.”
“What comes next, then?”Kill me. Just kill me and be done with this.
He chuckled, a low, almost affectionate sound that sent a chill down my spine. “You misunderstand, old friend. I am not here to end your suffering. I have come to tell you it is just beginning. Your sweet little slayer…in a few hours, Ravok is going after her. He will kill the king and anyone else who stands in our way, and he will bring her back here. You will watch him claim her. You will watch her break, and then—and only then—will you know the depths of suffering our Master endured.”
He turned, heading toward the door and panic surged through me, “Please, Romulus, not her. Kill me, make me suffer, do anything you wish to me, but don’t touch her.”
He paused, but didn’t turn back. “How easy this all was.
“I told the Master that girl would become your greatest weakness. Because of the spell, he never saw her in any of his visions, but long ago, I saw she would become the key to your suffering. I have convinced him to keep you alive for a long, long time, Kai. Long enough to watch her become our Master’s favorite toy to play with.”
I yanked at the shackles, fresh blood tracking down my arms as I fought to stand, my knees buckling before I could even lift myself off the floor.
“Goodbye, Malachi. I will see you soon.” Then he was gone, leaving me in the dark, lashed by guilt and rage and utter fury at being chained down whilesheis in jeopardy.
Somehow, I had to escape this place.
Somehow, I had to get to Crimson House before Ravok.
I had failed once before, a fatal mistake I’d spent a good part of my life punishing myself for, and this time…this time I would protect Evangeline, no matter the cost.
