At least that was some sort of relief.That the twins felt the same way I did. That I wasn’t alone seeing just how awful it all was.
But it didn’t help the guilt and anger and pain that had my stomach in knots.
The twins’ grief-stricken faces and heavy tone replayed in my mind as I watched the king pull a girl to him.
I was the one who underestimated their warning.
But that didn’t change the fact that I had a job to do. Not only had they bought me for this specific purpose, but I wantedmore than anything to help them get the truth of what happened to their mother.
We have to get closer.
He was talking to his confidants, but I was too far away to hear. There was an easy smile on his face, black veins decorating it, and there was blood already smeared across his lips. It seemed that he had started the party a little early.
They looped me around, their hands on me strong as they led me closer.
“I heard Zag has escaped the Deadlands,” one of the confidants said.
The king let out a small huff. “Escaped?”
“He means you paved a safe way for him. After all, he was nothing without you. Escaping the Deadlands is not something he would be able to do alone.”
The bloodlust must’ve already gone to the king’s head because he didn’t even try to hide how he puffed at their words.
“I left him there to serve out his punishment.Ifhe escaped, it was all on his own.”
Bitterness washed across my tongue. He said one thing, but his expression meant something entirely different.
“He did not leave him there at all,” I whispered.
“How did those flyers even get distributed? I know none of us would ever even attempt to tear your right hand away from you.”Another lie.“He was loyal and undoubtedly was framed.”
“Someone—orsomeones—with a grudge,” the king said. His eyes felt heavy on my back.
Eros and Oros took their chance to look back at the king, but this taunt wasn’t just coming from him. It was coming from his whole group.
They’re begging for a fight.
All of them seemed deep in bloodlust. The blood staining their faces and hands, along with the air of unabashed confidence, told me it wasn’t their first round of humans.
“Are you insinuating something, Father?’ Eros flat-out asked.
The king gripped the human—a girl who looked suspiciously like me—at his side, his claws breaching her skin. She didn’t even yelp in pain as blood ran down her arm.
The way that human looked was a warning. Or a threat. Letting the three of us know that, on a moment’s notice, I could be the one he’d sink his teeth into.
“Just that you’re still holding on to that petty grudge about your mother,” he said. “I should banish you both for what you did to Zag.”
The twins shared a look of bewilderment. Their acting was pretty spot on.
“Us?” Oros asked. “We did nothing. And it’s a little embarrassing to want to keep someone like him around, no?”
The king’s face twitched. The air thickened, and I could just feel the anger crawling across his skin.
“If you’d just admit you got rid of her, we would stop everything,” Eros said. “You could rule in peace.”
My head snapped to her.What happened to tact? What happened to slowly getting to the point without alarming him?
“So you admit it,” their father said. The demons at his side looked alarmed. Many of them looked at each other for confirmation but none truly seemed to know everything.
