“You left a slaver alive in a forest that only guards him, even though you’d managed to gain secret access without his knowledge, simply to kill a princess you envy.” Stepping closer, I cock my head. “Do you think I save her for myself? Or do you think I repay a debt owed by us so that they can’t come to call us under their reign and make us their loyal subjects out of such a debt?”
Everyone is staring.
No one makes a sound.
Not even Simone, who is hesitant to answer.
“You left him alive because I refused to fuck you, and you thought he’d kill off the one token that keeps the royals from storming in and demanding our loyalty. Is that what you’re saying?”
Her eyes water as she growls. “That’s not at all what I’m saying, and you know it,” she bites out. “Don’t make me the villain. You’ve forgotten the main quest. You let the witch-wolf live. You let a fucking Aquarius live. And—”
“Whenever you’re finished rambling about the debts I’ve paid by giving them the unimportant things, allow me to point out the fact you’ve forgotten one important thing: Alton was kept separate for many years. He possibly knows more than any of us about those rings. He’s been kept close by the ones in charge. He’s damaged in ways none of us even know, because he was weak enough to turn over a bond that could have saved him. Could possibly have saved all of us. And Ella knows where he is.”
A hushed breath falls out of a lot of lips, and Simone’s fight seems to die when I smirk.
“The princess has the one person who really matters. You think I give a shit about Gavin right now? Do you think anyone here does?” I drone on.
“You said the objective was Gavin,” she argues.
Leaning down, putting my eyes directly level with hers as I stare through her, I say, “I told you to follow the princess and kill him if he got too close. I knew she was communicating with someone, but I underestimated her by never assuming she had exactly who we’re looking for. The best part is, she doesn’t even know we’re looking for him for any other reason than my vengeful justice. And her family doesn’t know she’s hiding him.”
“How do you know that?” Kya asks from close by.
“Because you would have told me if they had,” I answer, looking away from Simone to stare at Kya like I’m daring her to say otherwise.
She may love her hybrid abomination inside that circle of royals, but she’s still the most loyal person here to me.
“I wouldn’t have said anything about Gavin,” she tells me, mostly to just be petulant. She’d have told me that too, if she’s being honest with herself.
A few looks pass between us, and the unease people have been having around her eases a little when they regard our interaction on the matter.
“Sure you wouldn’t have,” I patronizingly counter.
My gaze shifts back to Simone. “You should have stayed on the princess and killed the Type A before you secretly released her. You would have led us right to Alton eventually if you’d done as I asked. Now she’ll be expecting a tail.”
She drops her eyes, her lower lip trembling as Hank stays so silent I half wonder if he’s died of fear. As a low growl rattles out of me, Simone starts to speak, but I get right against her ear so that no one else can hear what I say as I make the sky crackle with thunder.
“I gave you an order, and you taunted me behind my back. You’re only getting to live because I have a point to make. You decide if you want to keep breathing,” I whisper. I let my lips touch her ear, giving her almost a briefly confusing moment of consoling, then add, “Otherwise, I’ll free you and give you a thirty minute head start before I track you down and let you watch me rip your heart from your chest.”
Leaning back, I smile darkly at her as the watery mascara runs down her face with her tears, leaving a streak of charcoal in rivets across her cheeks.
Talking louder, putting on a show, I say, “Give me a blood oath, and you can stay. Or you have to leave this camp. I can’t have you and Hank poisoning the water. I need people I can trust. So leave and give up any chance of getting your revenge, or stay with conditions.”
Hank predictably jumps to answer. “I’ll give a blood oath.”
No need to even threaten him.
“I’ll give a blood oath,” Simone answers shakily.
“I need to speak with Hank and Simone alone,” I tell everyone while looking at them. As soon as we have privacy, I cant my head, studying the two far weaker beings than I anticipated them to be.
As soon as the blood oath is finished, I catch Simone by her wrist, letting Hank walk away now that he’s on my puppet strings.
“I see everything around her when I close my eyes,” I whisper to Simone, hearing the sound of her swallowing hard. “I’m going to let her kill you the next time she loses her mind, and now there’s nothing you can do about it.”
She makes a sound in the back of her throat as I lean back and wipe away one of her tears, as she starts to shiver more consistently. I shush her with that faux cajoling tone once more.
Wiping one more tear from her cheek and giving her a cold smile, I quietly add, “You were right all along. She’s mine, and I’ll kill for her. But you can’t tell anyone that, because I have your oath.” I give her a pat on the back. “But I still only have one fucking agenda, so you were also wrong, and your entire little show was pointless.”