“From what I understand, this is the second lover you’ve been the cause of death of.” Cyrus smiles at Jasmine with her own blood running down his face. “You really should protect the ones you love, no matter the cost.”
Jasmine’s entire body shakes. The hatred and anger builds and builds, and I can feel it rolling off of her. She looks over her shoulder, back at Cyrus. “What do you want from me?”
Cyrus smiles, and it’s a terrifying thing with all that blood on his face. Because he cares not that all her Bitten with a heavy Debt have gathered round. They look at their King with malice in their eyes, ready to protect their creator with one word. But he doesn’t even see them.
“I think an apology to my poor Alivia would be a good starting point.” He squats before Jasmine. He wipes a finger through the blood on his chin, and sucks it off. “You’ve been quite the pain in her ass, from what I’ve heard.”
I come to stand beside Cyrus, my hands folded very calmly before me. Jasmine’s eyes flick to meet mine, and all the hatred and competition and betrayal of the past six months is in her gaze.
Slowly, she rises to her feet, never once looking away from me. Finally, she bows her head to me. “My deepest apologies, Lady Conrath.”
Coming from Jasmine’s lips, it feels like a sarcastic stab.
“Hmm,” Cyrus mulls. “For some reason, I do not believe you. What about you, Alivia? Do you believe her?”
“No,” I say. Fear keeps trying to creep its way up my spine. There are alarm bells going off in my head, saying something really, really bad is coming. But I can no longer be that girl who listens to them.
I just can’t. She’s too weak. Too sad. Too fragile.
“I don’t.”
“Now, that is a problem,” Cyrus says. He steps away, and slowly begins to circle around us. “Because in my very long life, I’ve learned that sincerity is most important in three occasions: love, revenge, and apologies.” He finishes his loop around Jasmine and Micah’s body. “And you have failed to show it, Mrs. Voltera.”
Fear saturates Jasmine’s expression once again. Her eyes grow wide, I smell the sweat on her palms. The weight of her situation is finally hitting her.
Cyrus turns from Jasmine dramatically to face the thirteen Bitten gathered around us. When I look at them, I find faces I recognize. One of the contractors I hired to work on my low-income housing development. Tony, who I’ve never actually met, but looks a lot like his cousin, who I have interacted with once.
She did this to them. Jasmine took away their freewill and choice.
Cyrus takes a step, and another, pacing slowly before them. “Do you all know who I am?” he says, commanding attention.
No one answers right away, not for a few weighted moments of silence. “You’re wearing a crown. So, are you supposed to be a King?” It’s a young boy who says it, probably no more than thirteen years old.
“Very good,” Cyrus says, smiling at the child. “I rule our kind. I rule your kind.” He continues to stalk back and forth, very much looking the part of a panther toying with its prey. “So when I ask you to do something, you know you should do it.”
Cyrus turns back to Jasmine, his eyes flashing brighter. “Since their Debt is to you, I request and suggest for your momentary safety, you do as I say. Or I will kill you.”
She presses her lips into a tight line and wipes the sweat from her palms. She doesn’t respond, but she doesn’t refuse.
“More of the Born will be arriving in this town shortly. Many of them,” Cyrus continues, this time to the Bitten. “We will need a place to house them, and thankfully, there is already one available. One that rightfully belongs to a former Royal. And it’s just across town.”
The breath catches in Jasmine’s throat and her brows furrow. I flash her a warning stare and she’s instantly silent.
“Unfortunately, it is in a sad state,” Cyrus says, nodding his head, indeed looking mournful at its condition. “It is your job to make it ready for the Born who will arrive in two weeks. We have resources. We have money. Now, we need bodies.” He claps his hands together and says this last part with a smile. He looks back over his shoulder at Jasmine. “Now, tell them to get to work.”
The conflict is there in her eyes. This was her home, her House. And the King has just announced that he’s going to expand my House into it for the Born who will be under my leadership. She doesn’t want to give it up without a fight.
But the King has informed her that if she does not cooperate, he will kill her.
“Do as he says,” Jasmine says to her slaves.