CHAPTER TEN
LEUKOS
Leukos knelt beside his lifeless mother and dipped his hand into the pool of her blood, the dark liquid cold and sticky against his skin.
He knew this place. Knew the silence. It was the dream again—the same nightmare that returned night after night, as vivid as the day it first unfolded. The moment was etched into his soul, carved into the marrow of his bones.
The beginning of everything that followed.
He raised his blood-slicked hand to the sky, invoking all the gods to bear witness. “One day, I will make Emperor Tarquinius pay for this,” he whispered, his voice raw. “He will pay for everything he took from me.” Tears fell, mingling with the blood at his knees. “There is nothing left for me but vengeance. I will not stop. No matter the cost, he will pay. I promise you, Mother.”
As always, his gaze drifted to her vacant eyes—their glassy stare fixed on the blood-spattered ceiling. That image, frozen in time, followed him even into waking: a hollow look that knew neither peace nor farewell.
He would never escape it.
Queen Zeuxippe, beloved by all and Gifted by the North Wind. And yet in her final moments, the Thracian god had failed her. The assassins had struck without mercy, plunging their blades into her chest and stomach nearly a dozen times. Blood soaked the marble floor, sprayed across silk sheets, and painted her chamber in a grotesque mural of violence and death.
It was only when Pelagios seized him by the scruff of his tunic and dragged him from her body that Leukos caught movement in the corner of his eye. A small figure, smeared in blood, crouched against a wooden chest, quivering with fear.
The only survivor of the massacre.
Pelagios spoke first. “Nikander?” he said, squinting through the gloom. “Is that you, boy? What are you doing here?”
Nik’s eyes were blown wide, two blue marbles adrift in a sea of red. His mouth opened, but no sound came at first. Then, in a fractured whisper: “They… they killed everyone. I didn’t know… I didn’t know what they were going to do.” He stumbled forward, legs buckling. Collapsing to his hands and knees, he shook violently, his blood-smeared gaze locking on Leukos—pleading, desperate. “By the Achaean Twelve, I swear I didn’t know…”
“Save it,” Pelagios barked. He glanced towards the door, gesturing sharply. “The soldiers could return any moment. We need to move.”
But Nik didn’t hear him, lost in his own daze, still staring at Leukos. “Father never said what they planned to do… He told me to lead them through the sewers, but he never said they would kill… kill everyone…”
Silence fell, taut and cold.
Pelagios stilled, every muscle coiled. “What are you saying, boy?”
Nik lifted his head slowly, horror twisting his features. “I tried to stop them… I swear it.” He grabbed Leukos’ arm, hishands slick with blood. “Leukos… I swear it on my life, I didn’t?—”
Realisation struck like lightning. Shock gaze way to a white-hot fury.
With a cry that ripped from his throat, Leukos slammed Nik back against the wooden chest, his forearm crushing his windpipe.
“You!” he screamed, his voice breaking with rage and betrayal. “You led them here?!”
Nik choked under the pressure. “L-Leukos?—”
“Stop!” Pelagios shouted, lunging forward.
But Leukos fought him, thrashing against his grip.
“Youtraitor!” he roared. “By the Sea, I’ll kill you! I swear I will!”
Pelagios locked his arms around Leukos’ torso, dragging him back with brute force. “Enough! We don’t have time for this—we need to leave!”
“They’re coming!” Theo’s warning shout echoed from the corridor. “A dozen soldiers are headed this way!”
“Let’s go!” Pelagios hauled Leukos upright, never loosening his grip.
Leukos strained against him, his enraged screams shattering the deathly hush cloaking the Megarian Palace. “You were like my brother! She loved you like her own son! How could you do this to her?”
Nik cowered against the wooden chest, face streaked with blood and tears.
