Page 124 of Dishonored

Caesar grinned. “Stomp your foot, and add in a how dare you for good measure, love. It might get you the same result, but you’ll look fucking cute doing it.”

Fire blazed through her very being—burning through her muscle and sinew with devastating intent. It was going to ruin her like he had, but she would much rather her rage take her down than this man.

He caused her to feel a fury so strong, it nearly knocked the wind out of her. She cared for this man—she didn’t know when it happened, or why or how. And none of that mattered anymore.

None of it mattered because of this.

Because he betrayed her.

The two stared at one another in silence.

Caesar, unmoved and cold.

Aria, enraged and trembling.

It was a stark contrast, and she was not so distracted that she didn’t recognize it for what it was. Both broken, and damaged in ways that would never be repaired. They were two entirely different people who played the most dangerous of games. And at the end of the day, they were still just pawns to one another.

Nothing more, and nothing less.

Caesar forgot, though, how goddamn good Aria could be at this game.

She knew her moves.

She knew his.

And she knew how to work them against each other.

“Fuck you,” she uttered.

“We’ve already been there and done that—you’re still wet from it, Aria.”

Caesar rocked back on his heels with a dark laugh, and turned his back to her. He reached for the handle on the oak doors a second after a knock echoed from the other side. He turned the knob, but just before he opened the doors, he looked back at her.

“A parting gift … if you want one.”

She didn’t care.

She wanted nothing from him.

Not now.

And yet, when Caesar pulled open the door, there stood someone she did want to see and talk to. Or … needed to see and talk to after everything.

Nico.

The only person she could actually trust.

“Told you she was alive,” Caesar said to Nico.

“Lucky for you.”

“That is a matter of opinion at the moment.”

Nico didn’t respond to that at all. He stood with a guard at his back, and his wild gaze darting between Caesar, and her. Nico didn’t move an inch until Caesar passed him by, and when he did move it was only to come closer to Aria.

“Behave,” Caesar said over his shoulder, “and Nico stays for as long as you want him to. You could use a friend, Aria. Don’t be stupid.”

“Ten minutes,” Nico murmured.