Page 126

Caius’s dull grey eyes had darkened into storms, possession marking his features. His jaw was clenched, and he spoke through his teeth. ‘She is mine! She belongs to me,’ Caius snarled at the startled man.

Bullshit. She didn’t belong to anyone. Not anymore.

Areanel forced herself not to flinch at the sight of his elven fangs baring at the chieftain’s vulnerable neck. The chieftain had been shocked into silence. Eyes wide, he looked frantically between Caius and Verdugo, but none would help him. There was nothing anyone could do when Caius got like this.

He would ruin this. Caius would make her a failure in her father’s eyes… again.

Areanel subconsciously took a step back when a barrage of memories clashed through her mind. Warmth. Strength. Home. A tidal wave of safety hit her the same moment her back pressed into a firm chest. Rymedur still held her. She clung to the feeling of safety he provided, but her traitorous eyes refused to leave Caius’s back, watching his movements carefully.

‘You elves and your physiological need to lay claim to whatever you perceive as yours!’ Verdugo’s unsettling chuckle tore through the tension once more. ‘Come now, Jamison, old friend. Let’s not do this here, where all can be heard. I have a much more comfortable setting for us downstairs. We wouldn’t want to disturb the gentry whilst they’re having fun, now, would we?’ Verdugo nodded at his underling—Ned, Areanel recalled—who walked to the opposite wall and moved a painting.

Behind the painting was a dark steel door. When Ned opened it, Areanel could see a set of stairs leading down to what looked like a cellar.

‘Come now, why don’t we take this conversation downstairs?’ It was a clear command not to make any more unnecessary noise, which would disturb Verdugo’s guests.

Areanel thought it was best to follow his lead, because for a split second, behind that permanent smile, something had shifted in his features. Areanel was sure she had seen the mask of a man who often courted death.

He gestured to the stairs with his cane, the circled metallic end glinting in the light of the fireplace.

Areanel jolted back when Caius yanked the chieftain away from the table by his collar and shoved him towards the door. Why would he listen to Verdugo?

The chieftain stumbled, turning to the mogul. ‘What is the meaning of this, Verdugo? This is not what I paid for!’

‘Paid for. Ha!’ Verdugo’s eyes narrowed as he invaded the chieftain’s space, his smile menacing while his eyes widened with sadistic delight. The look eerily reminded Areanel of her father. Verdugo was enjoying this. This was a game to him. ‘You have done nothing but rack up a large debt—and, well, let’s just say you are in no state to pay back what you owe.’

It was about debt, Areanel realised. Did his greed know no bounds?

Verdugo stepped closer to the chieftain, forcing him back a step. ‘You see, Jamison here has made me a most lucrative proposition, and, well, I am a businessman, after all.’ He pulled on the lapels of his blood red jacket and dusted an invisible piece of lint from his shoulder. ‘How could I say no? To let this opportunity slip through my fingers—well, I would have to be a fool.’

Verdugo punctuated his sentence by extending his arms in a flourish, ever the showman, and a treacherous thought took root in Areanel’s mind. Here was something she could use.

The chieftain stuttered over his words. ‘You are a fool! Does loyalty mean nothing to ya? I have been your customer for a long time! The only way you’ve been able to pay for this establishment of yours is because I’ve been pouring money into it. You’d have no clientele without me! You’d be nothing without me and my money!’

The chieftain was red in the face, his anger getting the better of him as he ranted, but Areanel was certain that no matter how much he did so, nothing was going to save him from the fate Verdugo had planned. The male was ruthless, maybe even more so than her father!

‘And what of the baroness?’ he continued. ‘Without me, you’d have no one on the inside! No one to spy on her for you!’

Of course, this male had been using the baroness for his own reasons. The shared laughter and stolen moments clearly meant nothing to this pig. The chieftain was grasping, looking for anything that would save him. But his terror-filled mind had unintentionally revealed something of use to Areanel.

Verdugo had the chieftain spying on the baroness!

Is that why Caius had been there? Was he working with Verdugo under Ryyen’s order? What did the mogul want with the woman? What could he gain?

Fortune?

No, he didn’t need that. Verdugo had all the money he needed.

Greed?

Maybe.

Verdugo may have all of Cal Cathlar in his back pocket, but again, much like her father, he would always want more.

Or was he spying on her for a similar reason to Areanel—to see if the baroness had enough political power within Cal Cathlar’s government to sway the treaty vote in favour of her king and kingdom?

It seemed to Areanel that the chieftain had forgotten who he was addressing; it was clear in his eyes that he regretted the words as soon as they had fallen from his lips. Verdugo’s smile stretched into a devilish smirk. His eyes twitched with anger, but his face beamed with excitement.

He had walked the chieftain right to the cellar door, and Areanel cringed at the realisation of what he was about to do. ‘You think I rely on you? You think you are indispensable?’ Verdugo was now laughing sinisterly. ‘Here’s the breaking news, big fella… You aren’t. You are like a bug. Easily squashed beneath my boot.’ To emphasise his point, Verdugo raised his foot, and the sole of his boot connected with the chieftain’s stomach, sending him tumbling down the stairs with a shriek.