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Some of these miserable creatures would be granted a merciful end to their tragic lives. He knew it with a glance at their deplorable state. Knew in an instant there was little that might be done to save them, except free them from a lingering death.
His tail rose in an arrogant, furious flag, and he bellowed, “Where is Veli Zaganos!” at the very height of his lungs.
In a blink, the females scattered. Silent, enslaved to instincts that demanded they flee from an Alpha in a rut-fuelled rage.
All but one.
A single, shivering girl clattered over barren, slippery rock. Her hair hung in lank, greasy clumps. Her lips parted to release a rattle that held no meaning, her voice and words lost to sickness or dehydration. Perhaps something worse. Instead, she lifted one alarmingly skinny arm and pointed.
“Show me,” Sinadim said and scooped her up. Her weight a dry whisper where she was cradled in the bend of his elbow. Neck thin enough to snap with the jolt of too heavy a step. “Take me to him,” Sinadim murmured, “and I will serve you his wilted cock as a trophy, brave girl.”
Her eyes fluttered closed on a rattling breath, shielding luminous, expressive orbs from his inspection. And then, as he watched, tears spilled over a fan of dark lashes, tracking through the grime on her cheeks.
On her next inhale, Sinadim saw a spark ignite. Watched some of his temper bleed into the pitiful thing he held against his chest, and wondered if maybe a few might be saved after all.
Without a word, she guided him to a split in the rock. A narrow path too tight for any of the Razie to clear the way, but just wide enough for the bulk of Anhur shoulders to slip through.
“Allow me,” Balkazar said and from his pocket, produced a tin of mint jelly, dipped his forefinger, and smeared it beneath his nose. Pausing to offer it to the prince, to mask their sensitive noses from the vile reek of the horrors Veli had done in this place.
Sinadim rimmed his nostrils in minty goo, and to the Omega, said, “Is he alone?”
She shook her head. Tried again to speak, but could muster nothing but that sad, dry rattle. Instead, she pointed at herself and extended her index finger.
“He’s taken a hostage,” Sinadim guessed and set her down. Careful of the tiny feet, the bend in her tail where it had been broken and never set right.
She nodded. Tongue darting out to wet her lips.
“Ready?” Balkazar asked, shaking out his arms. His hands and neck. Hopping from one foot to the other, loosening up for the coming fight.
Sinadim nodded, his mane risen in a halo of shimmering blond fury. Musk a dense cloud that broadcast the state of his temper and sent his Omega guide skittering back into the gloom. Ears plastered to her skull.
Taking point, Balkazar shimmied through the crack. Made to twist, he picked his way through the dark, left shoulder first. Chin tucked, the war chief pressed forward with relentless confidence. Not bothering himself to yield to caution, he threw himself into danger with a fanatic relish that had seen more than one meet the Nine before his time.
It was an unmatched gusto that had long secured his place as Sinadim’s right hand. His war chief and closest confidant. A male he called brother when the thousand ears and eyes of the Silver City couldn’t hear.
And so, when Balkazar burst through the narrow passage into a chamber lit by a single flickering torch, it was at a full sprint. Seeking to overwhelm Veli Zaganos, should he be lurking in the shadows waiting to kill the first male through that gap.
The coward hadn’t the courage to attempt even that.
Instead, they found Veli pressed against the far wall, the body of a female pinned to his chest. Limp, her arms dangling loose at her sides, chin hanging over Veli’s forearm where dark, matted hair covered her face.
Disgust rippled through the prince’s frame. That an Anhur of Veli’s standing would use so fragile a creature as a shield, instead of facing his end with honor? After all he’d done in betraying the sultanate, and neglecting his harem, Sinadim would see him suffer.
Loosing a snarl, Sinadim circled around Balkazar. His eyes fixed to Veli’s throat, where a frantic pulse fluttered and kicked. Beckoning…
“Prince Sinadim,” Veli sneered, voice even in spite of it all. “That you would dare to enter this sacred place shouldn’t come as a shock.”
Hands hanging loose at his sides, Sinadim offered a cruel smile. One meant to taunt, for no matter how skilled a warrior the Zaganos Alpha might be, he was standing in his grave. A skulking vermin caught in a trap of his own making.
And Sinadim would see that he never saw the sun again.
“Stand and fight,” Sinadim cooed, taunting the elder male. “Put the girl aside and face your end with some whisper of honor.”
Veli had the gall to laugh, letting the fragile thing in his hands flop a ghoulish dance. “The clans won’t stand for this!” he snarled, turning when Sinadim paced left. “The house of Zaganoss has ruled Tengit and the coasts for ten generations—”
“Tengit has fallen.” Stepping closer, Sinadim flicked the clasp at his shoulder and let his armor fall away. “House Zaganos stands on two spindles that can’t weather the coming storm.”
“My s-son—”
