AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But why?” I don’t have to put a tremor in my voice, it is there naturally. I couldn’t appear to be brave even if I wanted to pretend to be. I am literally shaking in my shoes, every part of me trembling before the cruel might of this pretender.
“Why? Because it amused me.”
That is probably the true depth of his motivations. Cruel, sadistic creatures do not need more reason to be cruel and sadistic. It is nothing more than a reflection of his true nature and it requires no justification.
“You have this hopeless hope about you, this mad belief in your abilities, which are so very limited. You are delusional, and tricking you is almost too easy. All I had to do was appeal to your pathetic savior complex, and you did what I wanted. Save the cubs? You can’t even save yourself!”
“You’re probably right,” I say. “It was too easy. I just went right along with you. But what happened to Leonidas?”
Kain grins broadly, showing massive canines. He has had them tipped with gold since I last saw him, probably some removable tooth jewelry. It suits him. Gaudy, unnecessary, and ostentatious.
“The old man slumbers beneath my feet.”
“I don’t know what that means…”
Kain lifts a heavy paw and crooks a clawed finger at me. “Come closer, little human. Come to me and let me show you what I did to my father.”
I approach, and each step feels like a Herculean effort, because every part of my body and mind is telling me to put more distance between myself and Kain, not less.
“Up the stairs,” he says. “I want you close.”
I see the pelt of a dead animal, but it is not an animal. It is a Leonid skin, put on display the way some people display trophies. I’ve seen pictures of a bear skin rug before. This is a Leonidas skin rug. I recoil even as I recognize his likeness. He looks like Azlan, and Kain, and Nyan, and Skol, his face a mask of eternal death now displayed beneath Kain’s booted feet.
“Is that…”
“This is what remains of Leonidas,” Kain says proudly.
“You stuffed your father?”
“It wasn’t sexual,” he says swiftly, making me think it was at least a little sexual.
I am horrified and so afraid that I no longer feel fear at all. It is like I have passed through a barrier in which I am so suffused by terror it doesn’t really register as an actual thing anymore.
I try to think of something to say. My mind is full of Azlan. I wish so badly he was here right now. He would know what to do.
“Azlan will come for me. He’ll know where I went. I always do the very last thing he told me not to do. I’m going to be honest, it’s sort of becoming our thing.”
Kain smirks. “Of course he will come to rescue you, and when he does, I will have two rugs. Between you and me, human, when I am done, I will have four rugs. One for each of the weak males in my family.”
What do you even say to that? I find myself burbling, which is a slower version of babbling.
“Is that too many rugs? That seems like too many rugs.”
“I have the space,” he says. “I intend to decorate this den with the hides of my enemies.”
“And your family.”
“My family is my enemy.”
“Sure, with that attitude,” I mumble under my breath.
I am slightly calmer, because I now know that Kain does not intend to kill me until Azlan gets here. He wants Azlan to see me die, which means for the moment, I am as close to safe as I am going to get in the custody of a patricidal maniac.
When I look into Kain’s eyes, I see madness. I wonder how he hid it so well out in the pride lands, or if he truly hid it at all. Is this what Azlan was trying to warn me about? If it was, he should have been a lot more specific.
10
Azlan
