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I loathed the accusation, that Nigel had manipulated me into being his puppet, and glanced back at Damien instinctively. His pale shape was wrapped in chains against a pillar, his mouth open in a snarl. Nigel had lured me here using him as bait, but he hadn’t killed me yet. He was taunting me. Stalling. But why?
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“Absolutely nothing,” Nigel said, “except to watch you suffer, as you witness the consequences of your actions. You helped me destroy his father, and now, you’ll kill the prince you love.”
“I’d never,” I snarled.
“And yet he’ll die by your hand, not mine.”
“You can’t compulse me,” I said.
“I don’t need to,” Nigel smirked, nodding at the beam of light that was inching closer to Damien. “Don’t you see? You’ve already killed him.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my heart pumping in my veins. My back felt tight from Nigel’s wounds, and damp from blood and sweat. But the elixir was holding me together. I was prepared for a fight, but not for this.
“You turned off the ash. You brought back the sun. Now you’ll watch, as your prince burns. And your siblings will listen to his screams.”
I realized with dawning horror that the beam of light that had served as my sanctuary, was about to become my destruction. It had been creeping backward across the cavern floor, inch by inch, and I’d been shifting my position every few minutes, which had brought me closer to Damien’s outreached arms.
“I’ve been saving him for you,” Nigel smirked, folding his hands together. “For this. I’ll just sit here and watch. I wish I had some popcorn.” His expression was warped with malicious satisfaction, his eyebrows hooded. I had the feeling he’d practiced this speech, rehearsing it in his mind as he waited for me in the dark.
“He’s only here because of you,” he continued. “The penalty for killing an elite is death. Maybe he could have changed the laws one day, but right now, today, those are our laws; the laws his father made, that protected him all his life. They are the same laws that will condemn him.”
Which elite was he talking about? How many had we killed? Did it matter? Two of his friends, Thomas and Bryce, and Damien’s father. Two more in Iklebot I couldn’t name. Which ones did Nigel know about?
“You don’t know it was him,” I said.
“Are you volunteering to admit to murder, and take his punishment yourself? To die for him?”
“What if I am?” I asked.
“You’ll hear no complaints from me. Either way, I get what I want. The throne. Watching the two of you torture yourselves for love is just a bonus.”
“But… why?” I asked. “I mean, all this effort. You must have been waiting here for hours. It’s like you’re obsessed with me or something.”
“Somehow, despite all evidence, you’ve failed to understand that the covenant is necessary. That the compounds are a gift of kindness, yet your insipid rebels fight to destroy it. So I thought I’d make it personal. You want choices, but the responsibilities that come with it are paralyzing. That’s what this revolution is all about, isn’t it. The right to choose? Well, with power comes responsibility. Let’s see if you can bear the weight.”
There was a pompous air about him now, as he strode the edges of the shadows, his eyes gleaming. He was a tiger and I’d fallen into his den. I wanted to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his face, but was I fast enough? Maybe if I could reach Damien first; but how much could I drink before he attacked me? And even so, I wouldn’t be as strong as either of them, would I? And I couldn’t fight them both together. Nigel followed my eyes and chuckled, waving a hand like a showman.
“You expect it to be easy,” Nigel said. “To kill those you hate. But the truth is, someone always loses; and those who love greatly, have the most to lose. All conflict has a price, and you don’t always get to choose who pays. If you want to rule a kingdom, you’ll need to make much harder decisions. So I thought I’d give you a small taste of what that means, before you die.”
“Damien, mad from bloodlust, will drain you if you step near him. Your sister, blind and addicted to elixir, will tear into him with her little fingers. He’ll kill her first, of course. Your brother, bleeding out somewhere, the fresh scent of blood like a blooming rose. Kill Damien, take his blood. Cure your brother, if you can find him, if he’s even still alive. But he’s so close to death already, he might turn. And I have to warn you, new vampires are voracious.”
“Or save him.” Nigel slowly took the key off from around his neck and tossed it a few paces from me. I watched it sink a foot into the water and marked the location in my mind.
“Let him go, and he’ll eat your siblings. Leave him there, he’ll burn. Your kin or your king. Simple, elegant. It’s a metaphor, only it isn’t.”
“You know originally, I was thinking of turning both your siblings into elite and letting them feed on you. But that would’ve been too easy. You can’t suffer without guilt, and that requires accountability. You see, leadership is a burden, and humans aren’t strong enough to carry the weight. But elite are vulnerable as well. Damien will kill you if you let him loose, and then be crushed into inaction by his own guilt. I win either way, and it’s worth it just to see that look on your face.”
“Oh, but hurry. The light through that well floods this cave with light, only once a day, just before sunset. I haven’t seen one of us burn for nearly a century. I’m looking forward to it; it really is quite a marvel. You probably have a few minutes.”
Rage and frustration flooded through me, the unspent elixir smoldering like hot ash in my veins. A few minutes, to make an impossible decision. All I wanted to do was rip Nigel’s throat out. Maybe I wasn’t trapped down here with him. Maybe he was trapped down here with me. But killing him wouldn’t solve this problem, and we both knew it.
“Unless,” he said, his lips curving into a smile. I felt the sweat on the back of my neck, as the warmth of the beam of sun widened around me with a cursed slant. The bones in the puddle of warm water sucked at my wet shoes, and rising steam blurred my vision. I felt like I was stewing in a broth, being warmed up like the pizza in the microwave. Stirred and shaken to improve the flavor of my blood.
But he needed me alive, for now. He would use tonight’s violence to seize control and blame it all on me; but that couldn’t happen if I died too early. And he needed my blood, to make more of the antidote. He wanted me to beg. He wanted me broken.
“Unless… unless what?” I asked. If he’d gone to such great lengths to humble me, then I had something else he wanted. I sensed a bargain to be struck, though I hated the idea of any kind of compromise with my tormentor.
