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When did I stand up? I can barely feel my body as I’m moving. Every sensation, apart from the hole in my heart, is dulled—muted.
Nikolaos is… my brain refuses to finish the thought, stubbornly avoiding to think the damning thoughts. It doesn’t matter, though. The ache in my chest won’t go away just because no one has said the actual words.
Despite our ups and downs, my faith, loyalty, and love for my uncle has never faltered. He’s my savior, my guardian… I don’t know how to live in a world where he isn’t there to support me. Throughout the years, he’s become such a vital part of my life that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to not have him guide me.
“Nikolaos—” I sob his name and hide my face in my hands.
“What’shappening?”Iask,my voice as shaky as my hands. “For fuck’s sake, Abel. Tell me what’s going on.” I’m no longer merely holding down the push-to-talk button connecting us, instead my finger feels like it’s trying to dig its way through the plastic.
My sharp and impatient demands are met with an eerie silence, which has been the case since we got here. My agápi, Nikolaos, and Gus are all in Abel’s capable hands, and my scared—and now drunk—ass is left alone.
The rational part of me understands, but fuck that shit. There’s a good chance I’ll wear a fucking hole in the floor if I don’t get answers soon. Or better yet, get to see them—and by them, I mean Cia. Fuck the rest. Fuck Gus. Fuck Nikolaos—fuck anyone that isn’ther.
“Abel,” I roar. “Answer me or I swear I’ll smoke your ass out of there.”
I’ve already tried using brute force, which got me exactly nowhere. Abel isn’t just smart, he’s protected. I don’t know what the fuck his and Nikolaos’ arrangement is, but I can guess. I don’t even need to do that, though. The fact that Cia’s uncle’s A-team of bodyguards are all down there, keeping the good doctor and his medical team undisturbed, is all there is to it.
Even the two guards staying up here ignore me. I fucking long to wipe their superior expressions off their smug, indifferent faces. They’re nothing like the guards I’ve seen here before, hell even their fucking uniforms are different. They’re dressed in all black, and they wear a different version of the Drákon crest on the shoulder pads.
None of that matters, though. I just want answers, and no one is offering me any.
They were poisoned, that much I know—I saw it. The fucking Leaders, Kai, and Augustus all fell, one after the other, like human domino blocks. While Uther, Romulus, and Nikolaos fell to the floor, scratching viciously at their throats, I was paralyzed in my seat. All I could do was watch through the narrow slits of my eyes that kept wanting to close. Watch while Cia fought on the table, and… fuck, she lost consciousness mere seconds after her dad entered.
Still paralyzed, I could only watch as he scooped her up and carried her somewhere, presumably to safety, before he came back for his nephew and brother. Kai’s guards filed in while Alexander took Cia, and they didn’t even look at anyone else. Their immediate concern was their Ruler, and they disappeared with him.
I don’t know how long it took before one of them returned to check on Romulus and Uther. I remember Alexander steadying me, half dragging and half lifting me, as the Hatt and Russo Leaders were declared dead.
The people that claim that poison is a woman’s preferred weapon clearly never met Cia. While she will come at you headfirst, I know at least one bitch who is cunning enough to be at the top of my list of suspects.
Marian-fucking-Drákon is the viper hiding underneath leaves and branches. The one you don’t see coming until it springs at you with its terrifying maw open. Come to think of it, maybe she’s more akin to the legendary hydra, growing two new heads for each one you behead. Somehow, she keeps landing on her feet while she spews her numbing web all over her unsuspecting victims.
If you’re cruel enough to sell your own family at an auction, I’m pretty sure you’re not above poisoning them. That woman is evil, there’s no other way to describe it, no way to sugarcoat it or play pretend.
Now, most likely because of her, Cia’s, Gus’, and Nikolaos’ lives are on the line, and I don’t know what Abel is doing, if he’s successful, or if he’s falling to pieces looking at the corpses of the Drákon family—which is a very real possibility.
Even though I know I should prepare myself for the worst, my mind keeps refusing to go there. I can’t. I won’t. Cia will live because that’s the only acceptable outcome.
I fucking say so.
Yeah, with no one else around, I’ve started talking—even arguing—with myself. I’m my own devil and angel, except… I’m not. That would mean admitting what could happen, and I’ll never fucking do that. So instead, I’m giving myself pep-talks, in between trying to leverage her life for my own with whatever God or deity that might be listening. So far I’m shit out of luck. I’m healthy as a fucking horse, and she’s… no, I’m not going there. She’s fine as well.
It’s probably an elaborate prank… yeah, that’s it. I bet she and Gus have made up, and now they’re scheming against me. Any moment she’ll barge through the doors, fire in her eyes and smoke from her nostrils, while she scolds me for being so fucking drunk I can’t even stand straight.
“Liam, what the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re my protector, my warrior. How can you protect me if you don’t even know which of the two doors you see is the real one?”I can practically imagine her stern tone, but I also know she’d have a soft look in her eyes.
“It’s not real,” I loudly remind myself. “She isn’t here, so you might as well drink some more.”
Well, I can’t argue with myself when I’m bringing infallible logic into it, can I?
“Liam!” I startle upright as someone calls my name. The bottle of whiskey in my hand is angled so the honey-colored liquid is spilling all over the floor.
What a fucking waste.
“We haven’t been introduced, but I'm—”
I wave my hand as I try to steady myself. My body keeps swaying to the left, and my neck is screaming in protest. I run a hand across my face, an unconscious move to clear the haze in my brain.
“Alexander?” My voice is hoarse, tired from all the screaming and shouting I’ve been doing.
