26. Xander
Chapter 26
Xander
Anti-Hero — Taylor Swift
S omething stirs in the air, an echo of a thought. My eyes fly open and I sit up in bed.
“Raquel?” Spawn mutters in its sleep. “Raquel!” it cries, sitting up abruptly and hitting its head on the bars above. “Fuck!”
“Be quiet,” I snarl.
Spawn sighs loudly, lying back down. Its heat finished a few hours ago, and I’d had to levitate its sleeping body off my bed and back into the cage. I ended up torching my sheets to ash afterward.
“Your little broadcaster friend just tried to contact you,” I mutter. “They have a death wish. This place is protected to the nines. They had no chance.” And yet Raquel had gotten far enough for us to sense them, which shouldn’t have even been possible. Scowling, I shove the covers back and leap out of bed, finding my stride immediately.
“Get up,” I command, flicking up the blackout cover of its cage and throwing her dress at her.
Spawn blinks sleepily at me, rubbing its temple as it dresses and crawls out. With a snap of my wrist, it’s leashed and I’m speeding out of my room.
The castle is dead quiet just after midnight and we are but shadows charging towards the underground levels. I’d been expecting a penetration attempt long before now, and had been prepared on a number of levels. The fact Savage thought he could get anyone in here, even telepathically, makes a dark, twisted part of me smirk.
Do they even know me at all?
Whatever I felt for them before is long gone now. Especially after the chaos they’re causing out in the streets. Since Animalia Today is no longer a reliable source of information, Father and I have sent out scouts to bring news directly from the ground. Mace is proving to be informative, but everyone knows he holds back information. He’s not been the King of Serpents this long for no reason.
My enemy’s enemy is my friend.
One of the first things I did in my role as heir was to bring in everyone I thought would be useful.
Including—
“My Lord Drakos,” announces the massive wolf anima standing guard in the lower dungeon. Spawn makes a sound of surprise.
“Debrah Lunaris,” I say. “We have an intruder.”
Spawn makes a choked sound upon hearing her name as Debrah steps into the light of a wall sconce. She is a wolf regina as big as her late mate, the wolf who was head of security at Animus Academy before Savage blew him to bits at Blackwater Penitentiary.
Naturally, his regina and two pack-mates were out for blood after that.
And now they work for me.
“There’s a wolf anim I don’t recognise,” Debrah says, scratching her shaved head. “Wasn’t expecting to see us and walked right into the trap. Savage was with them, but he got away.”
Spawn’s breath quickens as Debrah leads us into the dark chamber she’s guarding. Three shifted wolves prowl back and forth, in front of a wall fixed with two pairs of shackles. They snap their jaws at the shackles as if there’s something there.
“I can’t see anything,” Spawn says, fear coating its voice.
“We’ve telepathically trapped their mind,” Debrah gloats, gesturing at the shackles. “They’ll be stuck here until we release them.”
Smirking, I draw Spawn forwards. “Go on, use your power and see them.”
A frown creases Spawn’s brows as it concentrates for all it’s worth. I also take a look, sending my telepathic power into the chamber.
There are a few prisoners in our telepathic prison. Some, who have been here for decades, lie slumped where they’re fixed to the wall by obsidian shackles. It’s a unique prison made by my great-grandfather, made to protect our family from enemies who would try to get to us and our hatchlings.
Raquel whimpers on the far side of the chamber, the slightly transparent sheen of their body reminding me we’re not in the physical world. They are strapped like the rest, in an X position, tears streaming down their face. They look exactly as I remember them, a denim jacket with club and pack patches sewn on, closely buzzed hair with a face full of silver piercings. Their eyes are closed, breathing hard as if trying to control themselves.
“Release them!” Spawn cries, as it spots them. “Oh my god, Xander, you know Raquel. Release them right now!”
I come back into the chamber, yanking Spawn back out of the doorway.
“Your mates have been on a rampage,” I sneer. “And they’ll feel the consequences of that soon.”
It stares at me, and the darkness that has been lurking in me comes out in full force as I get out my phone and show it the photos I’ve been sent. Bloody, horrible scenes of torture. Spawn gasps, covering its mouth in horror.
“That’s right,” I say quietly. “Savage, Scythe and Lyle have done that to Serpent Court officials.” I let it sink in for a moment. “Because of you.”
“I…I have to get them to stop. Get them to?—”
“The only way that they’ll stop is if they have you back. And that’s not going to happen, is it?” The gloom of the underground corridor makes my voice seem deeper and darker. I chuckle under my breath, and even to me, it sounds evil. “And a part of your surrender was no communication with them, or I will execute those nimpins. Trust me on that. But if you think Mace Naga will stand by and watch his court bleed for you, you’re not as intelligent as I gave you credit for.”
Spawn covers its mouth with both hands now, muffling its sobs. I turn around and tug it back to my room.
Spawn is quiet the next morning. Its period of isolation has made it flinchy and it blinks more often than it used to. It comes with me to every appointment with my father, and the meetings with my mother and Sissy where we go over every detail of the wedding. Though it makes no sound, its heart rate remains a constant irritating trot. The gravity of the situation seems to have hit it. This is not the game it thought it would be.
I never treated this like a game.
“Here, poppet, have some cake,” Mother says, gesturing to a bundt Sissy and the hatchlings made for afternoon tea.
To my great irritation, she’s not talking to me.
“It doesn’t eat cake, Mother.”
“No thank you, Lady Drakos,” Spawn says, blankly staring at the carpet where it kneels next to my chair.
“Do you enjoy keeping her on a leash?” Sissy suddenly asks, her mouth twisted.
It comes out without much thought. “Wouldn’t you enjoy keeping Ragnar on one?”
She drops her spoon with a clatter.
Hurt mars her expression. “Really, Xander?”
I sigh, rubbing at my forehead. Another fucking headache coming on. “Sorry. I’m not?—”
“Thinking?” she snaps. “Not feeling yourself? I wonder why.”
I stop rubbing my forehead to glare at her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Let’s not fight,” Mother says breezily. “Aurelia, dear, will you pass me my tonic?”
She is trying to involve Spawn in things. Offering it food, asking it to fetch this and that. It bothers me to no end, but my mother is so sweet, so fragile, that telling her to stop something she seems to enjoy feels counter-intuitive.
“Yes, Lady Drakos.” Spawn rises to its feet before heading to the mantelpiece to get the silver bottle Mother’s tonic is delivered in. It lingers at the mantel, apparently forgetting why it’s there.
“Hurry up,” I drone, sipping my own tea.
It brings the bottle back, handing it to Mother.
“Have we decided on the flower arrangement for the aisle?” Mother asks, pouring the tonic into her teacup. “Lady Hellfire has allergies; we had better cross lilies off the list.”
“Francesca wants hydrangeas,” Sissy says. “Do you have a preference, Xander? We need to order them tonight, otherwise the florist won’t have enough time.”
They could get black flowers for all I care. “No preference.”
“Your vows are finalised?” Mother asks.
“Not yet. It’s on my long list of things to do.”
“Well, prioritise it,” Sissy snaps.
I put down my cup and saucer. “Is there something wrong, Sissy?”
She purses her lips and says in a voice that is clearly the opposite of her words. “No.”
“Is your dress ready?” I ask pointedly. “Mother, is yours?” Both women avoid looking at me, and suddenly, the energy changes in the room. “What is it?”
Sissy turns to regard me, her face stony. “I’m not to attend the wedding.”
A fiery spear shoots through my chest. “What?”
“Father has decreed it. The Hellfires requested it. Me and the hatchlings will stay in our rooms.”
Slowly, I rise to my feet, leashing my composure with a band of metal. “Did he care to mention why?”
“Don’t start an argument, dear,” Mother says softly. “This is not the time.”
“This is just the right time, Mother. Sissy, what was the reason?”
Sissy swallows, and I suddenly want to tear the world apart. “They said it would be bad luck.”
Violence threatens to tear from my body, and I’m out the door a heartbeat later, Spawn stumbling along behind me.
“Xander!” Mother cries. “Xander, no!”
I pause outside, hating to hear the fear and anguish in my mother’s voice, directed not for me, but at me.
Sissy comes rushing out and grips my elbow, turning me around to look at her. “Don’t,” she says, her eyes shining. “Please. Do not cause a fuss over me.” She swallows again. “Yet another time.”
I frown, the backs of my eyes burning. I take her face in my palms to speak to her fiercely. “You deserve respect, Selena. Respect . You deserve fuss. And I will always be here to stand up for you.”
She pulls away from my palms, casting her eyes down. “I’m the older sister. I’m supposed to be protecting you .”
“We’ve been through this before,” I sigh. “It is my right and privilege to care for you. And now that I’m here, I can do that better. This is part of the reason I came back, after all.”
Sissy stares at me in horror, stepping away from me with a horrified expression, as if I’m some terrible monster. “Do not use me as the reason you’re here.” She takes another step back and all I can do is stare while my stomach sinks. “Do not use me as the reason you did something horrible to this ”—she points to Spawn standing as far as the leash will allow, staring pale-faced at us—“poor girl. You did the most heinous thing, Xander. Do you even know what you’ve become?” She points a shaking finger at me and I stumble a step back as if she’s shot me. “You’re the same as Ragnar. Don’t you see that? What you did is almost the exact same thing my husband did to me.”
All violence, all rage, suddenly poofs out of my body as my sister turns her back on me and slams the drawing-room door shut in my face. I blink at the door. I blink again.