Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
JAX
“No way,” I say, shaking my head. “You got me again, sweetheart.”
The Ezkai guarding my cell giggles, her cheeks rosy. Her long, blond hair shines in the dim candlelight. I’m not certain whether she’s truly stunningly beautiful…or if her looks are amplified by the unappealing surroundings of the underground prison.
“Are you sure you aren’t letting me win?” she flirts, batting her eyelashes at me.
With a smirk, I shuffle the cards. “My lady, that would be unfair. What do I gain from letting you win and appear as an incompetent fool when all I want is to impress you?”
Her eyes sparkle. I wink at her. She lowers her gaze and smiles.
In truth, there is much I aim to gain by letting this youthful woman with sparkly eyes win, three rounds in a row.
“Don’t believe me?” I pause the shuffle and raise an eyebrow. I lean forward, closer to the iron bars separating us. “You’re a Decarios. Check my heart rate, my emotions. Sense for yourself that I’m not lying.”
I know I have her when her eyes widen, lips part. She’s tempted to test me. Of course she is. I didn’t land in this cell for my charm and wits.
As my hands continue the shuffle of cards, I steady my breathing to keep my heartbeat consistent.
She leans forward. “Tell me, Jax, are you letting me win these games on purpose?”
Without missing a heartbeat, I say, “Of course not, darling. You’re wonderful at this all on your own. You don’t need my help.”
Her eyes narrow, head tilting slightly to the side. I keep her gaze and the lazy smirk on my lips and wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Finally, she laughs. “Damn, you’re telling the truth.”
I flash her my most dazzling smile. “Now that we have this out of the way, shall we—”
“Katerina!” a tall Ezkai shouts and my lovely guard rises to her feet immediately.
“Yes, sir.”
The man approaches her, his thick brows furrowed in a prominent frown. They’re so close together it almost looks as if a long, thick, hairy caterpillar made a home on his forehead. Not the handsomest cookie in the jar…
“Tell me I didn’t just catch you playing cards with this prisoner,” the man rumbles, coming to stand very close to my Katerina.
“No, sir. I was just checking to make sure he doesn’t have a blade on him,” she says.
Ah, my Katerina girl is quick.
His ruthless gaze slides from her to me, still kneeling on the cold stone floor.
“Where would he get a blade here?”
I wink at him. “I don’t kiss and tell, dear friend.”
That is a mistake.
I realize it the moment he turns the key in the lock of my cell and opens the bars. Order of Ezkai are too serious. No sense of humor whatsoever.
He fists the front of my shirt and shakes me. “Do you think this is a game? You’re here for a reason, General Slayer.” He spits the words at my face. “It’s not a kindergarten. We don’t play around here with the likes of you.”
I lift my palms in defense. “I understand that. Very serious Ezkai men running a very serious establishment where men like me come to die.”
When his fist collides with my jaw, my head almost flies off my shoulders. Copper fills my mouth. I spit the blood out and smile at him.
I’ll be the first to admit—I’m much better with the ladies.
The Ezkai really doesn’t like my smile because he punches me again. This time around, my other cheek. He’s making sure I have matching bruises on both sides of my face.
How thoughtful of him.
After the second punch, he lets me go. I sink to my knees and spit another glob of bloody saliva on the dirty floor of my cell.
My fists itch for violence. Slowly, I count to ten in my mind. Punching Mister Caterpillar might not be the smartest idea. He’s just trying to impress my girl Katerina here. I can forgive his awful manners.
“Dinner will be served in ten minutes,” the Ezkai man says. “We’re to escort you.”
“I’m forever grateful,” I say, adjusting my jaw. Thank the spirits of the gods it didn’t break. Decarios are awfully strong. “Perfect timing. I was just starting to get peckish.”
The glare the Ezkai awards me could scare a poor deer to death. I fix the shirt he messed up, playfully bow at him, and then step outside my cell.
Dear Katerina and the grumpy Ezkai flank me on both sides as if I were the Ezkai General myself as we make our way through dim stone corridors towards the place they call the canteen.
Two Ezkai escorting me wherever I go each time I leave my cell is not good for my prison credibility. I have no time to bond with other prisoners, which I think is essential if I aim to survive in this place.
I try not to think too much about how long I will have to survive here. And I try even harder to avoid thinking about the alternative. When I think about it, not thinking is the best course of action.
After wandering—with purpose, of course—for forever, my entourage finally escorts me into the canteen. As we pass long tables full of other prisoners waiting for their rations to be distributed, many unkind eyes turn to peek at us.
Mostly at me. I know what my fellow criminals are thinking. They probably assume I’m extremely dangerous. That’s why I need two babysitters at all times breathing down my neck.
At least that’s what I tell myself.
At the very end of the third long table we pass, there’s an empty spot. Without saying anything to my guards, I plop on the hard wooden bench. Mister Caterpillar curses under his breath, but says nothing.
I feel them both behind my back as I look around the table. Not a single friendly face. Oh, well. I smile nonetheless. None of my comrades return the smile.
“I see we’re not in the best of moods this lovely afternoon,” I say.
I pause, giving them time to say something. None do. But the man with long, silver hair next to me looks up and arches an eyebrow. I open my mouth to speak again, but he cuts me off.
“If I were you and wanted to keep that tongue of mine, I’d shut my mouth right about now,” the silver-haired man says, quietly enough that only I can hear. “The chatty ones tend to have their tongues go missing. In the middle of the night.”
I close my mouth shut. My tongue is my most useful asset. Well, one could argue it’s the second most useful—
A bowl of questionable-looking gruel lands on the table in front of me with a thud. Some of it splashes on the wooden top when the spoon drops inside the bowl.
The good thing is, I don’t have to eat with my hands.
The bad news is, I’d rather chew on Mister Caterpillar’s big toe than eat another bowl of this atrocity.
At least it would be something…novel.
“It’s better to eat shit and have energy,” my silver-haired companion says, using a spoon to scoop his gruel with passion, as if it were the most delicious thing in the world, “than starve and be caught off guard at the worst moment.”
I pick up my spoon with a sigh.
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to help a brother out, or if you’re threatening me,” I say after the first taste.
It does look worse than it tastes. Or maybe I’m just hungry.
My companion flashes me a toothy smile. Sharp and feisty.
“It’s just a friendly warning,” he says and then looks straight ahead.
I follow his gaze to find two men glaring at me as if I drowned their kittens in the river. I don’t know them personally; it’s the first time I’ve seen them.
Yet I know exactly who they are.
The elaborate tattoos wrapping around their thick necks, wide shoulders, and muscly arms tell me all there is to know. Caligos.
From their friendly glares, I can tell which family they obey. Even here, in the damp stone prison with iron bars, under a stone castle, Talbots rule.
And it appears that I’m in a lot of trouble.