Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Guild of Assassins, Shadow Court
Lanlin
“Laz…where are you?” I whisper. “Can you hear me?”
Lazarus. Lazarus. Lazarus.
I reach out through my connection to my twin, but I can’t feel anything, only a darkness deeper than the Void.
If he’s alive, why can’t I sense him? Why haven’t I been able to for months?
I huddle in the far corner of the freezing cell, resting my forehead against the wall.
Devastated, I remember the moment that my brother and I were torn apart by Nebet and Ruin.
Lazarus’ shadows reached out for me, but held powerless in Nebet’s ribbons, I’d been forced to watch — powerless — as he’d been carried away into the night.
Until I met my nestmates, I’d been certain that without my twin in my life, I would be hollowed out by loneliness forever.
Am I betraying Lazarus to feel so much for someone else?
When I first met my nestmates, I tried to tell myself that my new feelings must be false.
I didn’t understand them.
I had stained my gloves with blood, taken down armies, and made entire kingdoms fear me.
Then how could an Omega occupy my every thought?
Temples were built in my honor. I was worshiped as the Void Vampire. But now, I was distracted by how Freya tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at something I said.
I would never admit that or how thrilled I was that Daire managed to draw blood in our sparring session.
No one in my army was able to match me, but my Blood Lover could, even though I knew that he could barely see.
I became fascinated with them both, obsessed.
“I never forgot you, brother, but I broke my promise to rescue you.” My eyes are red-rimmed. My cheeks are itchy with dried tears. “Is that why you ran? I should have died in the Void. I lured you to this kingdom.”
My stomach twists at the memory of Void Devil wearing my brother’s sweet face.
He stroked my hair, while accusing: You were out living, while I was buried.
Was Void Devil telling me some truth mixed in with his lies?
What if Lazarus died in a cold cell like this?
…He loved you until the end…
I keen, clawing my nails down the wall.
If someone has killed Lazarus, I swear by the Shadow Devils that I will hunt them down, leaving their bones to be buried by the desert sands, until no one remembers they ever existed.
I don’t bother to look around when I hear the cell door clank open.
If Taran wishes to whip me today, then he will have to haul me up to lean against the wall himself.
I won’t serve Maximinus, and I won’t cooperate with this Guild any longer either.
“Wake up, vampire,” Wraith calls, rattling on the bars. “I brought you some friends.”
Lazarus…
Hope surges through me.
Startled, I scramble around.
But my hope dies just as fast.
Wraith pushes two vampires into the cell who are wearing the same gladiator uniform as I am.
The male vampire is lean with thick, dark hair and deep hazel eyes. A scar runs the length of his face.
He is limping, favoring his right leg. He is being supported by a female vampire.
She is a couple of years older than him, in her thirties. She is also taller with broad shoulders.
She looks like a true fighter.
Her glossy black hair is pulled tightly into braids with purple ribbons. Her focused, gray eyes settle on me, widening and then assessing.
Neither of them is Lazarus.
In fact, they are both Betas.
Disappointed, I slump against the wall again.
Wraith meets my eye, scanning my injuries. For a moment, she appears concerned and as if she is going to say something. But then, she slams and locks the door.
She struts away toward the steps, taking the oil lamp with her. “Learn from them. If you won’t break, then it has been decided that you will fight in the Sun Arena.”
“Laz!” The male vampire attempts to struggle out of his companion’s hold, but she doesn’t let him go.
“It’s not him.” Her voice is flat. “It’s the other one.”
I force myself not to react.
The male vampire stops struggling, clinging to the female vampire.
He scrutinizes me, before his expression crumples. “Yara…I thought…”
He lets out a sob, pushing away from her. Then his eyes roll back, and he collapses to the floor with a crack.
I watch dispassionately, as his friend rushes to his side, dragging him up to rest with his back against the wall opposite me.
I pull myself with a groan into my corner again, watching these new Bloods. I clutch onto my crown in case they try to take it from me.
It also makes the best weapon in this cell.
I don’t say anything.
“Fool, Ahm.” Yara rips off one of the strips of leather that hang around the waist on her uniform and binds it around the seeping wound on his thigh. “What would your Alpha think if he saw you not taking care of yourself like this?”
“He’d kiss me, Yara,” Ahm says in a voice that is as sweet as date wine, licking his dry lips. “Then tell me one of his favorite stories to distract me from the pain, probably about lotuses or fish.”
Yara puts pressure on the wound. “Or his brother. He never stopped talking about his twin. Clearly, they are nothing alike though. You’re truly not Laz, are you?”
I blink. “Why?”
How do they know my brother so well? Lazarus is good; I’m not. But I haven’t even said anything yet.
Yara cocks her head. “I don’t know how you’re here. Laz will be—”
“So happy.” Ahm smiles at me, and something in his sunniness reminds me of Daire.
I find myself smiling back. Does this mean that my brother is truly alive?
I should have known that Void Devil was lying.
“Oh, my heart, they have been putting you through it. Look at all your bruises. I recognize Taran’s handiwork.
I would have said Vicious’ before that bitch died, but he learned his methods from her. ”
I shrug. “It’s nothing.”
“You’re the tough one, huh?” Yara bares her fangs.
“That’s normally me. And the reason I knew that you weren’t Laz is that if he’d seen any vampire wounded, he’d have rushed to help them, not sat there like it had nothing to do with him.
When Laz was first brought to this dungeon, despite his fear and distress, he was always the first to offer kind words, support, and hope.
” Ahm and Yara exchange soft smiles. “Also, if it had been his beloved who was hurt, then he would have been distraught. He always was.”
My breath catches. “You are my brother’s Beta nestmates.”
Ahm nods, shyly.
How could I have made such a poor impression on people who are important to Lazarus?
I carefully place down the crown and crawl toward them.
Yara protectively crouches in front of Ahm.
“He’s fine, Yara,” Ahm says. “He’s Laz’s twin, yeah? And we love Laz, so we shall love his brother too, as family. He can join our pack.”
“We don’t know him.” Yara bares her fangs. “I swore my loyalty to Laz. But should I swear it to his brother?”
“How long have you been kept captive here?” I ask, while my heart aches at how easily Ahm claimed me as his pack.
“Years.” Yara’s voice is hollow.
“Then you may not know that I am also your King.”
“Fuck.” Yara’s expression floods with alarm.
“Have mercy, Your Majesty.” Ahm gasps with pain, attempting to pull himself into a kneeling position before me, despite his injured leg.
“Stop,” I command. They both freeze. “In here, I am not your King but Laz’s brother.
You have my loyalty and devotion. I swear to protect you in his place as your family.
I am honored to meet you. I always hoped that my brother would escape the Void Cult and experience even one day of love and happiness.
” I reach to grasp both of their hands. “Thank you for giving Laz that.”
“Maybe you are more like Laz than we thought,” Yara admits.
I drop their hands, and my lips curl up at the side to show my fangs. “Oh, my dears, I am nothing like Laz. I am a leader of armies. A killer. He may have offered you hope, but I can offer you revenge and my fangs in the throats of all those who have hurt you.”
Yara yanks at the silver shackles that bind me, and I hiss in pain. “But not your claws.”
“I can still fight, and I won’t be bound forever.”
“That’s what we thought.”
I narrow my eyes. “Where is my brother? By the Shadow Devils, it is like being torn apart in the abyss not to know. Good or bad is better than this not knowing.”
Yara shoves herself to her feet, pacing the cell.
“But we’re in the dark too. Ahm and I aren’t anything special like a king.
We grew up in the same farming village next to the River Tenebris, where we were worshiped as dark gods by the Shadow Humans.
But we wanted more — adventure — like the stupid cunts that we were.
I was the worst because I convinced my younger friend to follow me into signing up to join the army.
So, we’re just members of the Eternals. Rank and file.
We’re not officers. Then in one skirmish on the borderlands we were taken prisoner. ”
“The dragons don’t take prisoners.” I stand up as well, ignoring the agony from the welts on my back. “They slaughter everybody.”
“Then what are we?” Ahm groans, as he readjusts the bloody leather that is wound around his wound. “Ghosts?”
“Maximinus sometimes takes prisoners because he’s running magical experiments.
” Yara shudders. “You don’t want to know the details, unless you wish to have nightmares.
” I don’t need to. My tutor used fae prisoners in the same way.
“It was that old bastard who took Laz from the cell. He never returned him. We thought…”
…he was dead.
She doesn’t need to say the words. Her grief is thick in the air and screams them.
I clench my fists.
I knew not to trust Maximinus. He took my brother in like he was saving him, when in fact he locked him up in this cell for years and then stole him away somewhere to experiment on him.
He never intended to lead me to my brother. He only wanted to trap me into serving him as an assassin, as once I had to serve Nebet.
But what if Lazarus is still alive? What if Maximinus is still holding him alive somewhere?
“Has anyone returned from these experiments?” I demand.
Yara hesitates, before nodding. “But not when they’ve been gone for this long.”
Ahm gestures at his outfit. “The dragons also kidnap soldiers because the Guild likes to test their techniques. The dragons usually took poor captives like us because there is no one to miss us. Fang Born nobles would have been searched for.”
My jaw clenches, and I duck my head.
I’m the King. It doesn’t matter that these Eternals are not nobles.
I never held the most powerful position in my court, but Daire showed me that I had a responsibility to everybody within my kingdom.
I have failed these vampires.
“I apologize.” I tilt up my chin. “You should have been missed. I was your leader. I owed you my attention. I swear, you have it now.”
Yara gapes at me.
Ahm whistles. “Laz wasn’t making up stories. His twin is everything he said. I don’t know whether to be excited or scared.”
What does he mean?
“If you mean all that, then you have my loyalty.” Yara crosses her arms. Her steady gaze doesn’t leave mine. “You’ll need it because the other reason that we are here is the Sun Games. It seems that you have been entered into them.”
“What are they?”
“Secret gladiatorial contests that the barbaric dragons put on only for certain silver elites within the guilds. They watch their captured enemies fight to the death for their entertainment, especially on special carnivals for days of celebration. Our deaths are their spectacle.”
My mind races.
I can work with this. Fighting is my strength, even with my magic suppressed.
I have spent my life training soldiers and fighting battles. It appears that these soldiers simply need some motivation.
My eyes flash. “But you see, I have commanded armies and kingdoms. By making me fight in their games, these dragons have made the fundamental mistake that will seal their deaths. I can win in these games, and I can unite us against the dragons. I am not like Laz. I can bring hope, but hope through our rage. We will use it to rise up, find my twin, and tear out this kingdom’s throat. ”