The vampire loomed over me. “What makes you think I want to hear anything from your mouth when you’ve spent the last month lying?”
Hmm, probably double that time, actually.
“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t,” I answered.
“I needed to look upon the human who single-handedly killed my family. Perhaps I wanted to gaze upon her and wonder how I never saw who she really was.”
He didn’t believe the words, but he wanted to. More than anything. That felt worse.
Kyros’s throat worked. “The uncertainty and guilt holding you back from accepting me. It wasn’t anything to do with your doubts about me or my family.”
I took a shallow breath. “No. I couldn’t cross that line while lying to you.”
“Maybe there’s a shred of decency in you.”
The sarcastic words stabbed into my heart. “Kyros, I tried to make things right. You know I did.”
He scoffed, turning away. “You tried to pull yourself from the grave you’d made for yourself.”
I stood. “That’s not what happened.”
Kyros whipped back, green eyes flashing. “Then why did you wait until you had proof to bring the matter to our attention? Why, if not to save your own hide?”
Because I didn’t want to see this look on your face.
Blowing out a breath, I watched him pace around the suite. “The end cascade. When is it?”
The glance he threw my way asked if I was crazy.
I braced myself. “I know it doesn’t seem this way, but I care about your family too.” The shits had wormed their way into my heart at some point. It even bothered me that Julius would die.
“Do you often secure the death of those you care about?” he asked, cocking his head.
Focused on his emotions, I did my best to brush aside the comment.
His lust was swelling.
Like it had in the past, his urge to rip off my clothes spurred my libido higher. Our bodies were swimming around each other, touching, scenting, listening, and heating. Constantly.
I gulped back air. Hot air. The room was stifling. Not big enough for both of us.
While I still had faculty of my brain, I edged around the bed to stand by the open window. The cool air did nothing to soothe the uncomfortable heat building in my body.
“Eight days,” Kyros grunted.
Frowning, it took a second to realise he’d answered my question. Eight days until the end cascade is triggered. Forecasted to be triggered anyway. It could be several days after. It could also happen any day if Fyrlia scored another big deal or continued to throw obscene amounts of money at properties.
The temptation to tell Kyros my entire plan burned in my throat, if only so he’d stop looking at me like that.
Yes, he’d been forced to interact with me at first. I’d lost count of the times the vampire had lost himself to fury over my actions.
Never, never had Kyros looked at me like I was trash. I felt like the worst person in the world, the lowest of the low.
But I had a plan that could change his opinion of me. Like so many of my actions in recent times, my plan affected others. Other humans. People I respected who I couldn’t forcefully manoeuvre if they didn’t choose to work with me.
Ironically, Kyros and I fell down more often than not because we didn’t confide in the other. There were so many things I did discuss with Kyros. Many times where I’d sought his harmless advice.
And still, the same issue remained between us as it had from day one.
The game.
Perhaps I should bring him on board with this plan. Two heads were better than one, after all, but Ingenium was why I couldn’t bring him in on this last effort to fix everything.
His motives still weren’t my motives.
He played to keep his family alive at nearly any cost.
I played because I wanted our motives to be the same.
I wanted the game gone.
I wanted to live my life without a constant threat over my head. I wanted that for my loved ones too.
I wanted the humans of this city to be free.
I needed Kyros to be done with this game so we could be free.
To ensure that happened, I was willing to betray him one more time.
“Nothing to say?” He pressed.
I scrambled for a reply. “You can feel how that knowledge affects me. Has Sundulus figured out an exit point?”
My mouth dried as he straightened, looking as perfect as the first time I saw him.
His jaw clenched. “You lost the right to know our movements when you betrayed us to the Fyrlia scum.”
I flinched as though struck.
“Did you take any convincing?” he whispered, stalking forward until he stood before me. “Did you walk in and give up my family without second thought?”
One hundred and fifty years of constant struggle to keep his family alive. That was fuelling his bitterness now—and that his true mate was the person to lose the battle for them.
I didn’t answer.
“Tell me,” he snarled in my face.
I tilted my chin. “You know me, so I won’t answer that question despite the anger you feel.”
“I thought I knew you.” He whirled away, and I sucked in a large breath as his scent struck me full force.
Fuck.
Pressing my legs together, I bit my lip on a whimper.
His cruel laughter rang out. “It must torture you to feel so torn. Your body wants nothing but to wrap around mine, your mind wants nothing more than to see me dead.”
He was venting, but my ire finally rose in response.
“I don’t want you dead. And you won’t die,” I said calmly.
“You believe I’ll live happily in Fyrlia territory?” Kyros hissed. “You think that every day in there won’t be hell? My family killed before my eyes. My mother raped. Forced each day to hear their insults against those I love.” His voice swelled. “The need to get to you, to claim you, will drive me insane. I won’t physically die, Basilia.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “It was a mistake to handle that situation alone. I know that.”
“That situation.” Kyros fixed both eyes on me.
Folding my arms, I returned his regard.
He blurred to me and clamped one arm around my waist, forcing my head upward with a grip under my chin.
Gasping, I clutched his arms so I didn’t topple out the window.
“What aren’t you telling me?” His voice was thunderous.
Cool air brushed my back as I tried not to choke on his rage.
His eyes blazed into mine and shock filled me as I understood Kyros was about to compel me. Tears stung my eyes, and the full horror of how badly I’d botched things hit me.
The trust was gone.
Kyros told me he wouldn’t compel information from me again after the fourth exchange. If he did, then the void between us really was here to stay.
I let my body go limp and met his blaring gaze in defeat, curling inward on myself.
On my heart.
The energy between us still thrummed and pounded between my legs. Everywhere we touched, even his dominating grip under my chin seared my insides with toe-curling desperation.
Even as tears slipped down my cheeks, I panted with need.
How did I ever believe the blood bond was forcing me to love him? My emotions existed apart from the bond. Intertwined, yes, but the distinction between them was so obvious when I was split in half like this.
His erection dug into my hip. His inhales were harsh in my ears.
“The sixth exchange,” he snarled.
My eyes flew to his.
Whatever I’d expected, that wasn’t it.
I licked my lips. “W-What?”
His hand loosened. “The sixth exchange. We have eight days.”
I blinked, trying to fathom the change of gear. He…?
“You want the sixth exchange?”
Kyros reg
arded me coldly, lips pressed together and showing white. “What I want and need are different things. Once Fyrlia wins, I’ll never see you again.”
But the sixth exchange would make things exponentially worse, wouldn’t it? I’d forced myself to stay away from the tower for nine days, and I’d only managed that because Kyros was sneaking to the estate each night. I physically wouldn’t be capable of staying away if this thing between us became stronger.
Already, I felt a constant frantic itch that I couldn’t scratch.
To hold more of that inside until my dying day.
Hell on earth.
I wet my lips a second time, trying to accept I wasn’t hearing things. “If that’s your logic, then we’d be better to complete the last two exchanges.”
Ugly anger churned in him at my words. He didn’t answer, shifting away from the window before releasing me.
I rubbed my chin, placing distance between us again as I tried to decipher everything the vampire wasn’t saying. He was holding something back.
“If the sixth exchange is to occur, it must happen in the next few days to allow for the thrall,” he said, gazing out the window.
Blood pounded in my ears.
Did he come tonight to bring this up?
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Why? With everything I’d done to him and his family, with all the horrors he’d just laid out for me, why?
I opened my mouth. “I’m just surprised—”
“Do you want it or not?”
Did I want to cleave my soul to him more than it already was? Even when he asked in that way? There were so many reasons to say yes—reasons to do with our situation and everyone who could die.
There was only one reason I wanted to say yes. “I do, Kyros.”
The three words shocked him, but the stalling of his mind disappeared in a flash.
He didn’t face me again. “You’ll hear from me.”
“When?”
I stared at the spot where Kyros had stood, jerking as the window slammed shut with the force of his slipstream.
19
“You heard everything last night?” I said to Laurel as she switched on the noise-cancelling.
I hadn’t slept a wink between replaying the conversation over and over with Kyros and scrambling to ensure everything was in place for when he decided to drop in for the sixth exchange.
The black-haired vampire was dressed head to toe in leather like usual, but today there was an edge to her I couldn’t interpret.
She nodded. “I heard.”
Her tone was tense, and I narrowed my eyes.
“Are you okay with what went down?”
She inclined her head again.
“Okay, well if you’d like to explain why you’re being weird, leap in at any time.”
I shoved a stack of papers across the desk as she took the seat opposite me.
Laurel’s nostrils flared. “These are?”
“Two thousand and thirty-two contracts that I’ve pre-signed.” Giving myself tendonitis in the doing. “Each Vissimo who wishes to take my deal needs to print their name, sign, and date.”
The contract was there to outline what I expected from those who accepted my deal—though not legally binding by human standards, by Vissimo standards it was.
Laurel’s throat worked as she rifled through the sheets of paper.
“I leave it to the discretion of yourself and Vladymir to collect the signatures of those interested. As soon as I enter the sixth thrall, you can begin dispersing them. No sooner.” I waited for her murmured agreement.
Leaning across the desk, I tapped a clause in the middle. “This is a non-disclosure clause. It will last until I personally reveal our deal. For the sake of full clarity between us, I need you to ensure that anyone who doesn’t take the deal is kept quiet until that time. Can I depend on that?”
Her face firmed as she lifted her gaze from the papers. The freedom of more than two thousand slaves sat before her.
“Yes,” she said.
I didn’t doubt her for a second. “Good. The sixth exchange will likely be in the next two or three days.”
Laurel sat down, drawing the papers closer as if they may be snatched away at any moment. “You keep your own counsel, Basilia. I know that’s because of the fine line you walk between the human world and ours, and between loyalty to your mating bond and those you love. I don’t know if I can be part of your plans yet, or even if this is going the way you intended. But when you’re ready—”
“I fucked up,” I blurted.
She stilled and glanced at the contracts again before relaxing. “Tell me.”
The vampire sat with her eyes closed as I poured out everything that had happened since my grandmother’s death.
Fuck, it felt good. I could almost feel some of the weight on my shoulders lessening as the word tumbled from my lips.
Maybe this should be heard by Tommy, but I couldn’t just blab everything out in a rush like this, and Tommy—as much as I loved her—wasn’t a vampire. I’d betrayed just about every Vissimo I knew. The royal ones anyway.
I needed reassurance from a vampire I respected.
When I trailed off, Laurel opened her blue eyes.
“Is that all?” she said drily.
I blew out a breath. “Yeah, I know.”
She pursed her lips. “Would you like to know what I think based on what you’ve told me?”
Did I?
Laurel wasn’t the kind to spear-tackle Harriet Gregorian because she’d humiliated me. She was the kind to assess the options and decide whether letting me finish the catwalk or stabbing Gregorian on the walk home was the best course of action.
“Yes,” I said, meeting her gaze.
“You have a complex about Jessica Alba wearing black leather because you secretly wish you could wear it all the time.”
“Oh my god,” I exploded. “I just handed you my bleeding heart, and you come back with that.” Despite how crappy I felt after a sleepless and emotionally draining night, my lips lifted at the corners.
My friends were terrible at pep talks.
Laurel’s eyes brightened. “I knew there was a smile left in you somewhere. We’ve all been worried about you.”
I leaned back in the chair, crossing my arms.
“Ingenium has spanned more than one hundred and fifty years, Basilia. You’ve played the game for a speck of that time, and yet you blame yourself for the outcome.”
Because I brought the end cascade about. Kind of.
“You’re vocal about your hatred for games, and so I imagine the real reason you’re so conflicted is because of your betrayal to Kyros himself.”
Ouch. I knew she wouldn’t pull punches. “Yeah.”
“He has come to the property each night except the first,” she told me.
I glared. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Until you exit the sixth thrall, the Indebted have a pretence to keep up. You both needed space after what happened with King Julius.”
I sighed. “Maybe. Kyros more than me.”
Laurel shook her head. “Do you remember when I asked you what would happen to your loyalties when Kyros claimed you for the sixth time?”
The thought of him biting me nearly elicited a groan.
She quirked a brow. “You assured me that you’d do what needed to be done because you loved your grandmother.”
I stilled.
“It can’t have been easy to find yourself between that love and a new love. Not when both loves are immortal. When I say you both needed time, I mean it. There has been a change in you since the theme park. Am I to take it that you decided on a side?”
My grandmother.
Or Kyros.
That’s what she was asking me.
I tipped my head back, interlacing my fingers. “No sides. Just what’s right.”
“And what’s right, Basi?”
Right was freeing two thousand slaves.
/> Right was ending a battle over a child that never should have started.
Right was doing what made me and those I loved happy.
“I can’t win the game, Laurel,” I said softly.
That ship had sailed well and truly.
Her eyes were on me. “Do you need to win? This was never your game to play.”
From the moment I met Kyros, it was.
“He will live.” Laurel pressed. “You’ll have protection of a Vissimo army. You could take him back by force.”
I had considered that. Part of me would love to take what I wanted.
Except that would hurt the Indebted.
And… “If I don’t save Kyros’s family, he’ll never look at me again.”
She pulled a face. “He offered the sixth exchange. Don’t you wonder why?”
The thought had kept me up since his visit.
“He’s angry at you,” Laurel said. “He feels betrayed and hurt. Just as you did not so long ago. But you overcame that. So will he in time.”
This vampire was two hundred and eighty years old. I should believe her. Except I could feel what Kyros felt, and enough had happened to me that I knew some scars never left. I would always be haunted by imagining how the triplets killed my grandmother. I’d always relive that terrified, desperate moment when I’d dropped the bomb into Theodore’s open jacket. I’d never forget the call from Theodore telling me he had Tommy or the way the floor seemed to disappear beneath me.
Kyros was meant to just get over the slaughtering of his family? What then? We’d live happily ever after until I died and he went berserk?
No.
Maybe the game had spanned generations before I came along. But this was different for the same reason Trenit and Tynan were at each other’s throats after Theodore’s death. I’d dropped the bomb, but Trenit clicked the button.
There had been bombs around the necks of the Fyrlia and Sundulus royals for one hundred and fifty years.
But I had clicked the button that would destroy Sundulus.
That was why Kyros would never forgive me.
“I can’t win the game, Loz,” I said, expression grave. “I can’t fulfil my grandmother’s legacy in Ingenium.”
She frowned at me. “Then what are you going to do? Why do you need us?” Laurel glanced at the papers for the billionth time.
Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers Book 3) Page 20