Page 15 of Nocte

“Words,” I spit out. “Words you wanted me to forget, but this is the part you won’t let them hear, right?”

I can feel his smile widen like a string being pulled taunt. A warning. Yet, for a second, the rest of the mind grows silent. Only he can do so at whim—turn off the din of the others, create a secluded hole where he and his chosen prey can linger.

Is that what he did to Cassiopeia? It’s been days, and I can’t hear or feel her. I only know the bastard hasn’t killed her.

To do so would be to admit failure, and dear brother Cassius is never wrong.

“Look at me, child,” he commands.

My head jerks up, and I take in the creature lounging before me. He somehow manages to be both revulsive and appealing. Disgusting and breathtaking. A face and body that can attract both men and women, but I despise those gleaming red eyes. Hate. Hate.

“You’ve enjoyed playing with your toy,” he says.

My upper lip curls at the word. The way he says it drips with disdain, but maybe it’s the only one that fits. Enjoy.

“Yes,” I admit. “Let me do more.”

Poor little fae. She seems so damn innocent, locked away in her crumbling tower. The fae must tell her that she is a scourge, unknown to the others.

Lies. The secret has been out for all twenty-four years of her life. We all know. Her existence festers. Besides, the fae couldn’t keep secrets if they tried. Those high and mighty bastions of haughty birds. The day she was born they had to reconcile with their flawed perfection. They haven’t been the same since. She with eyes of ebony and ivory skin threatens their entire fragile balance…

I’m not sure if my memory goes back that far or if I’m just leeching off Cassius.

“My thoughts are your thoughts,” he quietly scolds. “We are one, dear brother. It pains me that you resent us so.”

Me and us. How he uses those terms so interchangeably. He wants the rest of his followers to abandon all sense of self. Become one with him.

Yet he can shed us just as easily as a silk robe. We matter little to him. His scars penetrate our bodies and minds, but in the end, the most lasting mark we can make on him is dissent. Being the off-note in his perfect symphony of sycophants. Hating him relentlessly.

“Wrong,” he tells me while lifting the edge of his embroidered tunic. A perfect body chiseled from living stone but with one small flaw. “You are the only one of my many children to ever harm me.” He’s smiling. He relishes the pathetic attempt. He savors it over and over.

Why?

He thrives on control, and one day, decades ago. Days? Years? One day in the near past, I came after the bastard with a knife taken from some fancy display deep in the mansion. I tried to plunge it into his stomach.

No,that’s wrong. The image in my head blurs and resets, clarified. MeandCassiopeia.

“You miss her,” Cassius says. “Our disobedient one.”

He smiles wide.

“Yes,” I say on cue. “She’s served her punishment. Bring her back.”

“I alone say when she has served long enough,” he reminds. His glee licks through the back of my mind, exciting the others even if they’re kept in the dark. I can visualize myself as he sees me. Bowed low, pretty little head upturned. Anger blazing in red eyes. Cassiopeia isn’t the one he’s punishing.

It’s me. Always been me.

“Such an egoist you are,” he murmurs, practically laughing. “Even now, after so long as a superior being, you still believe that the world revolves solely around you, little Caspian. Always raging like a mindless human. Hoarding meaningless words. Ideals. I’ve long tried to coax that out of you. How perfect you could be if you wanted to achieve it.”

I hiss through clenched teeth. “Don’t want…”

“Don’t want what?” He raises an eyebrow innocently. “Finish your statement, brother. As you said, we are alone at this moment.” He raises his hand, gesturing for me to continue.

I can’t. He is subtle in his mastery, but I know the sudden dryness in my throat isn’t real. Neither is my inability to find words.

The bastard loves to exert his control in small ways. He loves to watch me struggle on his proverbial leash.

One day, I’ll strangle him with it.

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