Page 91 of The Cruel Dawn
He growls, “I don’t know—”
“I’m not fucking around.” I tighten my grip on his arm, and Gileon yelps.
“He was at Castle Wake, but he’s moved on,” he gasps. “To where, I don’t know.”
I release the prince and peer down at him, slumped on the ground. “Do you wanna keep toying with me?”
“You don’t know how to play our game, Ser Wake,” Elyn adds, “and so you’ll lose. Trust me when I say that cooperation works best in this instance.”
“What is your father planning to do next?” I ask.
Gileon doesn’t speak as he rubs his bony arm.
“Tell us,” Elyn says, her voice hard.
Gileon snorts. “The nerve you have, demandinganythingfrom me.”
Elyn cocks her head. “Is that a ‘no, I’m not telling you’?”
Even under duress, Gileon Wake still has the strong chin of a boastful man—and he’s about to get it knocked off.
My stomach gurgles, and my mouth fills with spit. Philia’s skin is taking on a green tinge. The effects of Jadon, of Miasma, in an enclosed space.
“I can’t change what’s happened, or this legacy of ours, but…” Jadon leans in closer to his brother. “Are you with us or against us?”
“Us?”Gileon points to Jadon and then at me. “You two are back together?” He grins. “Now how doesthatwork?” He glances at Elyn. “Everyone who betrayed the Lady gets to fuck her over again?” He eyes Philia. “Oh, yeah. You betrayed her, too.” To Separi. “I don’t even know you, but I’m sure you haven’t been as faithful as you should’ve been.” His eyes settle on me again. “Youarea merciful god.”
Elyn’s freckles darken. “Enough. Will you live or die today?”
Gileon’s grin widens, but there is no humor there. “Unlike you, brother, I have no goddesses protecting me from Danar’s threat. Even as you merely stand here in whatever protection they’ve placed upon you, I feel the threat of Miasma bleeding into my dying body.” He adds, “Time is life, and I have no time left for anything but death.”
Time is life.In my vision, Jadon had said those words, not Gileon.
“My slow death has been assured,” Gileon continues. “A punishment from your true father formybetrayal. He isnotmerciful.” He pulls down his collar to show us his neck. The skin there is a canvas of pink, purple, and black.
The smell of Wake’s rotting flesh fills my nose and turns my stomach, adding to my nausea.
Jadon notices my smallest movement, and he scowls, stomping over to his brother.
Gileon doesn’t cower away from the bigger man. “Do it,” he whispers. “Feels like minnows are nibbling at me, killing me one tiny bite at a time. I open my eyes each morning with a delirious sadness that I’ve seen another dawn. I despair every night because I still live and will sleep again, but never the eternal sleep I desire.
“I’ve tried to end it with my own hand, but Danar Rrivae has kept me from that relief. No soldier will do as I command and run his blade across my neck. I’ve stood on a field with the most vicious otherworldly, beasts that wouldn’t hesitate to rip a newborn from her mother’s arms, and yet they walk past me as though I’m a rock or a tree, not even worthy of their notice.”
“This…” Jadon turns to Elyn. “This sickness isn’t me. This isn’t Miasma.”
“You’re wrong, brother,” Gileon says. “It’s you.All you.You’re changing.” He gazes at me. “Lady, by the look of your skin…he’s killing you, too.”
“The signet ring,” I demand, my throat tight.
“Gileon, where’s Olivia?” Philia asks. “We have the book.”
“Yes, I see it.” He squints at my bag. “It shines.”
I say nothing, but I burn with rage. At Philia. At Gileon. At myself.
“Why do you want it back?” Elyn asks. “I doubt you care that it belonged to your family.”
Gileon shrugs. “It holds the answers to everything. There’s unlimited power in those pages. Not that theLibrumcan save me, not anymore. I don’t think anything—or anyone—can save me.”
