Page 201 of The Lands Defying
“The beasts in The Deadlands, what are they?” I ask, wiping my hands on the cloth that Darius gave me. Not like it would do either of us any good.
“Oh them,” Frederick says tiredly. His head twitches, making his beaten face scrunch up. “They will help take all the lands. All, all, all, the lands,” he giggles, his head falling back on his shoulders as he sighs. “They make great breeders, many breeders we have.”
I eye Darius as his brows furrow. He takes a step closer and crouches down in front of him.
“What was the liquid that was given,” he asks.
“Hmmm?”
I look down at the blood dripping from his body. Shit, maybe we went too far.
“The vial you gave the Beast in The Drylands.”
“Oh, Ultrian,” he mumbles. “It makes the beasts want to breed.”
That’s what they gave that beast? I think back to the notes we found about it and swallow roughly.
Sick. Bastards.
“And you want these beasts so you can take over more lands, to be able to breed powerful pups for your army?”
“Yes, yes, how brilliant is that?!” He grins. “So clever, our Lord Higher. All he did was take rogures and mix them up, add some females in the mix and poof, bred a beast deadly enough to take the lands.”
“What are the beasts made of? Rogure and people?” Darius snaps, agitated.
“Rogures. Those little bastards were an annoyance when they came. Only for a short while though, Lord Higher made a plan and now they are his.” He slumps forward, and Darius slaps his cheek to wake him up.
“Hey, answer me.”
“They are very…loyal…” He trails off, blood dripping from his open mouth.
He doesn’t move again.
“Fuck.” Darius stands, running a hand down his face.
“All the people the rogures have killed…Darius,” I begin.
His body is tense, full of fury and I know he’s thinking the same thing. Charles killed his family if he sent those rogures into that town that day.
“He needs to die,” I croak out, reaching a hand out to grip Darius’s arm. “No wonder you could never find how to stop the rogures, Darius. He’s been controlling them all this time, which means he has had you running around, getting rid of these creatures and for what? Why did he bother doing that?”
“He kept me busy, like a fucking guard dog so I wouldn’t find out what he was doing.” His tone is so low, full of threat and danger as he lets me guide him out the shack. “He will pay for what he has done.”
I can’t imagine what he must be feeling right now. The look on his face tells me he’s experiencing his mother and sister’s deaths all over again.
The Elites’s faces are pale as we emerge. They won’t look us in the eyes, and I think one of them may have actually been sick, no doubt hearing the torture we just put Frederick through.
“Are you okay?” I ask him. He nods shakily, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Poor male.
“New recruits,” Darius grunts, shrugging.
I shove at him. “Don’t be mean.”
“War isn’t clean, he needs a stronger stomach.”
He has a point.
“What do we do now—”
