Page 144 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
The casual way Kio spoke of murder terrified Maseo. Prison had stripped away whatever humanity Kio might have possessed, leaving behind something monstrous.
Kio circled Maseo, sizing up his wounded prey. “You look like shit. What happened to your pretty face? Did Daddy try to put you out of your misery? Too bad the bastard couldn’t finish the job.”
“At least I haven’t been rotting in a cell like an animal,” Maseo retorted, his temper flaring despite the danger. The months of building confidence and learning his own worth rebelled against Kio’s familiar taunts.
Without warning, Kio lunged forward with a slash of his blade.
Maseo threw himself sideways, the sword whistling past his head to spark against the stone wall. Without a weapon of his own, his only options were to run or find something to defendhimself with. But the hallway stretched empty in both directions, offering no convenient weapons or escape routes.
“What’s wrong?” Kio taunted as he pressed his attack. “Where’s your dragon king to protect you? Where’s your precious Auslin to heal your wounds and kiss your tears away?”
Each dodge sent agony through Maseo’s injured ribs, his body protesting the violent movement. The necrotic wounds felt like they were tearing open, but staying still meant certain death. “They don’t need to protect me from a pathetic failure like you.”
“Failure?” Kio’s voice rose to a shriek before his sword came down in a vicious arc.
Maseo avoided a killing blow, but the blade caught his left arm, opening a gash that sent blood streaming down to his fingertips. He hissed in pain, stumbling backward as Kio advanced with messy feints.
“That’s it,” Kio purred, his earlier frenzy giving way to sadistic pleasure as he saw Maseo’s blood. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment for months. All those cold nights in that cell, the only thing that kept me warm was imagining all the ways I would make you pay.”
Maseo avoided the next attempt on his life. He needed to find an opening to turn the fight around. Kio was stronger and armed, but prison had made him sloppy. Rage fueled his attacks, leaving him vulnerable if Maseo could find the right moment to strike.
“You know what the funny thing is?” Maseo said, trying to sound casual. “Even after all this time, you’re still obsessed with me. It’s pathetic that you can’t move on.”
“Shut up!”
“I mean, here you are, wasting your last chance at freedom to come after me instead of escaping. You could be anywhere by now, but you can’t let go, can you?” Maseo backed down the hallway, forcing Kio to follow him. “You’re so desperate for my attention that you’d rather die here than live without it.”
“I said, shut the fuck up!”
Maseo continued riling Kio up in the hopes of getting the upper hand. “And the best part? While you’ve been rotting away, forgotten by everyone, I’ve been living in the castle. Eating at the royal table. Sharing private moments with both Auslin and Kitsuki.”
It was an exaggeration, but it had the desired effect. Kio’s face contorted with such rage that spittle flew from his lips. “You lying piece of shit. Nobody could ever want someone as worthless as you.”
Maseo continued moving down the corridor, frustrated there wasn’t so much as a single vase he could use as a weapon. “Then why did they save me while they left you to rot?”
“Because you poisoned them against me!” Kio’s attacks grew erratic, his form dissolving into pure aggression. “You turned them against me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Maseo replied, dodging another hit. “You destroyed every good thing in your life because you can’t stand the thought of anyone being happy.”
“Fuck you.” Kio’s voice cracked under the strain of his fury. “Auslin was mine first. I had him for years before that bastard half brother of mine ever laid eyes on him.”
“You mean you abused him. You treated him as property instead of a person. No wonder he ran from you.”
The words struck their mark. Kio’s movements became even more frenzied, his sword cutting through the air in wide, desperate arcs. “He belonged to me because I gave him everything.”
“You gave him nothing but pain.” Maseo jumped back as another swing came close to his throat. “You’re delusional if you think your abuse was love.”
“No, you don’t get to rewrite history, you ungrateful whore. Never forget that you came to me willingly. You begged for my attention.”
“I was desperate and alone,” Maseo replied. “You preyed on someone who had nowhere else to go.”
Kio’s next attack came with such force that when Maseo dodged, the blade chipped stone from the wall. “You needed me, the same way Auslin did.”
“Auslin needed healing, not more trauma,” Maseo said, continuing to retreat as he searched for any advantage. “And I needed kindness, not someone who would use my trauma against me.”
“Kindness?” Kio’s laugh was bitter and broken. “Is that what you think this is about? Let me tell you about kindness, you naïve dumbfuck. It’s a weakness that gets you locked away in a dungeon while the people who belong to you fuck someone you hate.”
The pain in his words revealed more than Kio intended. Beneath all the rage and madness, he remained the same broken boy whocouldn’t understand why everyone always abandoned him. But Maseo felt no sympathy. Too much damage had been done.
