After the Walls

Chapter 26

He shoots me a too-big smile. I return the gesture with my middle finger. Those scalds and nerve-deep burn wounds have long since healed. In the warm light, I can finally take in Theseus' features. Dark olive skin, molten earth eyes, and bronze hair growing in. The scale marks on his arm remind me the man isn't even human.

"I have just signed," Edward says in such a cherry tone I want to leap over and throttle him.

He plucks the parchment from the table, spins it around, and presents it to Theseus, who lets out a dry chuckle. "Such a fancy signature for an orphan. Who taught you? Certainly not your terrible father."

Edward gives him a close-lipped smile. "Careful, Theseus. I just gave you permission to live in my kingdom. That does not permit you to make idiotic comments about things you know little about. I could just as easily throw this in the fire and kill you."

"And I'd only come right back, your grace," Theseus says with an equally sickly sweet voice. Then he reads through the treaty again. "Good. The sirens can enjoy the Concave Sector."

I stiffen, wishing I could grab that sword.

"As promised," Edward says, baring his teeth.

Theseus snatches the quill from the inkpot and signs below Edward's. "Great doing business with you, Edward." Then he marches out of the room.

Edward stares after him, a muscle twitching in his face. "That went well," he says with a click of his tongue. "Anyway, Elle. You wanted to know what I've done with Ruben, didn't you?"

"Obviously," I snap. "Look at him. He looks like he's seen Medusa."

"Might as well have." Edward blows on the parchment, trying to dry the ink faster. "He has taken some shadowteeth blood. With a little... therapy, I've been able to turn Ruben into a person who will simply obey me. Besides, I always wanted a brother when I was a child. Someone who would stick by me with no question. Sworn to one another by blood. We are now, in more ways than one."

"You're sick," I say, voice breathless. "He's not your little bitch."

"My bitch, my pet, my assistant, my brother." He waves his hand in dismissal. "Call him whatever you like."

"This isn't going to make me magically want to be with you, Edward."

He rolls up the parchment and ties it with a ribbon that he pulls from his drawers. "When I am done with him, you won't want to even look at him."

"Show me," I spit. "Show me he will obey just like that."

I regret the words as soon as they spill out. Edward grins. "As you wish." He reaches for the jar of glimmering shadowteeth blood and tilts it at Ruben. "Care for a sip, brother?"

Ruben swallows bodily. "I've already had my quota for the day."

"But you need more," Edward coos. He stands, striding around the desk to him. "Drink it."

"Ruben, don't do it," I say.

"Yes, Ruben. Do it," Edward says, his nostrils flaring. "You either take it. Or I make you pin her down while I force it down her throat."

A war rages in Ruben's eyes and yet, he grasps the shadowteeth blood.

"Don't, Ruben!" I beg. But my muscles are made of stone, pinning me to the chair.

He rips the cork lid off and pours the blood down his throat, grimacing at the taste and wiping the dribble from his chin.

Disbelief and fury are a wild sea within me. The darkness of shadow creeps across my consciousness and I can't even stop myself. I launch myself off the seat, hurling my body over the desk, knocking him to the floor. Ruben shouts. But his voice is a din in my ears as Edward's head smacks into the marble and my hands wrap around his throat. Darkness consumes me as my fingers press into his windpipe, cutting off the air. "Pathetic, despicable," I hiss. "I'm going to kill all your Red Movement and the stupid sirens and then drag your sorry ass out of the kingdom. Shut you out. And you will be completely, utterly alone."

He lets out a strangled grunt and I revel in the feeling of the oxygen leaving his blood and his brain as he thrashes, even if it's just for a few moments. Ruben yanks me off, his nails digging into my flesh again. I kick and scream. "Monster! Monster!"

Edward scrambles to his face, shaking the glint of terror in his eyes and gently probing the fresh bruises forming around his neck. He clears his throat and fixes his alabaster balloon-sleeve shirt. "Take her back to the dungeon, brother." His voice is curt, laced with the hurt of what I did, and what I said.

But I am not done yet. "Mark my words, Edward. I will ensure you die in this world, cold and alone."

Then I wrench myself free from Ruben's grip and stalk out of the room, tears blinding my vision. I furiously wipe them away as Ruben jabs me into the back with the butt of a digger.

"I know where the dungeons are, Ruben," I growl at him, whirling around, staring at him with such fire and wrath that I feel the madness tugging me in. "Are you there?"

"What do you mean?" That voice is as icy as the peak of a mountain.

"He can't have manipulated your mind that much." I heave a ragged breath. Servants and Red Movement soldiers give us the side eye as they scurry in either direction of the wide hallway. Arched windows drink in the honey light of the early evening.

"It's better this way, Elle," he says.

"Better this way?" I almost throttle him, too. "Why did you take the shadowteeth blood, Ruben? What did he threaten you with?"

His eyes burn and I know the answer.

I reach out and touch his cheek, which is almost too hot against my hand. "You don't have to do this, Ruben. Not for me. Come home."

His hand flies up, grabbing my wrist and yanking it away from him, and I cry out. "I don't want to come home with you, Elle."

"That doesn't sound like your words," I hiss, yanking my hand from his grip. "Sounds like rehearsed lines Edward has fed you."

"You should just let it go. It's not good for you to be this worried."

"I will bring you back," I say. "You are still in there. I know who you are."

"Do you really think I will come running back to you?"

"Yes. I hold on to hope, Ruben."

He laughs lowly. "Do you know how weak that makes you sound?"

"That doesn't make me weak," I say, and slap him across the cheek. A muscle feathers in his clenched jaw. "It makes me strong."

Then I spin around and march away, showing myself to the stairs that lead to the dungeons, knowing there is no point in trying to escape now. Not with Ajax and Aston still below ground. We will come up with a plan together to save Ruben and end Edward before the madness takes me once and for all.