Page 24 of Terror at the Gates

“I guess he’s fine,” I said. This line of questioning made me uncomfortable.

“You aren’t seeing him, are you?”

“What?” I laughed, not because what he said was funny but because it was ridiculous. “Dad, no.”

I thought I hated the direction of our last conversation, but I hated this more. My relationship with Zahariev had boundaries, even when I teased. We’d never touched each other in a sexual way, never kissed. I wasn’t sure what kept that line so solid, but neither of us crossed it. Maybe it was because we were both, in some ways, indoctrinated—the families wouldn’t allow an heir to be with another heir, so there was no reason to give in to the temptation…not that there was any.

My father stared at me, and I knew he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth. Eventually, he relaxed and picked up his fork again.

I guessed he believed me.

“Do you have something against Zahariev?” I asked.

“No,” he replied. “Unless he touches you. Then I’ll kill him.”

His threat sent a chill down my spine, even though it was unnecessary. My father might have asked Zahariev to watchover me, but he did so because he had no choice. He didn’t trust the head of the Zareth family with me, his only child and heiress of the Leviathan family.

That was what he was really trying to protect: his empire.

“You can stop planning his murder, Dad,” I said. “Zahariev isn’t ever going to touch me.”

Zahariev

“You think he got drunk and fell in?” Cassius asked.

I stood opposite my brother, a few feet away from the steep embankment of the Kurari Sea Canal, staring down at the bloated body of a man. The skin was a grayish blue, and his tongue protruded from his mouth. Blood had dried in watery rivulets on his face.

This was Ephraim, the man Lilith had told me about last night.

“I’m not sure he’s that kind of victim, Cassius,” I said.

“Suicide?” he suggested.

It was what I would have assumed if it wasn’t for the blood.

“Only if he remembered confessing his sins to Lilith,” I said.

“You know something I don’t?” Cassius asked.

I didn’t reply. The answer was no.

I tensed, feeling someone nearing, and shifted slightly to see a man approach. His name was Histori. I knew him well and wasn’t surprised to see him. I suspected he’d been the one to drag Ephraim out of the canal. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d pulled corpses from the water.

“Just great,” I heard Cassius mutter under his breath.

I cast him a disapproving look.

“Tori,” I said.

“H-hey, Mr. Zareth, sir,” he said.

There were times when Tori sounded like an adult and times when he sounded like a twelve-year-old kid. Right now, he sounded like a kid.

“Did you pull ole Ephraim here out of the canal?” I asked.

“Y-yes, sir,” he said.

“Did you see him fall in?”