Page 225 of Cruelly Bitten

Still, I needed to play this just right. Learn what safety measures he might have in place. Discover exactly what he’d accomplished and what he intended to do.

Then I would strike.With my queen by my side.

Which meant I had to keep indulging him in this game.

“I can’t say if your experiment worked or not,” I told him. “I can’t remember who I was a century or so ago. But I know who I am today. And the only part of this that truly angers me is how you led me to believe I was the Liege when I originally woke up.”

His dark eyebrow inched upward. “What about your missing memories and what the tool did to you over the last twelve decades?”

“I don’t remember any of it. If I did, I might feel differently. But what I do recall is waking up to a bunch of information that turned out to be lies. I don’t take kindly to being manipulated, Cane.”

“They weren’t lies. Lilith’s logs were originally meant for me, but I had them altered for you to give you purpose. If you want the throne, it’s yours. I don’t want to lead. That’s not my skill. I work much better behind the scenes, which is why Lilith was the face while I focused on curing you.”

There was that word again—curing.

My brother truly believed he’d been helping me.

“I’m going to need some time to process this,” I told him honestly. “The sun is also giving me a fucking headache.”

That last part wasn’t necessarily true, but I wanted some time with Ismerelda. I could feel her beginning to stir, our mental link humming with life as her body started to heal.

“I know we still have a lot to discuss, and I’m very interested in how you created your immortal toys. But it’s been a long fucking night. I want blood. Maybe a good fuck to work out some of this aggression. And a nap.”

He nodded. “I’ve already started showing you how I created them—by using the Blessed Ones. I’d set it all up for you to replicate the process, but you left before I finished the demonstration.”

He stood before I could reply, not that I knew what to say.

“What I haven’t determined yet is how to prolong lycan life. But that part hasn’t been my priority. I’ve put Mira in charge of that since that’s her desire more than mine.” He ran his hands over his suit jacket. “However, we can review everything in depth in a few hours.”

I joined him in standing, mostly because I could feel Ismerelda starting to breathe again. It made me want to be closer to her, to hold her as she regained consciousness.

Although, it would be tricky.

Because I had no doubt there were cameras in this room. They might not be in the same place as they were in my previous quarters, but there was no way my brother trusted me to behave.

All of this was another glorified experiment.

The only difference now was I knew about it.

Play the game,I told myself, the words similar to what I’d said to Ismerelda a few hours ago.We’re both going to have to play the game together.

Which meant her waking wouldn’t be very enjoyable. For her, anyway.

“I’ll leave you to feed and fuck,” my brother murmured. “If you’d like a different flavor, just use the staircase I pointed to earlier. You’ll find an entire room full of treats below. Maybe they’ll appeal to you more than the blood virgins did.”

He gave me a knowing look as he issued that last line—telling me he’d absolutely observed my time with the blood virgins and knew I hadn’t really touched any of them.

“Enjoy your day, brother,” he added.

He left when I didn’t respond, a smirk teasing the edges of his mouth.

I locked the door behind him. Not that it would make much of a difference.

Growling under my breath, I prowled around the room, noting the contents of the fridge, checking the bathroom, which contained the basic necessities, and eventually found myself standing next to the bed, my focus on Ismerelda.

“Wake up,” I demanded, the anger in my tone meant for my brother, not for Ismerelda. But he wouldn’t know that. He’d read it as impatience.

Because that was the purpose of this—to provide Cane with proof that his little experiment had worked. That I no longer possessed my humanity.