Page 135 of Moonlight Hearts

I didn’t like that.I hadn’t liked it then, but now, after finding myself, I liked it less.

With the flat of my palm, I hit the tray from underneath, causing it to go flying, that branch thing with it.It clattered onto the fancy carpets, and I wished it would leave a mark there.

The boy started trembling, the silk scarf just barely covering him shaking with it.

Caecilius made a reptilian hissing sound.“I apologize.My servants are clumsy.It’s my fault for not training them well.”

He raised his hand and tried for a noble gesture to beckon the boy to him.Still trembling, the boy took a step toward the naga.

Logically, I knew I should be scared out of my mind.For all I knew, there was a witch on the other side of the door just behind us, and Caecilius was right here, clearly powerful if you only considered his physique.

And yet, this whole setup, the commanding attitude, the air of superiority, I’d lived with that all through my childhood, and I had since learned to loathe it.

I grabbed the boy with my free hand.“Stay right here.”

Thaeros gasped.So did the boy, his eyes going wide.

“What is this now, Amory?That is your name, yes?I think something…simpler would suit you better.”

“It’s my name, and it suits me just fine.”

He smirked.“Would you like to keep my servant as your own?”

“I’m not letting him go back to you, that’s for damn sure.”I had no idea what I was doing though.I didn’t know if Soyer would have said this, or if he’d have done this, if it was correct in the world of supernaturals, but it felt right.

Still smirking, Caecilius raised his massive snake’s tail.It whipped through the air, too fast to follow, and before I could quite comprehend, he’d struck another one of his attendants right in the head.

I wasn’t sure if it had been a man or a woman at first.Blood exploded.The head was simply gone.The sight was sickening.The sounds were worse.Someone screamed.Thaeros.Elias was holding on to me and shivering so hard, I was scared he’d tear off the arm of the jacket he’d loaned me.

“There, that’s better,” Caecilius said.

I couldn’t tear my eyes off the blood on the carpets.It soaked into the fabric, made all those patterns look darker.I couldn’t understand why Caecilius would let his rage out and ruin his own carpets.Who did it serve then, this foul display of violence?

I tore my eyes away from the carpet.“You’re insane.You’ve gone mad.”

He laughed.“Oh, you poor thing.I am the only one who isn’t.Now, we should talk.Rather, you should listen, and then after, I will give you a choice.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Iinchedawayfromthe door and the witch possibly right behind it, trying to get everyone else to move with me.I’d made it a few steps along the wall of the room, away from the blood, when I realized we might have to run out of here again, no matter that there was a witch behind us.

Caecilius made a point to look at the boy servant I was still holding on to, at Elias, who was cowering and squeezing his eyes shut, at Thaeros, whose blue coat had slid off one shoulder.His coat… I looked closer.He was bleeding from his shoulder, thick drops melting into the ridiculous sea of carpets under our feet.

“Thaeros.”

He turned, followed where I was looking.“The witch, I think.I barely felt it.It’ll be fine probably, right?”

He didn’t look fine.He was pale.We shouldn’t have taken him; Ambrose had been right about that.Then again, me being here wasn’t much better.But I was here, and I was going to do whatever I could to get everyone out safely.To make sure the witch didn’t get her hands on Soyer ever again.

“Did you drag the plebian scum with you to make you seem grander than you are?”Caecilius asked.“I am not blind, you know.You are no better than they.You are insignificant.”

“They just got dragged into this.They have nothing to do with this.”

Caecilius whipped the tip of his tail around near his head.“But I am grateful.It will be fun watching the narcissan compete against his brother.A fight to the death, perhaps.Or do they fuck, do you think?It must have been a fantasy, at least at some point.”

Thaeros looked up in abject shock.He was bleeding a lot.

“Leave him out of this.I heard what Soyer told you, that he wants you to make obeisance.”