“Yes,” Val said, just for the satisfaction of saying. For the tiny gratification of watching the corners of Vlad’s mouth flex downward.
Vlad nodded, and sighed. “They won’t execute you.”
“Too valuable for that, huh?”
“But I will punish you.”
Val forced a laugh, hollow and hysterical. It hurt to laugh; it hurt to breathe. “What will you do, oh noble crusader? Impale me on one of your pikes? Add me to your forest? Or will you do what the sultan’s son did, and bend me over a table while I scream for Mother–”
“That’s enough.”
“I’ve been punished my whole life. What can you do to me?”
Vlad studied him a long moment. Then nodded, and lifted his head to glance at the technician who stood on the other side of the table. “Bring the collar.”
No, Val thought, insides shriveling. But with fake bravado, he said, “Are you that petty that you’d torture me because you didn’t get your way? Some prince you are – that’s what you’ve always done, isn’t it? You hurt the people who offend you.” The last he spit out as gloved hands snapped the collar around his neck, its cool weight spiraling his panic up, and up. Someone plugged something into it, a cord of some time. Val snuck a glance to the side and saw a machine that looked like a giant car battery, trailing lines that went up onto the table…and hooked into his cuffs.
“Some crusader you are,” he snarled at Vlad. “You couldn’t even save your own family.”
Vlad moved quick, a hand like a vise clamped on Val’s jaw before he could duck away. “And what would you have done? Compromise? There is no compromise with this evil. You’ve never understood that. Until you do, there can be no compromise between us, either.” He released Val and stepped back.
Val took a deep breath…that quickly turned into short, sharp pants. “Sometimes compromise is the only way to stay alive.” He’d meant to growl it, but it came out a whimper instead.
“And that’s what you want? That’s what you care about? Living?”
“Yes. If you’d ever allowed yourself to enjoy anything in life, if you–”
“My job is to protect my people.”
“Vlad–”
A low hum started up, and he felt the first hair-raising prickle of electricity.
“I did it to protect you all those years ago, you understand that, don’t you?” Val asked, desperate now, chest heaving in a way that tugged the pain into something sharp and bloody. “They would have cut out your heart and burned it. They would have done you like they did Father, and Mircea.”
Vlad didn’t respond.
“I just want to be loose. I’ll leave, and you won’t see me ever again.”
“When you’re ready to be sensible, we’ll talk again.”
“Vlad…”
Vlad looked at the technician, and nodded.
“No, Vlad, please…” He thrashed against his bonds, and he felt something in his shoulder give and start to bleed. “I’m your brother! Vlad, I’m your brother!”
The technician flipped the toggle, and his pleas turned to screams.
Vlad turned away. That was all he could see, through the pain and blue-white arcs of electricity that filled his mind: Vlad turning away. Again. Like always.
THE END
~*~
Val and the others will return in
Sons of Rome Book Three:
Dragon Slayer
Coming Soon!
Lauren Gilley is the author of twenty-two novels, several novellas, and short stories. She lives in the South.
Get Connected:
Blog: hoofprintpress.blogspot.com
Facebook: Lauren Gilley – Author
Twitter: @lauren_gilley
Instagram: @hppress
Email: [email protected]
Other Books by Lauren Gilley
Dartmoor Series
Fearless
Price of Angels
Half My Blood
The Skeleton King
Secondhand Smoke
Loverboy
American Hellhound
Shaman
Lean Dogs Legacy Series (Dartmoor spinoff)
Snow In Texas
Tastes Like Candy
Russell Series
Made for Breaking
God Love Her
“Things That Go Bang In The Night”
Keeping Bad Company
“Green Like the Water”
Walker Series
Keep You
Dream of You
Better Than You
Fix You
Rosewood
Standalones
Whatever Remains
Walking Wounded
“Love Is…” – Walking Wounded short
Red Rooster (Sons of Rome Book 2) Page 48
