Page 105 of Castle of the Cursed
MY SISTER IS SUSPENDED FROM the ceiling in a cage made of shadows.
From here, she watches Prince Bastian on a massive stone throne that sits atop an elevated dais, as two hooded beings are brought before him. Their hands are bound in front of them in black stone cuffs. An entire array of guards accompanies the prisoners.
A pair of Bleeders pull back the prisoners’ hoods, and Antonela’s eyes grow wide as she sees Red and Cyclops.
“Why are they bound? Why are you here?” Bastian demands of the guards. “You know I prefer to hunt my food.”
“This is to cancel their magic,” says the Bleeder who escorted my sister to the prince’s giant bodyguard. “They are casters.”
The prince stares at the prisoners’ bound hands. “It is a violation of the treaty—”
“We have permission,” says that same guard. “They brought the human here in exchange for blood. We reached out to the casters to confirm their story, and we were informed that murdering a being of Brálaga blood carries the penalty of death—even if the perpetrators are Brálagas, too.”
Bastian smirks and looks up at where he knows my sister is watching. “You may go,” he says to the guards.
“Respectfully, we cannot risk their magic—”
“I can handle two bound and powerless prisoners,” snaps the Iron Prince. “Just like I can handle an entire squad of you.” His gaze trails along the line, staring every guard down. “You may go.”
This time, they obey.
Still, it’s clear Bastian’s safety trumps his own authority.
Once he’s alone with them, Red kneels and says, “Please, Prince Bastian, we brought you that delicious human because we thought you would enjoy it.”
Cyclops drops to their knees, too. “We truly meant no disrespect.”
The prince waits them out as they beg for their lives, and when they finish, he waits even longer, until his silence is louder than their words.
“So,” he says at last, and both Red and Cyclops jump to their feet. “Shall I kill them?”
“No!”
“Please!”
“I was not asking either of you,” he says, and they trade confused glances. Bastian looks up, and the prisoners gasp as they notice the cage and Antonela within it.
“What do you think?” he asks my sister.
She looks down, pressing her face to the shadowy bars of the cage. “No,” she says. “Do not hurt them.”
Even I’m confused. They just tried to have her murdered. “They sold you to me as a meal,” says the prince, putting it more colorfully.
Antonela lifts her chin. “So they get to turn me into a monster?”
He frowns, but Red and Cyclops stare at my sister in awe, like they’ve never seen a creature like her.
“Pick one,” the Bleeder commands her.
“For what?” asks my sister.
“Pick one, or it’s both.”
My sister points to Cyclops.
Red screams, their face splattered with blood, as Bastian rips out Cyclops’s throat and takes a deep drink.
When he’s finished, his face is smeared with blood. He looks up at my sister. “Congratulations. Your first kill.”
