Page 120 of Mortis

KILL HIM, He roared. He bleeds our treasure. Tear out his heart in penance!

He clawed and thrashed, desperate to take control. But I fought Him with everything I had. Because if He emerged now, there would be no restraint. No thought. No understanding that two of the mortals standing amongst our enemies were ours.

Teddy and Arlo could become collateral damage.

I would not allow it.

“Kneel,” Sebastian repeated.

So I did.

I lowered myself onto one knee, then the other. Teddy must’ve noticed the movement despite his blurred vision, because he immediately began fighting his restraints. The sudden motion dragged his skin against the dagger, another streak of blood slipping down his chest.

“Kael, don’t!”

Rage burned through me, and fear clawed at my insides. But for Teddy, I smiled.

These people had forced me to kneel for more than a century. They had ordered me to commit unspeakable acts and punished me whenever I tried to disobey. They had kept me chained in the dark until hope became something I barely remembered possessing. Eventually, He broke those chains. He killed my captors and claimed our freedom.

Now, I willingly surrendered my pride and knelt before one of them again.

Not because Sebastian commanded it, but because I chose to.

“You are more important,” I told Teddy.

Because freedom wasn’t worth having if I couldn’t share it with him.

I returned my attention to Sebastian. He gazed down at me, smug satisfaction written across his face. As though seeing me on my knees had already convinced him of his victory. He handed the dagger to one of his followers, who took his place beside Teddy, keeping the blade poised above his heart.

Another seized Arlo.

“Get off me, you big oaf!” He kicked and writhed, but the man was considerably larger.

Eventually, Arlo stopped fighting, breathless from the effort and glaring murderously at his captor. Sebastian slowly rounded the altar, approaching me with measured steps, savouring every second he had me beneath him.

“If it hadn’t been for a YouTube video about a monster living in the woods, I probably never would’ve found you.” He stopped directly in front of me. “Most people thought the photograph they caught was a hoax.” His gaze travelled over my face before settling above it. “But I’d recognise those horns anywhere.”

He reached out.

Flick.

One finger struck the tip of my horn, and a sharp sting travelled through my skull. It was nothing compared to what his family had done to me.

I slowly lifted my gaze to his. Ice and honey. The same eyes I had spared all those years ago. “I should’ve killed you.”

Sebastian’s mouth curled into a smile.

“Yes. You should have.” He stepped to the side and began circling me, like a vulture waiting to pick at a carcass. “I remember everything about that night. How you burst into the atrium and started slaughtering them.”

I closed my eyes, and the memories came willingly.

Smoke choking the air. The stench of burning flesh. Blood coating my tongue. Dripping warm from my claws.

Screams.

So many screams.

“My mother saw an opening and dragged me from the room,” Sebastian continued. “We almost made it out. Freedom was within our grasp, and then you appeared.”