Goldeneye dodges the assault, shoving Grouse out of the way as he jumps out of Jackal’s reach. “Get out of here!” He cries, blocking a forceful punch from his jaw.
“Not without you!” Grouse shouts wildly, launching herself at Jackal’s exposed back.
Jackal whistles sharply as Grouse kicks the backs of his knees, forcing him to the ground. Within seconds, three more shadows loom behind the former members of the House of Vultures. Hyena bellows a halting, terrifying laugh like his namesake. The sound raises gooseflesh, and all fighting ceases.
“Get on your knees and hold your hands over your head,” Impala demands as Coyote distributes Jackal’s manacles among the rest of Wolf’s henchmen. When Goldeneye hesitates, Impala threatens, “You want to die right here? That can be arranged.”
Sensing defeat, Goldeneye, Grouse, and Bittern slide to their knees in defeat. Within moments the manacles bite into their wrists, and each of Wolf’s men tug sharply on their chains to get their prisoners moving. When Grouse gets too close for comfort, Jackal throws his foot into her path with a throaty chuckle. She tumbles down on the rocky ground, twisting her ankle as she lands.
“You bastard!” She howls in pain, wailing as she attempts to move her foot. “I think you broke it!”
“Pick her up,” Hyena whispers, his voice lacking all emotion as he motions for Bittern and Goldeneye to move.
“Sorry, Cyrus,” Bittern mutters in defeat, bending down toward the ailing Grouse.
Cyrus yanks on the binds that ensnare him, tearing at the bark of the tree that stands as his sentinel. He tries to pull his hands out of the manacles, uncaring whether or not the effort dislocates his thumbs. “No, please. Let them go!” He cries helplessly, thrashing and writhing as he fights in vain for escape. Yet nothing he attempts is successful. The binds that chew into his skin, the metal that gnaws into his flesh, are just too tight.
In vain, he watches his former housemates trudge toward the stables where the rest of the damned wait. The hours drift by slowly, and Cyrus remains attached to this tree, a silent spectator as he waits for his brother to remember him. While he can see Wolf’s men moving about the grounds, he cannot hear anything they say. The incessant crashing of the waves blots out every shouted word. Cyrus amuses himself by making up dialogue for the events that unfold around him, wondering just exactly what Wolf is doing. Is he torturing me by paranoia, making me wait and wonder about what is coming? Or did he tie me up here to die alone, abandoned and neglected?
As the sun begins its wayward descent over the water, Wolf returns to Cyrus’s side, a smug smile baring his teeth in triumph. “Well, little brother, it was a good show, don’t you think?” He plops down beside Cyrus as though he’s settling in for a long conversation with a dear friend.
Only Cyrus is not fooled by this ruse. “Let the others from my house go,” Cyrus attempts to bargain, hoping Wolf will take the deal he’s about to offer. “I’ll give you whatever you want, but please set them free.”
“It’s amazing to me how much you truly care about those people. Still, I can’t let them go; not after that stunt they pulled,” Wolf snickers, brushing his brother’s shoulder in an almost familiar, friendly embrace. “Besides, what do you have left that I could possibly want?”
Cyrus pauses, wondering the exact same thing. He’s won, Cyrus admits to himself, his shoulders crestfallen as he recognizes the truth. Iris hates me, Suryc’s abandoned me, and he’s already in control of me, body and soul. I have nothing left. “I…I’m begging you, brother. Please—if some part of you ever, even once, cared about me or Father—please let my housemates go free.”
“That all depends on them,” Wolf answers cryptically as he loosens the bonds pinning Cyrus to the tree. “Stand up! I’m taking you down to the house with me. I want you close by as they face trial. Treason is a death sentence, did you know?” He cackles with glee as he spurs Cyrus to move. “I want you to have a front row seat, to feel their lifeblood spurting onto your face. You will witness their final gurgling breaths and know that there is nothing you can do to stop me!”
All of this is my own fault. Cyrus reproaches himself bitterly as his feet squelch in the sand and mud. If I’d been a stronger leader, my house would never have fallen. If I’d been a tougher child, Wolf would never have had any reason to believe I could be beaten. If I’d been a better man, I’d never have ended up in this mess. Even Suryc has deserted me! Cyrus feels hot tears brimming in his eyes. Suryc? I’m sorry. I should have listened to you sooner and left when you first offered to save me. I was a fool to think I could ever find a way into Iris’s heart by following her orders. Are you there?
No response comes from his Ddraig as he hustles forward, certain that his death is finally near.
Chapter 13
“I will make this very simple,” Wolf announces over the crowded stable. There are so many members of the House of Piranhas filling the fenced area that none of them are able to sit. Men, women, and children are crammed together, a tangled mass of arms and legs that cannot move even to scratch an itch. “If you plead guilty, you will live. If you claim to be innocent, you will die a slow, brutal death. You have complete control over which fate you earn.”
“You ask us to lie for our lives? We did nothing wrong!” Someone shouts angrily from the
