I never should’ve said anything to him. “At least that cage was more comfortable than this one.”
“True,” he murmured, and a heartbeat passed. “But you’ve never been free.”
“True or not.” And it was painfully true. “That doesn’t mean I’ll stop fighting you,” I warned. “I won’t submit.”
“I know.” There was an odd tone to his voice, one that sounded like…admiration. But that didn’t make sense.
“And you’re still a monster,” I told him.
“I am, but I wasn’t born that way. I was made this way. You asked about the scar on my thigh. Did you look at it closely, or were you too busy staring at my co—”
“Shut up,” I screamed.
“You should’ve noticed that it was the Royal Crest branded on my skin,” he said, and I gasped. It had looked like the Royal Crest. “Do you want to know how I have such intimate knowledge of what happens during your fucking Ascension, Poppy? How I know what you don’t? Because I was held in one of those Temples for five decades, and I was sliced and cut and fed upon. My blood was poured into golden chalices that the second sons and daughters drank after being drained by the Queen or the King or another Ascended. I was the godsdamn cattle.”
No.
I couldn’t believe this.
“And I wasn’t just used for food. I provided all sorts of entertainment. I know exactly what it’s like to not have a choice,” he continued, and horror followed his words. “It was your Queen who branded me, and if it hadn’t been for the foolish bravery of another, I would still be there. That is how I got that scar.”
Without any warning, his hands slipped off mine, and he pulled away. Trembling, I didn’t move. Not for several long moments. When I turned around, he was already outside the cell.
If what he said was true…
No. It couldn’t be. Gods, it could not be.
Suddenly unbearably cold, I folded my arms around myself, crossing the chains.
Hawke stared at me through the bars. “Neither the prince nor I want to see you harmed. As I’ve said, we need you alive.”
“Why?” I whispered. “Why am I so important?”
“Because they have the true heir to the kingdom. They captured him when he freed me.”
I thought that the Dark One was the only heir to the Atlantian throne. If what Hawke said was true, it could only mean…“The Dark One has a brother?”
He nodded. “You are the Queen’s favorite. You’re important to her and to the kingdom. I don’t know why. Maybe it has something to do with your gift. Perhaps it doesn’t. But we will release you back to them if they release Prince Malik.”
All of what he’d just said slowly seeped into my brain. “You plan to use me as ransom.”
“That’s better than sending you back in pieces, isn’t it?”
Disbelief thundered through me, quickly followed by that pulsing pain that came from my chest. “You just spent all this time telling me that the Queen, the Ascended, and my brother, are all evil vamprys who feed on mortals, and you’re just going to send me back to them once you free the Dark One’s brother?”
Hawke said nothing.
A broken, too-wet-sounding laugh left me. If what he said was true, it confirmed what was already becoming evident.
He didn’t care for my safety or well-being beyond making sure I was breathing when the time came to make the exchange.
I lifted my hand to my chest to ease the throb as another laugh crept up on me.
Hawke’s jaw flexed. “A more comfortable sleeping arrangement will be made.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, but he surely wasn’t getting a thank you from me.
His chin lifted. “You can choose not to believe anything I’ve said, but you should so that what I’m about to say doesn’t come as such a shock to you. I will be leaving shortly to meet up with King Da’Neer of Atlantia to tell him that I have you.”
My head jerked upright.
“Yes. The King lives. So does Queen Eloana. The parents of the one you call the Dark One and Prince Malik.”
Shocked, I couldn’t move as he turned to leave, but he stopped.
And Hawke didn’t look back as he said, “Not everything was a lie, Poppy. Not everything.”
Chapter 37
Not everything was a lie.
Which part?
The story about Hawke’s brother? The rest of his family? Farming his lands, and the caverns he used to explore as a child? That he’d been in love before and had lost? Or all the things he’d said about me?