traveling alone. Was that why he’d lured him south?
Niko’s twitching smile was alive on his lips. “Poison me with your blood and I’ll stab you in the fucking heart—if you have one.”
Yasir glanced between them, and when the silence dragged on, he cleared his throat again. “It seems to me that you’ve both been dealing with something far larger than you are for too long. You clearly need help.”
Vasili gestured and humbly dipped his head. “You’re correct, Yasir. I was asking for help, but Nikolas saw fit to fling accusations instead.”
Niko shot the prince a deadly look and then angled himself toward Yasir, deliberately not rising to Vasili’s bait. Yasir was a victim in all of this. And what was done to him was wrong. “In the morning, pack up your belongings and leave—go home, somewhere safe, get away from us.”
Vasili’s glare turned icy.
Yasir knew too much, but Niko didn’t care. “I’ve seen the dark flame,” he told the merchant, watching his face tighten. “I saw what it did to Talos. I know Amir, the prince—king—it’s corrupting now, and I know what it will do to Vasili. There’s no way this ends happily. If you walk away now, you can escape it all. The effects of the blood, if there are any, will hopefully wear off. You can still get away, Yasir. Don’t throw your life away for Vasili Caville’s sweet lies.”
Yasir mused on the words, occasionally glancing at Vasili. “I appreciate the thought, Nikolas. But I want to help.”
“You’ll die.”
“Nikolas—” Vasili warned.
Niko glared at the prince, and Vasili glared back. “You gave me no choice when you threw me in your dungeons.”
Yasir choked on his tea. “You did that to him?”
“I…”
“Oh, that’s not all he’s done,” Niko laughed dryly. “Vasili, you claim to have no choices either. Yasir has a choice. Are you really going to take that from him like you took everything from me?”
Vasili pursed his lips and looked down. When he looked up again, his gaze slid to Yasir. “Nikolas is right,” he said softly. “I was not forthcoming with the facts. You cannot make an informed decision if you are not informed. You were looking for magic in me, some… link to your myths, and I am not that. What I have given you is far from good. It was only a small amount, but I was wrong”—he flicked a glance at Niko—“to inflict it upon you. Nikolas is also right in that this will likely end badly for everyone involved. You are a good man, Yasir. Albeit one who talks far too much. You should not have to share the burden of this curse. It is mine to bear alone.”
Niko wasn’t sure—especially as Vasili looked at him like he wanted to stick a dagger somewhere vulnerable—but it had sounded as though Vasili had just apologized, in his own Caville way.
Yasir sipped his tea. “I understand.” He considered the words and nodded, either to himself or Vasili. “I’ll take a walk, I think.” He stood and brushed his clothes down.
“Now?” It was dark beyond the firelight, and there would be predators out there.
“I need to think. Alone. It’ll be fine. I’ll stay close… I just… I can’t think with you both staring at me.”
Niko watched him head through the thick leaves and disappear. He raised an eyebrow at Vasili’s carefully measured expression. “If you haven’t fucked him up for life, it’ll be a miracle.”
“Thank you, once again, for your startling honesty.” Sarcasm dripped from the prince’s words. “You told him who I am. If he talks, the repercussions are on you.”
“If he talks, I doubt anyone will believe a word of it.”
“Amir?”
“Is far away, probably staring at his own reflection while pleasuring himself.”
Vasili’s small snort alleviated some of the tension between them.
“You apologized. That must be new for you. Did it hurt?”
Vasili flashed him a hollow smile. “As much as the family dinner I once ordered you to attend.”
Niko smiled. “Agony, then.” Mention of the dinner pulled his mind back to how Vasili had collapsed after, the dark flame withdrawing into King Talos. Vasili had suffered. His whole life had been degrees of suffering as he’d watched the madness taint everyone around him. The prince never really had been free to choose anything, except when he’d pretended to be a farm boy, and Niko had flung that back at him when they’d argued. It had been a coward’s blow, and he regretted saying it. Maybe he’d deserved that slap.
Perhaps Niko did try and force Vasili