Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,70
trusted you.”
“But I can’t trust you. I don’t know if you killed the Yazdans—you could have. You came at me, Vasili, opening a vein, ordering me to kill you.”
“You know that’s not me!”
Yasir emerged from the cabin. “Niko, stand down. We don’t have time—”
Niko flung him a snarl. “You don’t get to tell me to stand down.”
He lifted his hands. “I’m not your enemy. Neither is Vasili.”
“You have no fucking idea what he is.” Niko jabbed Vasili in the chest. “If I was still inside that carriage, I’d be dead.”
“But you weren’t, and you aren’t.” Vasili stepped back. “It was the only way to see off those beasts.”
“Would it have mattered if I were dead? Do you give a shit about any of this? Yasir? Me?”
“You’ve asked me that before.” He ran a hand through his hair and flicked the excess water from his fingers. “You know the answer.”
“That was then.” Niko lifted his chin and backed up a step. “All of this… Trying to buy me in the Stag and Horn, because of my name, making me think you’re some trapped victim in a life you don’t want. Is it all an elaborate plan to claim all of the flame for yourself and use it to destroy the elves?”
Vasili’s soft lips parted. He blinked slowly, almost seductively, and hesitated, searching for the right words. Niko had no idea what was taking so long because the answer was clearly fucking yes.
“You son of a bitch.” He stepped back again. “You lying, manipulative, poisonous fucking snake of a man.”
“Nothing has changed.”
Niko held a hand up and went back to cradling his limp arm. “Everything has changed.”
“Just your understanding of it all.”
“And to think I cared for you.” Niko turned away and squinted at Seran’s shining lights.
“You don’t.”
“Don’t fucking tell me how I feel, Vasili, when you’re incapable.”
Vasili sighed. “Did you learn nothing from loving Julian?”
“Mention him again and I’ll kill you with my bare hands.” He made a step toward Vasili and caught sight of Yasir tensing up. Shadows swam in the captain’s eyes. Damn them both to Etara’s deserts.
Niko barked a shrill laugh. And to think he’d been a part of this, he’d helped Vasili.
“Was that why we came to Seran, so you could kill the Yazdans, gain their strength for the flame, lure your brother into unfamiliar territory, overpower him, and take the flame all for yourself? You had Roksana, someone who knew the city and the family, someone who could get you inside. Gods, the more I think on it all, the more it all falls into place. You hated your palace and everyone in it. You set the fire, freeing you up to abandon it, just like Amir said. You don’t care about being king. You never have, so you let Amir claim it. The guards were your experiment, and so are the beasts. That one in the desert wasn’t attacking you, it was feeding from you. It’s always been about the flame, using it, controlling it, doing anything and everything to manipulate it to do your bidding, just the same as you do to everyone you meet. The Yazdans had no idea you had them in your sights. They couldn’t have prepared for you. Nobody can.”
Vasili wet his lips. He cradled his broken wrist against his chest again and waited, letting the words settle around them. “Eight years, Nikolas. Eight entire years and every day, they cut me open and took more of me. If you think I won’t do everything in my power to stop them, then you really don’t know me at all.”
Niko closed his eyes. It was true. Amir had been right about all of it. And the worst of it was, Niko had somewhere in all of this learned to care for Vasili. He’d fallen for the lie again.
“I can’t…” I can’t do this, I can’t be here, I can’t survive you.
“Gentlemen, we need to set sail,” Yasir said. “I have to ready the ship or risk the Yazdans sinking her after that shit-show we just escaped. I need your help to do that. I can’t sail her alone, and my crew is scattered.”
Niko opened his eyes and headed for the gangplank.
“Don’t leave.” Vasili’s words almost stopped him, they tripped him, but he kept on walking.
“Nikolas, if you leave, I can’t control it.”
His boots thumped down the plank.
“Nikolas!” Vasili snapped, wielding his name like a whip crack. “I need you.”
Niko pulled up short at the end of the plank. Nothing had changed.