Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,83
finding himself facedown on the floor, spluttering.
“Stay down,” Alissand barked.
Niko had made a mistake. Somewhere… sometime… he’d chosen the wrong side, the wrong ring. Damn them.
“Hurt Vasili and I’ll kill you!” Niko’s arms were yanked behind his back. A knee dug into his spine. Gods, no. This couldn’t happen. If they touched Vasili, if they restrained him, hurt him—it wasn’t right. It couldn’t happen. “Just… let us go, just listen. He came to help, he came for peace, gods-damn you, he’s not the enemy!”
Alissand loomed. “He came ashore with elves.”
“No, he didn’t,” Niko spluttered a laugh, “and if you knew him, you’d know why that’s impossible.” Alissand must have assumed Vasili was corrupted. Because of his past, perhaps. Or the rumors. Eight years as a prisoner. The rumors Amir had spread. Damn that rat for his lies! “He was on a ship, yes—Walla’s Heart. Find Captain Lajani. He’ll tell you everything, but trust me, Vasili would never work with elves.”
“You chose the Cavilles, Nikolas. We took you in, and this is how you repay us? There is no room for traitors among Yazdans.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the family. If you so much as cut Vasili, I will hunt you down, uncle, and rip your gods-damned—”
Alissand’s boot came down, delivering silence.
Wracking coughs dragged him from unconsciousness, dumping him onto the very real and cold floor of a prison cell. Breathing hard, he groaned and rolled on his back, waiting for his lungs to settle and the all-over throbbing to ease. Clearly, the beating hadn’t stopped after the boot to the face. His chest ached. He poked at it and found a few ribs moved in directions they shouldn’t. At least they hadn’t tied him.
Where was Vasili?
Besides himself, his cell was empty.
Alissand had caught them both unawares. And now they’d taken Vasili to gods knew where, which was exactly what they’d tried to avoid since arriving in Seran. Niko swore. The cold stone walls bounced the curse back at him.
Roksana would end this insanity. She’d learn of Vasili’s capture, come get Niko, and this would be some hideous error of his uncle’s.
He grabbed the cold iron bars and pulled himself onto his feet, then rested there a while, forehead pressed to the bars, to catch his breath. Then he heard breathing—and not his own.
The elf in the opposite cell had shuffled closer to his own bars, as close as the chains fixed to the floor would allow. His red-eyed glare skimmed over Niko in wordless assessment.
Niko bared his teeth, but the elf continued to stare.
Putting Niko in here with an elf was probably Alissand’s idea of irony.
He looked around for anything he could use to make some noise and found a tin cup. He sniffed the water it contained, tasted it, found it fresh, gulped it down, and then rattled the empty can against the bars. “Hey!” The coughing started up again, but he kept rattling the can between the bars until the torch on the wall had burned low, and someone finally opened the door.
Roksana appeared, a fresh torch in her hand. He watched her replace the burned-out one on the wall.
“You’re just going to ignore me?”
“Nikolas…” she sighed. “We couldn’t wait any longer for you to see the truth. It’s clear you’re emotionally entangled with the prince.”
“Truth? What truth was I supposed to see? The fact Alissand is an asshole, verging on dangerous? Will you unlock this door? Have you seen Vasili? Is he all right?”
She blinked back at him like she hadn’t heard a damn word.
“Roksana?” He stared through the bars. “I’m with Vasili to help control the flame. That’s why we came here. Nothing else. You know this.”
“He’s turned you.” She shook her head. “A Yazdan.”
“What?” This was ludicrous. “What does that even mean?” The blood. Yasir. “Wait, you think he gave me his blood?” Niko snorted.
“Did he?”
“Fuck no.”
“But he did with Yasir.” A statement. Not a question.
Why wasn’t she opening the damn cell? “Roksana, you know Vasili. He wrote you. You know he’s not like the rest of the Cavilles. He comes off as vicious and manipulative but—granted, he is that—but that’s not all he is.”
She approached the bars. “Yes, I know the prince. He’s calculative, manipulative, and powerful. He killed his father, his brother, my father, and our guests. He has to be stopped. I had hoped you’d stop him, but I was wrong.”
“You have it all wrong.” Niko’s grip tightened on the bars, making them groan. “Gods, why does everyone think the worst