Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,84

of him?” Hadn’t Niko done the same? His heart ached to think on how he’d fought him, how he’d instantly believed Amir because it would have made Vasili everything he’d feared. And it would have meant he didn’t have to care for him anymore. Because wasn’t that what Niko was afraid of more than anything else, more than this cell, more than elves? He feared loving someone who could never love him back.

“Where is he?” he asked.

“Safe.”

“Safe for you or for him?” She blinked, like the answer was obvious. “Don’t hurt him, Roksana. You know what he’s been through. Please… just… don’t hurt him.”

“Niko, he’s not who you think.”

Niko grimaced. Amir had said the same. But they were both wrong. “I know exactly who he is. He’s a monster, yes, but not the one you’re looking for. All he’s ever done is try to stop the elves and protect his people. You even said so yourself. You told me to go back to him. You said Leila would want that.”

Her dark eyes were sad, perhaps even understanding. “I told you to go to Loreen because you’d lead us right to him, and Leila was a fool who’d lost her way, the Yazdan way.”

Niko slammed his hands into the bars. “I’m ashamed of this wretched name, of you… All of you, if this is what you do with people who need help. All he’s ever wanted was to be nobody. He fucking knows he’s the last line of defense against the dark, and you… you do this to him? Everyone he’s ever trusted has turned on him.” Oh gods, that was the terrible truth. But he’d admitted to trusting Niko, flung the words at him because he hated that too. He didn’t want to trust, didn’t want to care, and Niko couldn’t blame him when it had always been thrown back in his face. “Just tell me you haven’t restrained him?” he asked quietly.

“He is… comfortable.”

He obviously wasn’t that. “Roksana.” He gripped the bars again. “Elves put him in a cage for eight years and bled him, please—by all the gods—please tell me you haven’t done the same. Please, just…” Her face fell, and he knew… he knew they were hurting Vasili. Maybe bleeding him. He moaned out the sudden, horrible ache and pushed from the bars. “Gods.”

“His blood is a potent source of the flame.”

He laughed and didn’t care that it sounded thin and strained. He despised her, despised them all, and shot her a look that cut her excuses off. Did nobody have any good in them, did nobody have any honor?

“Niko, he killed your grandfather, my father—”

“We don’t know that,” Niko snapped. “Amir is just as capable. Amir is more likely to have killed everyone here to spite me.” Oh, that was it. Amir would absolutely have killed the Yazdans if he knew Niko was getting close to them. Maybe it hadn’t been anything as complicated as the flame eradicating the enemy. Maybe it was just Amir being the vicious, relentless asshole he’d always been but with access to a horrifying power.

He thrust his hands into his hair and paced. He couldn’t let this happen. They couldn’t hurt Vasili again. “You have to let him go. He’s controlling it. He knows what he’s doing, but if you restrain him, if you bleed him… he’ll lose control. If we lose Vasili, we lose any chance at stopping it.”

“Nikolas!” she snapped, whirling him around like a slap to the face. “It will happen eventually anyway, don’t you see? Vasili was always going to lose that fight. It’s in his blood!”

“But you don’t have to damn well force him to surrender to it!”

Backing up, she shook her head, as though Niko was the failed one. “We have him contained. I’m launching a raid on Loreen to secure the king. We’ll contain it, as we always have.”

“Or set it free.”

“It’s not your fault, Niko.” She turned away and made for the exit.

“Roksana, I trusted you. Vasili trusted you. He does bad things, gods know he’s a prick, but deep inside he’s not a bad person.”

“I know,” she replied without stopping, “but it changes nothing. We’re doing the right thing, like we’ve always done. It’ll be over soon.”

Niko grabbed the can and tossed it through the bars at her, but she was already gone. The can struck the door and bounced back. Damn them all! Niko loosed a roar and kicked at the wall. He couldn’t let this happen. It wasn’t right. Vasili…