The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(85)

He whirled around to face Caius. “Why?”

“You will speak when you are spoken to!” Caius snapped, all trace of the kind old man gone.

Alypia sniggered. “And if you could refrain from conjuring another of your golden beasts, I’d appreciate it.”

Sharply, Caius grasped Alex by the scruff of his shirt and shoved him a step closer to Alypia. “I believe this is what you’re after, dear Niece?” said Caius in a low, menacing voice. “I trust you will leave us in peace now, without running to your father?”

“It is, dear Uncle,” she replied, the glee evident in her words. “And I’m almost certain this is enough to keep me from saying a word about your ineptitude, though it will make me awfully sad not to see the expression on his face—I do so love it when you disappoint him.” She flashed her coldest smile in Caius’s direction.

With that, Caius yanked Alex backward slightly. “Then it seems there are negotiations to be made,” he stated, moving Alex farther back still. “I know the value of the boy in my hands. I want to ensure I get a good deal, seeing as your daddy behaves as if I am undeserving of reparations. I will not simply hand him over and let you have all the glory, dear Niece—so if that is what you were after, I suggest you hop on back to your false utopia and leave me to my own devices. If your pride will permit negotiation, however, then we can talk,” he said, as he turned to leave the room with Alex in tow.

“Why are you doing this? I trusted you!” Alex spat, trying to wriggle free of the old man’s grasp. He was shockingly strong, and held on tightly.

“SILENCE!” Caius roared, shoving Alex roughly onto a chair.

“Here, these might help,” purred Alypia, throwing a set of cuffs at Caius. They were the same grim manacles Alex had seen before, the twist of gray ivy painfully familiar.

“Excellent foresight, I’ll admit,” Caius remarked, catching them deftly.

As Caius bent to lock Alex’s wrists between the cuffs, Alex tried to head-butt him, but the old warden was too quick, ducking cleanly out of the way. When Alex writhed and struggled, Caius simply held him still with vise-like strength, before sitting in the armchair opposite Alypia.

“What will you offer me in return for Alex and the stolen bottles?” Caius asked. “I could do with something to bolster the king’s opinion of me. I’m fairly certain that handing over the key to his survival would do just that, improving my standing at court immensely, but I’m open to options, if you can come up with something better to offer?” Caius remarked, a smirk upon his thin lips. “You seem to want it more.”

Alypia glared. “You could certainly use a bit of collective good opinion, but I’m not sure even Alex’s particular charms could clear your name, not after what you did,” she sneered. “Unnatural acts aren’t often forgiven, as you well know, and there is nothing more unnatural or abhorrent than that relationship you had with that thing. You’re just lucky you never got yours with child,” she spat, her face a twisted vision of abject repulsion.

Though Alypia missed the stern, icy expression on Caius’s face, it had not gone unnoticed by Alex. He could feel the old man bristling beside him, color rushing into his pale cheeks.

“You think your mother was any different to me?” Caius hissed.

A look of shock lit up Alypia’s face. “My mother is nothing like you!”

“Isn’t she?” Caius taunted. “Didn’t she fall in love with one of them too? Isn’t she exactly like me? Isn’t that why your brother is the way he is—an impossible child, forged by an impossible love?”

This seemed to rile the crown princess. “Don’t you dare put my mother in the same category as you, you perverted old man. My mother was forced—my mother never asked for any of it, and it’s because of his kind and you disgusting Spellbreaker sympathizers that it happened to her. It wasn’t love, it was a foul, unwarranted attack on a pure-hearted woman. How dare you besmirch her name! How dare you try to defend what that awful creature did to her.”

“If you believe that, dear Alypia, you’re not nearly as smart as I gave you credit for—and I didn’t think you were smart to begin with,” he retorted, his own anger flaring. “Your mother loved a Spellbreaker, and you can’t deal with it. Everyone knew, and they would have continued to know the truth of it if I hadn’t covered it all up for her, saving her life in the process. What thanks have I ever had?” Caius snarled. “You must face the truth of the matter!”

Enraged, Alypia was in full swing now, spurred on by words she clearly didn’t want to hear. Fury flashed wildly in her pale eyes, her lips drawn back in a cruel sneer.

“You know how she died, don’t you—your Spellbreaker whore?” she gloated. “I saw it for myself, though I was only a child at the time. That sad, pathetic scream of her last hope being dashed, like her head upon the rock my father ended her tragic life with—after he’d torn everything from within her, naturally,” she muttered coldly, a devious smile upon her lips. Alex tried to squeeze his eyes shut against the mental image, but he couldn’t help but visualize the hideous scene.

“Don’t speak of her,” said Caius quietly, the torment clear in his golden eyes. As much as he currently wanted to dash Caius’s head against a rock, Alex couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity.