Chapter 64

Neil

The stone floor was unforgiving as I hit it for the second time, the rough surface scraping against my cheek. I spat a wad of blood out onto the ground, my arms twisting violently against the iron grips of the warriors holding me down.

I fought like hell—had been fighting like hell since the moment they dragged me into the dungeons. They’d overpowered me, and now their boots pinned my arms to the floor, their weight enough to keep even someone like me from breaking free.

But I thrashed anyway, refusing to give them the satisfaction of my surrender.

“Keep him still,” one of them growled, the strain in his voice betraying the effort it took to restrain me. I heard a laugh, then felt a hard boot roughly press my face into the stone floor.

The cold air of the cell bit into my skin, every breath sharp and painful as I struggled against the hands holding me down. I fought like hell, kicking and snarling, but it was no use. There were too many of them.

Then I heard it—the slow, deliberate creak of the cell door opening.

My body stilled instinctively, my heart pounding like a war drum in my chest as heavy footsteps echoed against the stone walls. One of the warriors roughly grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head up off the floor, but I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

“Caleb,” I ground out through clenched teeth, wrenching my head free and spitting out another wad of blood and saliva right at his feet. “My own brother…”

Caleb tilted his head, feigning curiosity as he crouched down to my level. “Brother?” he spat out the word like venom. “You were never my brother, Neil. From the moment you were born, I hated your guts.”

I didn’t react, refusing to give him the satisfaction. But Caleb’s smirk only widened.

“Edrick only tolerated you, too,” he continued, rising back to his feet. “You know, once, when you were a baby, I tried to drown you in the bathtub? Edrick just watched. You would be dead if it weren’t for my saint of a mother walking in and ruining the moment. For some reason, she always doted on you even though you were the son of some lowly village whore.”

My jaw tightened, but I held his gaze. He was just trying to intimidate me. “What is all this for, Caleb?” I asked, jerking my chin toward the cell door, the warriors holding me down, the sword on his hip that was clearly meant for my execution.

Caleb stepped closer, his boots clicking against the floor. He loomed over me, his smirk twisting into something darker. “Consorting with Werewolves,” he said, his voice low and menacing. “Do you have any idea of the disgrace you’ve brought to this family? To this kingdom?”

“I want to speak to our father,” I said sharply, ignoring the throbbing pain in my jaw from a solid punch I’d endured earlier. “I’ll answer to him, not you.”

At that, Caleb laughed. It was a cold, hollow sound that echoed through the cell. “You think you’re entitled to speak to the King now?” he sneered. “You’re an illegitimate son, Neil. A stain on this family’s name. You don’t deserve to look him in the eye, let alone plead your case after what you’ve done.”

I glared up at him, my chest heaving as I fought to keep my temper in check. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’ve consorted with no one.”

Caleb’s smirk returned, and he reached into the folds of his cloak. “No one?” he repeated mockingly. “Is that so?”

With a flourish, he pulled out a stack of papers and tossed them onto the floor in front of me. The top page slid closer, and my stomach twisted as I recognized the image: a modeling photograph of Raven.

Caleb gave the pile of papers a nudge with his boot, revealing the rest. More and more photos from her modeling days. Pictures of her in public. Files that contained detailed information about her life, her family, and her business.

“What is this?” I demanded, feigning ignorance.

“Evidence,” Caleb said simply. “You thought you could sneak around with a Werewolf and we wouldn’t find out? Did you really think we’re that stupid?”

“I did not know,” I said quickly, sticking to the story I’d prepared all those months ago with Raven. “I thought she was Serena—I only just found out her true identity yesterday. She tricked me. But she’s gone now.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed, and his smirk faded. “Don’t insult my intelligence, Neil. You expect me to believe that you were duped by some shallow, airheaded Werewolf model with a godsdamned perfume business?” He barked a laugh. “Pathetic.”

I gritted my teeth, refusing to rise to the bait. “Regardless, I know nothing of this conspiracy you’re accusing me of,” I said firmly. “I have no connection to the Werewolves or the rogues.”

“No connection?” Caleb repeated, clicking his tongue. “Perhaps we should ask the real Serena, then.”

My heart stopped when I heard her name. “What?”

Caleb’s smirk returned, wider than before. “Oh, yes,” he cooed, slipping a knife out of the sheath at his hip and inspecting the blade. “We found her, tied up and terrified in a cage inside a rogue camp. Turns out she’d been taken during that caravan raid after all.”

I swallowed hard. “I know nothing about that,” I growled. “But if you hurt her, I swear I—”

“Calm yourself, Neil.” With that, he turned toward the cell door and gestured sharply with his chin. A moment later, two warriors entered the cell, dragging a frail figure between them, her toes barely dragging across the floor.

My breath caught as I saw her face.

It was Serena. The real Serena.

My fiancee. My friend. Alive.

But despite Caleb’s words, she was still bound and gagged, her once-beautiful dress torn and dirty. Her brown eyes were wide with fear beneath her golden hair, her body trembling as the warriors shoved her forward. She stumbled, falling to her knees in front of Caleb, and let out a cry of pain from behind her gag as her joints met the cold stone floor.

“Serena—” I tried to move forward to catch her, but I couldn’t. Not when one of the warriors sharply hit me upside the head with his fist and yanked me back.

Caleb simply looked down at her with a sneer for a moment before he shook his head disdainfully and turned back to me. “Let’s see what she has to say about all this, shall we?”

With that, he crouched, grabbing a fistful of her hair. I shouted something, some obscenity or another that I couldn’t hear over the blood rushing through my ears, as he wrenched her head up from the floor. Fresh tears sprang to her eyes when she suddenly saw me there, and she began to scream from behind the gag—my name.

“Now, now,” Caleb cooed as he raised his knife. “Let’s all just calm down now and have a nice… civil… chat.”

And with a flick of his wrist, he cut her gag free.