Finn's POV
"As the ruler of Mediland," I said, my voice smooth, "I meet with the king every now and then to report on recent affairs. Is there any problem with this?"
"If you only want to meet," he said, his words clipped, "you should make an appointment with the Foreign Affairs Bureau and wait in line like everybody else."
I gave a cruel smile, though he couldn't see it. "If you tell Lucian about my request for an audience, I think he'll agree to see me immediately."
"Blind confidence is no different from stupidity," he shot back.
I ignored the jab. "You haven't answered my question, Mr. Cleary. Do you know who started the fire?"
He hesitated, and I could almost hear the tension in his voice. "I didn't ask anyone to burn down your lab. Have you talked to Leo after the fire? He's set enough labs on fire before, hasn't he?"
"It was Leah who set the fire," I said, my voice steady.
The silence that followed was deafening. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "What do you mean? You know Leah is in my hands."
I laughed, the sound hollow in the empty room. "Do you remember the girl slave I gave to Lucian that night? She was Leah. I had Dr. Jafar perform a surgery on her to disguise her original look, but no matter how clever the technique, it couldn't hide from her father's love. Lucian recognized her immediately."
Jalin didn't respond. I could almost picture him, his gloved hands clenched into fists, his jaw tight with rage.
"I thought Lucian told you after returning from the slave market," I continued, my tone dripping with mockery. "I didn't expect him to keep it a secret from you. It seems he's not a real loser. You are."
"Shut the fuck up," he hissed.
I ignored him, pressing on. "If he could hide one thing from you, he could hide ten. If I were you, I'd stab him to death with a knife to prevent future troubles. But it's a mystery why you still refuse to kill him. Some say you've truly fallen for your puppet, but only I know the real reason..."
"Are you in such a hurry to see Lucian now because you can't find Leah?" he interrupted, his voice cold.
My smile faltered for a moment, but I recovered quickly. "She's in my hand. I took a great risk saving her, Mr. Cleary. People wanted her dead, and I was the only one there shielding everything from her. I have to remind His Majesty of this. And Mr. Cleary, we used to serve Lycans. But I'm different from you. I lost my memory and was forced to serve others, while you willingly served them from the very beginning. I wonder what the old man did to you to make you so obedient and devoted to him and his son?"
His response was robotic devoid of emotion. "See you tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Court."
The line went dead. I set the phone down, my smile lingering as the door to my office opened. Gean walked in, his face pale with worry.
"Didn't Dr. Jafar call you?" he asked, his voice urgent. "Lucas is about to die. You need to go to the hospital now."
I straightened in my chair, my expression unreadable. "The relationship between me and my half-brother isn't what you have in mind. Let's sit down and talk business now. I'm sure he can wait."
Gean's hands trembled like moth wings against a storm lamp. The stench of burnt wiring clung to his clothes, mixing with the metallic tang of fear-sweat. I watched his throat bob - a swallow too sharp, too desperate - and knew the explosion had carved fissures in that ice-cold composure he wore like armor.
I leaned against the table.
"How's Leo now?" I said, flicking my cuff.
He didn't meet my eyes. "His left arm was badly burnt. He was hysterical because of the shock. They had to restrain him when he tried to..."
"Did they put one of those restraints jackets on him?" I interrupted. A laugh scraped my ribs raw. "For a Lycan prince? Don't worry about him. He's a big boy now. He'll be as good as new in no time."
Something snapped behind his gaze. He stepped closer. "You think scars vanish just because the skin knits?" His voice frayed at the edges. "He screams when they change his bandages. Screams, Finn."
I let the silence swell. When I spoke again, it was softer, lethal as a scalpel slipping between vertebrae. "And what of our screams, Gean? What were those Lycans doing when we were suffering in the past?"
He flinched. Good.
The hologram wall flickered to life before he could retreat. There they were - Gean and Leo, tangled in the lab's shadowed corner nights prior. Leo's claws dug crescent moons into Gean's shoulders; Gean's mouth moved soundlessly against the prince's throat. Their made love for pleasure, whereas I fucked or get fucked for pain. I'd never had any similiar of sexual intercourse like that. So I enjoyed watching them like watching a porn. I'd always admired how the surveillance drones caught the sweat on his collarbone, the way it glistened like betrayal.
"Why show me this?" Gean hissed.
I pressed another button. The scene dissolved into grainy footage of him dousing the lab's western wall in gasoline. "The dock fire was inventive," I said. "But sloppy. You missed three cameras."
His composure cracked. "Leo would've died in that lab! The old King's "enhancements" were eating him alive!"
"And you?" I circled him now, boots clicking a funeral march on the tiles. "You've been siphoning sedatives from the trials. Diluting the serum. Did you think I wouldnât notice the stalled regeneration rates? The necrosis?"
On the screen, Leo writhed against the wall, howling as they forced him into a cryo-chamber. Gean's reflection stared back at me - a man unraveling.
"Come to the clinic with me," he whispered suddenly. "See Lucas. Your brother still asks for you."