bChapter /bb177 /b

    bI /bburst outughing.

    “Help us?” I reply. “How? Do you want to hand us a hostage as a bargaining chip? I’m sure that will help us a lot. Not to mention that the way you set up this meeting wasn’t exactly peaceful.”

    His face twists. He pulls his body away from the tree, standing tall in front of our eyes, trying not to show how messed up he is.

    “None of this should have happened. I didn’t n for it to go this way. And regarding the note… the shapeshifters were determined to leave a message in the messenger’s throat; I just made sure to rece it with a better one.”

    “That’s the problem, you nned everything,” I say with augh. “You’re an idiot, and idiots like you shouldn’t be allowed to do anything.”

    “I don’t expect you to understand. It’s clear that someone who’s never cared for anyone, who has no children or family to call their own, can’t understand the desperate measures you’re willing to take in a moment of danger.”

    “You’re wrong, I do have someone I call family. You were just a selfish piece of shit.”

    “When did you realize that? Before or after you hurt her and left her at the edge of my territory?” he retorts. “You! You’re going to talk to me about selfishness? None of this would have happened if you had been willing to discuss the Diluido issues with me.”

    “You’re the ones who caused a problem with us.”

    “You kill us, Cassian! Indiscriminately. Sorry if, in a moment of total desperation, I thought finding refuge for my son was the most important

    thing.”

    “At the cost of an innocent girl’s life?”

    “You’d understand if you had children,” he concludes.

    His words are followed by a silence so heavy that even the wildlife seems to hold its breath. His chest rises and falls, agitated.

    “How do you n to help us, Eleazar?” Drystan asks, the only calm and responsible person in this encounter.

    “I’ve discovered some things.” He looks away from me. “I know I made a mistake, I’m not going to ask for forgiveness, I know it won’t mean anything, but if this can help…”

    “Just say it already,” I snap.

    The sound of my gloves creaking as I tighten my fists alerts everyone. Just having him nted in front of me is driving me crazy, but his words… Oh, his words are making everything go red with rage. ying the card of the son with me won’t work; just like I told ra, I’m the monster everyone thinks I am. Without scruples.

    “They’re convinced ra is the key to destroying you, and they won’t stop until they get her. They’ve managed to make several doses with the blood they stole from her. They realized that diluting it still has the same effect. They’re preparing to make more attacks and…” He sighs. “They want to capture one of yours to torture them and extract all your secrets.”

    “Our secrets won’t be exposed, no matter how hard they try.”

    “You’d be surprised what a person can do under the right amount of pain and torture.” He locks his eyes back on me. “Besides, I’ve heard whispers that they believe Lilith has escaped from the Pits. They want her.”

    “If Lilith had escaped, I would know.”

    Because she would go looking for ra, right? If she’s her motherb, /blogically she would want to see her daughter, even if just for a few minst though I almost forget that Lilith expects her daughter to help us reproduce, I don’t know what kind of love she has bfor /bbher /b

    “It could just be a rumor,” Eleazar agrees. “Still, it’s only a matter of time before they attack you again. What happened recently bwas /bjust a foolish attempt to recover ra. I think they’ve realized it’s impossible now. Unless they finally know your weakness. Alsob, /bbthey /bhave someone powerful in their possession.”

    “Powerful?”

    “They call her The Destroyer.” Before I can ask my next question, he keeps talking. “I don’t know exactly what her powers bare/bb, /bbbut /bbI /bbcan /b

    guessb./b”

    “What made youe and tell us all this? As far as I know, you still have a son to protect.”

    “I’ve found a way to protect him.”

    “Where are they hiding, Eleazar?” Drystan interrupts.

    “Underground. They’ve been building an endlesswork of tunnels for years.”

    “Is there any way to find them? A map?”

    “If there is, they won’t leave it within my reach.” He scratches his eyebrow. “Every time we go bin /bbor /bout, they blindfold me, though I’ve tried to memorize the movements.”

    “Do they know you’re here?”

    “They think I went to take care of my son.”

    “They might have followed iyou/i.”

    “Negative,” he says firmly. “At first, they followed me, until they realized I always take the same route with the same objective. I’ve waited long enough to do this without raising suspicionsi./ii” /i

    I take a deep breath, raise one of my gloved hands, and gesture with two fingers toward him. My men quickly interpret this ande out from their hidden positions. The Diluido’s eyes widen in surprise when he sees that I’ve brought more men with me than he imagined. He doesn’t resist when two of my best soldiers step forward and restrain his arms behind his back.

    “Everything I’ve said is true,” he growls.

    “We’ll have to verify that,” I respond. “Until then, I’m not letting you go back to them and reveal anything that could condemn us.”

    “You’ll leave me exposed to them. I’m more useful as a spy.”

    bAD /b

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