C4

Obi's looking like a corpse again, isn't he? He's barely breathing over there in the corner of the Hollow Pit."

"I told you, the kid was born a runt. Gideon’s bad blood. He’s shivering like he’s in the arctic, but the cell is like a furnace tonight. I'll give him forty-eight hours, max."

"Think the Sire wants him dead? He’s been down twice this week. If the lungs don't give out, the infection will."

"If Cassius has any sense, he’ll put a bullet in the Ashford boy’s head and end the misery. It’s a waste of a cell. My family spent ten years in the gutter because of the Black Eagle, but even I feel sick looking at that skeletal thing. He’s a walking ghost."

"Yeah, well, ghosts don't pay debts. Let him rot. It’s more than the Ashfords gave our people when the Yellow Teeth were running the streets. Let’s get a drink; the runt isn't going anywhere but the morgue."

"Go ahead, Malakai! Cut me! You’re still a dog in a suit! I’m Draven Ashford! I’ll burn this city with you inside it! AHHHH!"

"Keep screaming, Draven. Every time you open that loud mouth, I find a new place to slide the blade. Don't worry, I’m avoiding the arteries. I want you awake for every second of this takeover."

"You think this makes you a Don? You’re a slave playing dress-up! My father will—"

"Your father is a head on a pike at the entrance of the Ashfang Dominion. You’re the only one left to bleed. And trust me, the Shadowfang Syndicate has a lot of memory when it comes to how you treated us."

"Hey, Malakai, can I take his manhood? He’s been a plague to every woman in this district for years. It’d be a public service."

"Do it. He won't die from it. The First Lord knows he's lived through worse, and I want him to see what it's like to be less than a man. It’s what he deserves for the way he used his power."

"YOU COWARD! I should have finished you off ten years ago when I had you in the basement! I remember the way you cried like a girl while my men had their fun!"

"You remember that, do you? Because I remember the way you laughed while you watched. Take it off. All of it. Then feed it to the strays in the alley while he watches. Let’s see who’s laughing when you're just a hollow shell of a prince."

"It wasn't just the Duke, was it, Amira? Tell me who held the whip."

"It was Draven... he’d wait until their father was busy with Syndicate business. Obi’s skin isn't like yours, Sire Cassius. He doesn't recover. He’s human-weak. Those marks stay forever. He’s been a canvas for their cruelty since he was a toddler."

"An Ashford Prince whipped by his own brother? Why didn't Gideon stop it?"

"Gideon started it! If Obi didn't hear a command, or if he looked too pale to attend a gala, the Duke would throw him in the attic for weeks without a scrap of food. He was a 'stain' on the Black Eagle name. They treated him worse than the Syndicate treats its enemies."

"You're telling me the boy I’m holding in the Hollow Pit was a prisoner in his own palace long before I arrived?"

"He was a ghost, Sire! He knows nothing of the war or the money. He just wanted to survive the night without being struck. Please, let me go to him. He’s in that freezing cell and he’s burning up with fever. He’s terrified of the dark."

"You’d trade your freedom to sit in a cage with a dying Ashford? Why?"

"Because I’m the only one who ever loved him. He has no one else. Please, Cassius Okoye... show the mercy the Ashfords never showed your people. Don't let him die alone in the dirt."

"Get out of here, Amira. I’m done listening to your sobbing."

"Sire, please! Just one hour with him!"

"I said get out! Malakai! Get the keys to the Silver Chamber. And get the Enforcers to move the boy out of the Pit. If he dies before I’ve had my fill of him, I’ll have all your heads."