Chapter 164: Impression
He modulated his voice carefully. It was a good impression of Lucas, with the cell shadows, Dorian didn’t notice.
"Because I expected more from you," Dorian replied. "So much more. You were supposed to be our Herod of the East. The warrior who would rise above the rest, who could dance with devils and still walk out wearing his crown."
He exhaled, then scoffed bitterly. "But instead, you let yourself be manipulated by a woman. You..." he jabbed a finger toward the bars, "...allowed her to make you soft. And stupid. Love? That was your downfall. Not your enemies. Not even me."
Dennis sat forward slightly, his face darkening. "So that made you pit my brother against me?" he asked. "Set Ava up? Hand your own people over to a monster just to prove what, Dorian? That you could still win a game no one else agreed to play?"
"You killed my son!" Dorian bellowed. His fists clenched at his sides, nails biting into his palms. His face was contorted, a man torn apart by betrayal — or at least, what he believed to be betrayal. The grief was raw. It had calcified over time. He hadn’t cried, not once.
Dennis, still sitting on the floor behind the iron bars, lifted his head with the cool disdain of a man who knew something Dorian didn’t. And that smug, shit-eating smirk made Dorian want to throttle the bars until they bent in half.
"It’s funny," Dennis said, "how you claim to want an alpha like Herod—cold, merciless, unfeeling. A tyrant in every sense. And yet here you are, whining because your son was allegedly killed for treason." He lifted a finger, wagging it mockingly. "You can’t romanticize the blade and then cry when it turns toward you. A sword cuts both ways, Dorian. And sometimes, if you’re not careful, it guts the fool who swings it."
Dorian’s nostrils flared. "’Allegedly’?" he growled, stepping closer to the cell, his face darkening.
"Yes. Allegedly. Because, by taking Ava and throwing your lot in with the king, you’ve done something even worse: you’ve served your own son up to the beast on a silver platter. Did you forget who Kade is? The man would chase death itself for his Luna. It’s not just duty, Dorian. It’s devotion. He’s a damned good soldier. Loyal. Brave. Unlike his father, who fancies himself a kingmaker but keeps breaking his own pawns."