Theodora paused for a long mont, blinking more tis than she should. Then, her eyes darted between Cain and Sylas like she was trying to figure sothing out, or rather, trying to wrap her brain around their conversation.
Father? Son?!
Her eyes lingered on Sylas’s face this ti, hoping it wasn’t true. There was probably a big misunderstanding sowhere along their conversation. It sounded like a big, joke to her, but their reactions said otherwise.
Neither of them would ever joke about sothing like this, and if she rembered correctly, Zeke once told her about...an elder brother he once had.
The one who tried to escape from Cain without him, and passed away in the process.
Her palm ca over her mouth and pressed to keep the gasp from escaping. Sylas was... Zeke’s big brother? It suddenly made so much sense. It must be the reason why Zeke never trusted him for one second, why they seem to want to rip each other apart each ti their paths crossed.
Theo turned to where Zeke lay. He had dragged himself from under the rubble, and the stunned and confused look now growing in his eyes told her he had also heard everything.
All this ti, Zeke thought his brother was dead, and loathed him for trying to abandon him. But from the mont he t Sylas, there was this imdiate spite toward him - aning Zeke’s blood recognised Sylas’s, but he could just never pinpoint exactly why he could never trust this mysterious man and why he felt like killing him every ti they t.
Now, he understood it perfectly.
Sylas was his big brother.
Sylas...was Zevon, the dead and forgotten Pendragon.
Zeke almost laughed at how stupid he’s been. Sylas’s aura has always been powerfully bland and calm, as though Sylas was constantly trying to hide his true nature from others. Coupled with the fact that he always had shadows following him, a bizarre nature that didn’t co with lycanthropy, he’s always stood out.
But tonight, he stood out even more. The energy of the shadows sharpened with demon strength, at its full glory.
The Demon they fought at the Hallow forest had ntioned it, but Zeke hadn’t paid much attention back then, solely focused on just saving Hellcat.
He had been such a fool.
All this while, his brother had been alive and close to him.
Sylas Veylor. Zevon Pendragon. Cain’s first child and the Heir to the Obsidian Crown Pack.
"My own blood," Cain looked faintly proud, "No wonder you’ve been able to subdue all these years from the shadows. It makes perfect sense now. You...are ,"
"How touching," Sylas sneered, "Should I be impressed by your kind words?"
"No, Zevon," Cain’s laugh cut through the courtyard, "You should savour it because it’s the last of its kind you’ll ever hear utter from my lips,"
"Don’t call that!" Sylas spat again, "Ten years ago, Zevon died. You killed him off, creating a monster,"
"Monster?" Cain’s claw flexed, "You know better than to try and frighten with re words, or does the fact that you’ve sohow slipped by my grasp for ten years make you think you can now look directly into my eyes?"
Sylas’s shadows flared, lashing out with jagged energy. A pained expression curled over his face, and he seed to be struggling.
"You’re unstable," Cain comnted, studying Sylas, "It took over five years to finally rge you with a shard, and you’ve rged with the rest already. You’re soon about to experience a very harsh recoil,"
"You sound disappointed," Sylas’ lips ford to a thin, bitter smile.
"On the contrary, " Cain scoffed, "I’m fascinated. I wondered how long you’d last before arrogance catches up with you,"
"Arrogance?" Sylas’s voice shook, "You tortured , dissected , tried to turn into a weapon, and you’re surprised I learned how to sharpen myself?"
Cain stepped closer, and pressure rolled off him so naturally like suffocating waves. There’s always been a difference between Alpha Cain and the other Alpha, one that was so devastatingly obvious, "I didn’t torture you. I refined you. Everything you are now~ your shadows, your reach, your little underground empire, you owe it to ,"
"I owe you nothing," Sylas snapped, and the shadows behind him twitched violently, cracking the stone beneath his feet, "Every life I took to build my network was to make sure I’d one day put you down,"
"And yet," Cain tilted his head, still amused like he didn’t see a shred of seriousness in all this, "here you stand. Shaking and losing control. Still reacting instead of thinking,"
"I’m not afraid of you,"
"No," Cain’s smile widened, twinkling with evil delight, "You’re afraid of becoming ,"
The words landed heavier than a blow, and Sylas physically recoiled, "You don’t get to say that," he growled, "You don’t get to talk about fear when you’re the reason I learned it,"
"I taught you survival," Cain shot back, "The world doesn’t reward weakness, Zevon. It devours it. You survived because you adapted,"
"I survived because I refused to break," Sylas hissed back too, "Because I refused to enjoy it the way you did,"
"Careful," Cain’s eyes flashed dangerously.
"Why?" Sylas leaned forward, shadows crawling up his arms despite his effort to rein them in down, "Afraid I’ll say it out loud? Afraid I’ll remind you that everything you call strength is just cruelty dressed up as order?"
A pulse of power rippled through the courtyard. It was Cain’s restraint thinning, "You mistake rcy for morality," Cain said coldly, "And restraint for virtue."
"And you mistake domination for destiny," Sylas fired back instantly, "You don’t rule because you’re right. You rule because you broke everyone who stood in your way, "
Cain’s gaze flicked briefly to Zeke, then back to Sylas, "Including you both?"
Sylas stiffened.
"You ran," Cain continued softly, "Left your brother behind. Hid in the dark while I did to him exactly what I did to you. When you left, all the chaos, the pain, every single thing descended on him, and now he’s dying...because of the choice you made. Tell , does that guilt wake you at night?"
The shadows exploded outward in a violent surge, and Sylas snarled.
At this point, Theo was going to be crushed under their chaotic energies. Without her wolf, she felt like she was standing between two hurricanes.
"There it is," Cain murmured, with a pleased expression, "The fracture. The instability. You carry too much hatred, son. It’s eating you alive,"
"I carry you!" Sylas shot back. "Every scream. Every order. Every cage. I’ve been undoing your work piece by piece for ten years, and you didn’t even know it was ,"
"Oh, I knew soone was pulling threads," Cain chuckled, looking more relaxed than expected, "I simply didn’t expect my own blood, soone who knows more than anyone else, to be foolish enough to think he could finish the job,"
"I didn’t co here to finish it," Sylas said quietly.
Cain raised a brow, waiting for more.
"I ca here," Sylas continued, eyes burning silver-gold, "to make sure you understood the weight of what you’ve done, and have you wishing you never walked the earth,"
For a mont, silence filled the space between them. Cain’s eyes were unreadable, just staring at Sylas straight in the eye.
Then finally, he smiled, "Good. That makes killing you far more satisfying,"
************~************
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