Chapter 26: Zain

Something doesn't feel right about Royce. He's planning something, I can feel it – and it scares me. I know whatever he's planning involves Amri. She's doing better in her training, but I doubt she's good enough to take on a monster like Royce. Not only is he huge, but I just know when he fights, he fights dirty.

We've got to protect her.

And we will.

I told Damion I needed to use the bathroom before training started, but really, I needed to take some time to cool down before I took it out on Amri during training.

I walk into my bathroom and flip on the lights, immediately walking over to my sink and bending down to splash some water on my face. When I stand back up, there's a Reaper behind me. He's watching me in the mirror, a smile on his face.

"Not the Reaper that usually shows up in my bathroom."

Balthazar chuckles, leaning back against my bathroom wall. "I'm sure you would have loved to see my son in here, but alas, it's me."

"And what are you doing here?"

Technically, this is my future father-in-law, but I know better than to trust him. He's already made it clear that he doesn't approve of Vincent's mates, including me.

Balthazar waves for me to follow, turning around and walking into my bedroom. "Have a seat, I want to have a conversation with you."

I follow him, watching as he pours a drink from a whiskey decanter into two glasses that somehow appeared on my bedtable.

"I think I'd rather stand."

He turns around, a drink in each hand, and shrugs. "Suit yourself. Drink?"

"No, thanks."

"Come now, boy. You're my son's mate, meaning you are under my rule now. You wouldn't want to reject a drink from the king."

He raises a single eyebrow as he stares at me, daring me, taunting me to refuse him again and face the repercussions.

It could be poisoned.

I know.

Pick the left one. He would assume you'd go for the one on the right since you're right-handed.

Unless he had the same thought process, and then he would assume I'd go for the left one since he knew I'd think that the right is poisoned.

I think we saw something like this in a movie once.

I internally roll my eyes at my brother. I know exactly which movie he's talking about. Amri saw it was on in the common room not long after she got attacked, and she insisted that we all watch it together because – it was her favorite movie of all time.

I eye Balthazar warily before taking the glass in his right hand. I'll only take a sip, I'll tell Amri and Damion immediately if I start to feel weird later, and I'll make Vincent check me over tonight. It'll be fine.

"There you go. This is some of the finest whiskey I've ever tasted. Some Scotland human owned his own distillery and tried to bargain with me, his life for this bottle of whiskey."

I take a small sip, just enough to taste it. It is really fucking good. Smooth with the right amount of burn, aged to perfection.

"I'm assuming you took the deal." I motion toward the decanter still on my bedtable.

Balthazar laughs, shaking his head. "Of course not. Death stops for no man. But I did go back for the bottle after taking his soul to its ever-after."

I don't say anything, just taking in his words. Death stops for no man. Hopefully it doesn't stop for Reaper's either, because when Balthazar's time comes, I don't want him to escape. I take another drink to wet my lips.

"You said you wanted to talk to me."

Balthazar smiles, a wicked smile that shines all the way in his dark eyes. "Yes, I do. I have a proposition for you."

I narrow my gaze at him, "What kind of proposition?"

Nothing he says could be good. I couldn't ever accept any proposition of his.

"Why don't you take another drink?"

I look from him down to my glass and realize I've almost emptied it.

When did that happen? I only took two small sips .

You've been drinking it the whole time, Zain.

No, I haven't. I would remember.

Fuck. Something is wrong. Ditch the drink and get out of here!

"Go ahead and finish it, I'll pour you another."

I finish the drink, not another question or doubt running through my mind. I'm just a guy having a drink with his king.

Zain!

I press my hand to my head, rubbing my temple. "There's…a voice."

Balthazar takes my glass from me and puts his hand on my shoulder, guiding me to sit on the bed.

"You probably had a little too much to drink, nothing to worry about."

ZAIN!

My name radiates throughout my skull, making my head pound and my ears ring. I wince, rubbing my temples even harder to try to get the pain to go away.

"Why don't I distract you by telling you that proposition I had for you?"

I nod, wanting to try anything to get this pain, this voice, from inside of my head.

"I need you to do something for me, and in return, I'll do something for you."

ZAIN! LISTEN TO ME!

"Get out of my head!"

The pain, it hurts, it hurts so bad. It feels like my brain is splitting in half. Ripping itself to pieces and melting out of my skull.

"Get it out, get it out, get it out."

Balthazar raises his hands up in front of him. "I can get rid of the pain. I can make the voice go away."

"How?" I think I'm yelling, but I can't tell because the screaming in my head is echoing. My eyes feel fuzzy and dark spots cloud my vision.

"I need you to do something for me. Once this is done, then I'll make the voice go away."

I nod at him, "Anything, anything."

Balthazar's smile grows, taking up near half his face and making him look completely demonic. "I need you to kill Amri Glass."

My eyes widen as I shake my head. The screaming in my head becomes even louder, but the voice, the words, are incomprehensible. "No! She's…she's my mate. I couldn't kill her. Vincent would kill me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. "

"I would protect you from my son. The girl is too powerful. She doesn't feel human. I need you to get rid of her before she's a real problem to me or to Vincent. You do want to protect him, don't you?"

I nod, not wanting to think about what he's asking me to do, but unable to because the pain is muddling my mind, making me anxious and desperate.

"And you want that voice to go away, right?"

I nod again.

"Then do this for me. As soon as it's done and her soul is collected, by me personally, then I will help you."

I stare at him, tears in my eyes as I realize I am going to kill my mate. He's not asking me, he's telling me, and as much as I want to refuse, want to hit him for even suggesting that she die before she's ready, I can't. I can't bring myself to move against him. I can't bring myself to deny his request .

Someone, I can't remember who but someone, warned me that having him in my room was a bad idea. They warned me, and I didn't listen. I was too curious. And now Amri has to die.

He must see the complicity in my eyes, because he nods and helps me sit up on the bed.

"Good. You will go to training as normal, and you will get a little too rough with her and kill her. It will look like an accident. I'll be there waiting to collect her soul."

A knock sounds on my door, a triple knock, signaling Damion is outside and waiting. Balthazar waves me on, and I turn around in time to see him step through a portal, his whiskey glasses and decanter disappearing with him.

I open the door to find Damion and Amri waiting, both with a smile on their faces. I try to shoot them one back, but it comes off as more of a grimace.

"What's wrong?" Amri shoots me a concerned look and grabs my arm. I flinch away from her, nausea rolling through me at what I'm about to do.

"Just a headache."

She nods, taking my answer for what it is. We all walk out to the courtyard, Damion using his keycard to get us outside.

"Go do your warmups." I point to the corner of the yard where Amri normally sets up first thing and she gives me a weird look. "That wasn't a suggestion, Amri. Go do your warmups."

She steps back, surprise crossing her face at my brashness. "Fine. Asshole."

She doesn't even bother to mutter under her breath, just calls me an asshole straight to my face and walks over to the corner. I watch her as she runs through her routine of sit-ups, push-ups and crunches before she starts her run. All the while, the only thing I can think of is how it will feel to take her life with my bare hands.

I don't want to do this. I don't want to hurt her. I love her. But I have to. The compulsion to follow orders is…overwhelming. I know now that I was tricked. Balthazar did something to me to make me follow him without question. The voice in my head, though…that is almost even more concerning. I feel like I recognize the voice, but…I can't fucking remember.