Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in two weeks, I was swamped with pre-winter break school work and holiday stuff! I hope you enjoy the chapter, as the name might suggest there is going to be a fair amount of violence this chapter so yeah...here's the warning now. Hope you all had a happy new year :D

Nicky's PoV

As I watched the door shut I felt myself giving in to panic. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck, what was I supposed to do, what could I do? I began to squirm helplessly in the chair in some attempt to loosen the ropes. How the fuck had I not noticed she was binding my hands? I needed to save Mikhos before Jaasim could kill him...I needed to save him before Aasiya could get to him. They would be waiting for the perfect moment to strike which meant that as long as I could get in and out of there quick enough with Mikhos in tow I might have a shot of rescuing him and escaping in the chaos that would ensue when all hell broke loose due to Aasiya's attack. Suddenly my gaze fell to the wine that had pooled on the floor and the shards of glass that lay scattered around it from the cup I had dropped. I was such an idiot, why hadn't I thought of this before. I pushed all my weight and force to one side causing the chair to tip over making me finally clatter to the floor still connected to the chair. Slowly I inched my way to the glass, my fingers wrapping around a large shard. In a matter of moments I had cut myself free. I stumbled to my feet, ignoring the fact that a thin trail of blood was pouring from my hand where I had held the glass. Now came the hard part, I needed to find where they were keeping Mikhos. I knew it had to be somewhere secluded. My mind jumped back to the guarded hallway Jaasim had brought Mikhos before, maybe there was a staircase or secret room connected to it. What fucking irony was this? Here I was, desperately attempting to save the man that I had practically been raised to kill.

Sabri's PoV

Jaasim paced back and forth across the floor, his hands behind his back. I watched him from the other side of the dark chamber. Finally he came to a halt before me.

"It's such a shame he needs to die really," Jaasim said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess so. I didn't get to know him too well. I met him a few times before the Mira situation occurred and twice after. Then he went off pretending to be a Kingsmen for 4 months and I didn't lay eyes on him again till he returned."

"Should we tell him that the king is dead when he wakes up?"
"I don't know. Is there a point to informing a man he's inherited a throne he'll never get to lay eyes on before he dies. Maybe we should just kill him now before he wakes up, get it over with." Jaasim snickered at that.

"Now where would the fun in that be? Besides, you know we can't start the ritual until that annoying red haired kid gets here. He needs to be the one to kill him or the whole thing won't work. I sent a guard to find him and bring him here to do it. He should be here soon. Gods knows what's taking so long." I knew my gaze was lingering on Jaasim but I couldn't bring myself to pull it away. I had missed him so much since I had left to live in Pecore. The time I had spent there waiting until we could move on to the next stage of Edgar's plan had felt like a lifetime.

"I demand to be let free at once." Both Jaasim and I immediately turned when we heard Mikhos speak from behind us. His words were slow and he still sounded slightly groggy from being knocked out, none the less the prince was still attempting to add an edge of authority to his voice. His gaze fell now to the cuffs around his wrists and the cold stone table he was chained to. His body immediately stiffened, no doubt being overwhelmed by memories of a strikingly similar event that had occurred in his childhood. His shirt had been removed while he was knocked out which meant that the ghastly almost scar like tattoo marks were clearly visible for all to see. He didn't move or trash about as would be expected of someone in his situation, instead he just stared ahead, his gaze locking on Jaasim. "If you don't set me free there will be dire consequences. The king might still be weak but Edgar doesn't have nearly enough power to take the throne without starting a massive civil war. Either way Idoria will have to fight us and we all know that it will completely bankrupt the county. Let me go and I will pardon you, you can end this now. I will forgive this animalistic display." Jaasim snickered, slowly approaching Mikhos.

"This is quite entertaining really, watching you try to stitch together a reasonable way to get yourself out of this. Unfortunately for you, your logic on this particular subject is a bit flawed. You see, there won't be a civil war. Edgar is soon to have a weapon of a level never seen before since the banning of blood magic." Mikhos had tensed at that, the only indication that even hinted that he was far more uneasy than he was presenting himself to be. Jaasim began to circle Mikhos like a hawk. "Honestly, I don't know why you're being so prickly about all of this. You should be thanking me. This chamber was the thing you came to Idoria to find wasn't it?" After a moment Mikhos nodded slowly.

"You had someone plant the book so I would find it didn't you? Then you offered the proposal to entice me to come here."

"Obviously, my sweet little Sabri put the book there himself." The prince's gaze slowly fell to me and it's cold intensity sent shivers down my spine. "Was it everything you hoped it would be? It's completely identical to the one Edgar tried to sacrifice you in before. There's only two places in the whole world the ritual Edgar planned to perform on you could take place and this is the other spot. But...hehehe obviously you knew that. We are still waiting for one very special guest to arrive before we can finish this once and for all but who says we can't get started." He removed a knife and a thin silver necklace from behind his back beginning to approach Mikhos. The prince's dark eyes had grown wide.

"That necklace...."

"Oh yes, it belonged to that girl Mira didn't it? Such a shame what happened to her isn't it?" His mouth had tightened into a thin line as he spoke and Mikhos jerked for the first time against the chains.

"I swear to FUCK if you fuckers were the ones who killed her-"

"Silly boy, you know what killed her. Just because there were a few happy coincidences doesn't mean you can just clear your conscience by using us as a scapegoat for everything. Then again, I don't owe you any kind of confirmation one way or another. But enough about all of that, let's get started with the ritual shall we?" He stepped closer, gliding the knife down one of the dotted line across his side, not hard enough to completely cut through past the skin but enough to draw a solid amount of blood. Mikhos flinched at the contact prompting the corner of Jaasim's mouth to curl but into a sadistic grin.

"Oh that's right, I remember being informed about this. Don't you have something about blood? Why spies are very efficient. Must be an after effect of all that childhood trauma. Mnn maybe we should test it?" Mikhos had paled and was staring at the ceiling so he wouldn't have to look at the blood spilling from his side.

"Please, don't." Jaasim leaned a little closer, his face barely an inch away from Mikhos.

"What was that? Could you repeat yourself a little louder?" This was excessive, even for Jaasim and I found even myself to be a little frightened of him in that moment. That royal guards Jaasim had brought with him had averted their gaze.

"Please...don't do this..." Mikhos's voice was shaking slightly and for the first time I saw him for what he really was no matter how hard he tried to mask it, a scared little boy.

"Beg me, beg me to stop."
"I'll never beg to you."

"Mnn...well that's too bad." He ran his hand down the length of Mikhos's side until his fingers were coated in his blood, then he began to move his hand closer to him. Mikhos began to trash desperately.

"I'm sorry...fuck I'm sorry. Fuck it, I'll beg. Whatever the fuck you want...fuck...Jaasim don't please..."

"Heh, you're just too cute." With that he dragged his hand across Mikhos's face streaking blood everywhere. Mikhos's breathing had quickened and his entire body was shaking. Jaasim laughed coldly suddenly shoving his bloodied fingers into the boy's mouth. That was all it took. Mikhos's eyes rolled back into his head and just like that, the toughest and most composed person I had ever met fainted. Jaasim finally drew back, still grinning. He pulled out the necklace now, clicking it open and pressed one bloodied finger into it causing a wisp of smoke to drift up from the necklace. Jaasim turned to me slowly. "And just like that the ritual has started." I sighed heavily.

"Was all of that really necessary?"

"Don't question me." His voice was harsh and I shrunk back when he spoke. He chuckled again, shrugging. "Who cares if it was or wasn't necessary. It was fun. C'mon weren't you curious to see him actually scared? He's always so put together, even facing the likely probability of his own death he tried to reason with us. I wanted to see him completely terrified." It was sick...completely sick and even though I was disgusted by it somehow I still was madly in love with this man.

"How much does Nicolai actually know about the ritual?"
"Clearly hardly anything since no one informed me it would be taking place here and at this very moment. Hell, No one even informed me the false prince's death was even part of a fucking ritual." We both looked to see Nicolai standing there, a guard beside him. The guard bowed his head.

"I found him wandering the hallways and brought him here as soon as we could." Nicolai's gaze suddenly fell to Mikhos and his entire body tensed.

"What did you do to him?" He was trying to stay calm but there was a clear strain to his voice, he was nowhere near as good at masking his emotions as Mikhos was. Jaasim chuckled.

"I was simply prepping him for you."

"Why was I never informed of any of this?" I stepped forward.

"I'm sorry, we would have told you about everything sooner but Edgar and I...we had to mislead you. I hope you understand Nicky but...you're still a boy and a very emotional one at that. If something were to go wrong and you were captured and tortured or...Gods forbid you defected to the enemy side Edgar wanted it ensured that you couldn't reveal any of our most crucial information.

"So you lied to me?"

"Let's just call it masking a bit of truth for everyone's benefit. You know now don't you. Now, are you ready to kill him?" Luckily Nicky was too much of a blockhead to ever question why we were having someone like him perform such an important job instead of just doing it ourselves. Hopefully Nicky would never learn just how crucial he was. If he knew that this whole shit fest wouldn't work unless he was the one to kill Mikhos who knew what he would do, the boy was stupid as hell and unpredictable, an extremely bad combination. That's why Edgar had taken liberties to keep the boy almost completely in the dark. I could still recall him cursing under his breath that Jerah and Aviarie's son had turned out like this. It was a good thing Nicky didn't know about Edgar's past...especially his connection with his parents. Nicolai stepped forward slowly now, approaching the unconscious boy.

"Alright, what do I do?" Jaasim slowly handed Nicky the knife he had been holding previously, already coated in Mikhos's blood.

"Start with the heart first if you want to kill him right away. It doesn't matter if the organs are removed before or after he dies, all that's important is the ritual has already begun." Nicky nodded slowly and Jaasim sneered.

"This must be hard for you, you two seemed close. Maybe you're just a fantastic actor. Either way, I wish the prince were awake to see you betray him. Damnit, now I wish I hadn't made him pass out. Oh well, I guess only you will have to live with the guilt." Nicky tensed at his words but still reached for the knife.

"Okay, I've got it." He stepped forward, the blade in hand. Woah...this was actually going way smoother then I had anticipated. I didn't know if we were going to have to force him to do it or not. He took one more step closer and then all of a sudden he swung around dragging the blade across the throat of the nearest royal guardsman. Jaasim and I jumped back as he grabbed the sword the formerly breathing soldier had held. He wouldn't be able to rescue Mikhos...there were still too many of us. I went to move forward to stop him when suddenly I heard shouting. A group of soldiers suddenly poured into the room....fuck. No this couldn't be happening. Aasiya stepped forward, she wore armor now. Jaasim was shaking, his eyes had opened wide.

"Sister, what are you doing?"

"Oh, so I'm sister now? Not hag? Not whore?"

"We're family, I'm your...b-brother." When she spoke there was no emotion behind her words.

"Kill them." All chaos broke loose then, everyone began to fight royal guards against the soldiers. I needed to escape, there should be a tunnel somewhere. Amidst the fighting I saw Nicky uncuff Mikhos and swing him over his shoulder. Fuck, almost subconsciously as if grasping for some desperate last chance I reached out to try to grab him. That's when I saw his sword moving and a white hot pain shot through my body. It was almost surreal...there on the ground was my hand...my own hand. Blood was gushing for the wound but I couldn't feel anything it was like my body had gone numb and I was stuck in some kind of abstract nightmare.

"Goodbye Sabri. We'll be going now." Everything was spinning, was this it...was I going to die...? I vowed, if I fucking survived this, I was going to have the cruelest revenge against that boy. And then everything went black.