Dan Pov
Victoria appeared then.
Like death herself.
She moved through the blood-soaked courtyard, her dress trailing in the filth. She knelt beside me and grabbed a fistful of Batista's hair, jerking his head up so hard he gasped.
"You were always too soft," she sneered, her voice venom. "Too blind. Too weak."
Batista tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgle of blood. His jaw quivered.
"You trusted us," I said, shaking my head slowly. "You thought family made you untouchable. You believed loyalty meant safety. Idiot. Power is the only law now."
He spat blood at my feet, his broken face twisting with sorrow.
"I loved you both like kin," he rasped, his voice breaking apart mid-sentence. A tear rolled down his bloodied cheek.
"And that," I leaned in, smiling wide, "was your biggest mistake."
I drew the dagger then.
A simple blade. Nothing fancy. But laced with wolfsbane, so it would burn him inside out.
I knelt beside him, grabbing him by the hair with one hand.
