Semua Bab Godless Prince: Bab 31 - Bab 40

 He carried him back into the cell like he owned him, laying him on the cot with mocking care. A guard appeared, dropping off a tray of food.Velis gestured toward it. “Shall I feed you again, pet?”“Like hell I would!” Caelum spat, his voice ragged.Velis’s smile sharpened. He crouched, resting his forearms on his knees, his face close enough that Caelum could feel his breath.“I’ll be away for a few hours,” he murmured. “Important duties. While I’m gone, try not to get yourself slaughtered. Because without me here…” His fingers traced the air just beside Caelum’s jaw, taunting. “…no one will keep the others from tearing you apart. No one wil

Chapter 33Queen Isabella Salutegrui of the Ashan Federation arrived with all the ceremony her fallen kingdom could still muster. A small retinue of advisors and guards, their colors faded but still proud, their weapons polished despite being largely ornamental in vampire territory.Velis Drayke met her at the gates personally—an honor he rarely bestowed on visiting dignitaries. But then, Isabella wasn't just any visitor.She was the woman whose husband and five sons he'd killed during the Crimson Eclipse War, whose kingdom he'd crushed under his boot twenty years ago."Your Majesty," he said, offering a bow that was perfectly correct and utterly mocking. "Welcome to the Crimson Dominion. I trust your journey was... educational."Isabella smiled with lips that didn't reach her eyes. "Commander Drayke. How gracious of you to receive me personally. Though I understand Queen Ysoria has been... indisposed of late?"The barb hit its mark. Everyone knew Ysoria had retreated from public lif

Chapter 35In the dream, he was dying.Caelum lay on white sheets, breathing shallow and broken. Tubes ran from his arms, machines beeped their mechanical prayers. His skin was gray as old parchment, lips blue-tinged with approaching death.Velis sat beside the bed, closer than he'd ever been. His usual arrogance was gone, replaced by something raw and desperate. His hands shook as they touched Caelum's face—gentle, careful, like he was handling something precious."I'm sorry," Velis whispered. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I thought you were like me, thought you had vampire blood. I thought you could survive it."His thumb traced along Caelum's cheek

Chapter 37When the slaughter was complete, Caelum turned to face the cowering slaves, his chest heaving like a bellows, eyes sharp as winter stars. Gore dripped from his chains in slow, hypnotic drops."The door is open," he commanded, his voice carrying true authority for the first time since his capture. "Run. Take your chance at freedom."But they didn't move. Not one of them stirred from their huddle of despair.A gaunt man near the back—little more than skin stretched over bone—lifted hollow eyes that had seen too much. His voice emerged flat, drained of all hope. "And then what, prince? Out there is worse than here. At least here, we know the shape of our suffering."A murmur of agr

Chapter 39Bronze rang against stone like a bell tolling doom. Caelum's blood painted the walls in crimson arcs, splashed across the faces of the torturers who had been so absorbed in their work that they hadn't noticed death entering their sanctuary. The metallic scent exploded through the confined space, thick enough to taste, rich enough to make even the strongest stomach clench."Who," Velis asked, and each word fell into the sudden silence like a blade finding flesh, "gave the order for this?"The three men who had been so confident in their work moments before now looked like rabbits caught in an open field by circling hawks. Two of them—mere soldiers whose names Velis had neve