Page 145 of The Cannibal

“Help yourself.” He gestured.

There was no hiding the twitch of my eye. “Why am I here?”

“As opposed to executed?” He looked pitifully at me, like I was some child who needed things spelled out for her. “You would think the first words out of that pretty mouth would have been thank you.”

He was wasting his bait; I wasn’t biting.

Levi wiped his hands and laid the napkin neatly on his lap. He leaned back in his chair, one leg over the other as he settled for, what I assumed, would be the meat of the conversation rather than the garnish.

“I can make this trial swing whichever way I want,” he said plainly. “I could tell them, easily, a list of reasons why it may be beneficial to execute you, my disgrace of a son, and all your little loyalists.”

He paused to stir his tea, as if he was going to drink it, but ultimately lost interest in favor of hearing himself talk more.

“Not very often do we have such powerful people all in one place. Old, indestructible, completely overpowering the weakest of the litters if we wanted to,” he said, starting a tangent, smiling at the thought. “The trial will end and everyone will be right there for the picking. Spoils of the job, I suppose.”

He kept looking to check if any of his words had moved me in the slightest. Little did he know, I was no stranger to men talking from their arses, and I was undeniably bored with the speech already.

“Is that why there was arsenic in Phoebe’s stomach?” I asked.

“It’s a hard one to dose.” His brows furrowed. “A bit too gradual.”

I could feel the sweltering heat rise to my face. He was bold for allowing any sharp cutlery at the table. Confidence, hubris, or a terribly enticing dare.

“You’re not the only one who can play with poisons.” He tipped his head back as he ate another oyster, placing the empty shell on the plate. “Though it was much more subtle than what you did to my Nest, wasn’t it?”

“Why?” My voice strained.

“For what it’s worth, I wanted her dead, not eaten.” He looked at me as if he was insulted with the result. “It was meant to frame you, but the plan outperformed,” he said excitedly.

I could only stare, which made him more elated.

Without breaking eye contact, he snapped his fingers. The escort presented something on a platter.

It was a small document, physically. Multiple papers clipped neatly together. The typeface all puny except for the execution line bearing a rather large X beside it.

The second largest lettering was the title.

BREEDING CONTRACT

“As easily as I could sway them to destroy you,” he began, “I could also make a case to preserve you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t, my simple creature,” he said so fondly.

I stared down at the papers. Just when I thought he couldn’t bother me, he somehow found a way.

“My dear, there has never been anyone like you.” He reached across the table in some attempt at being personable. “A Vipera who can only feed on other Vipera; a Cannibal. Never in my lifetime—which has been quite long—have I seen it.”

Not even if I had a stronger stomach could I meet his gaze. To settle myself, I forced my eyes to a Venus trap along the edge of the footpath, counting the bright red mouths.

“You have the ring I gifted you, correct?”

I finally looked back at him. He was so sure of himself, so comfortable in his position. I glanced down at my cup, the bits of tea had settled at the bottom. I didn’t have to be a tea reader to see the glittering metallic shimmer.

This had been the plan from the beginning.

Phoebe was always his lamb.