Crimes and Punishments
1520 Words
They each took a place on the bed or on the floor, like predators claiming their territory.
Liora sank to the marble beside the bed, her hands clenched so tightly her nails bit crescents into her palms. Above them, the cameras pivoted softly, mechanical and patient, like vultures circling something not dead yet.
But it wasn’t the cameras she felt.
It was them.
Four pairs of eyes.
Four men the world called monsters.
Four men, now looking at her like survival had become personal.
“Let’s get this over with,” the werewolf growled, sliding down the wall until he sat with his back against it. His arms crossed over his chest, broad and defensive, amber eyes glaring so fiercely at the nearest camera it almost felt like he could break it by will alone.
The vampire, of course, made himself comfortable.
He stretched across the edge of the bed like this was a private salon instead of a monitored cage, one arm draped lazily over the carved headboard.
Liora hated how much she envied that ease.
“By all means,” he said, voice all silk and sharpened edges. “Who would like to confess first?”
“You’re enjoying this.”
The words left Liora before she could stop them.
His mouth curved.
“Immensely.”
Something hot and frustrated twisted in her chest.
He pushed himself upright with slow elegance.
“My name is Cassian Vale,” he said. “Former financier. Current inconvenience.”
A pause.
He enjoyed those.
“I moved a great deal of money through places it was never supposed to go.”
“Stole it?” the werewolf asked.
Cassian smiled.
“Reallocated.”
The dragon, still standing near the door like he trusted walls more than people, gave a low scoff.
“From who?”
Cassian adjusted the cuff at his wrist, considering.
“Everyone who wasn’t using it correctly.”
Liora stared.
“That sounds like stealing.”
“It sounds like accounting with ambition.”
Despite herself, a laugh almost escaped.
She hated that.
“…how much?” she asked instead.
His gaze shifted to hers, sharp enough to feel.
“Enough that very important men suddenly rediscovered morality.”
Liora’s stomach turned.
“And they threw you in prison for that?”
“They couldn’t prove most of it,” he said with a shrug. “So they proved enough.”
He leaned back.
“Next.”
The werewolf pushed off the wall.
No performance.
No polish.
Just blunt force.
“My name is Rook.”
Silence settled differently around him.
“I killed a man.”
Liora’s breath caught.
Rook held her gaze.
“I’d do it again.”
No hesitation.
No apology.
“Why?” she asked quietly.
His jaw tightened.
“He touched my sister.”
The room went still.
Rook’s voice dropped lower.
“I made sure he never touched anyone again.”
A cold hand closed around Liora’s stomach.
“And the court?”
“They called it murder.”
His mouth twisted.
“Didn’t care why.”
She should have been horrified.
Part of her was.
Another part understood perfectly.
Rook looked away first, like pity offended him.
Before the silence could settle too long, the merman stepped forward.
Thalen.
Even standing still, he felt like movement waiting to happen.
“I built something I wasn’t supposed to,” he said.
His voice was quiet.
Calm.
Too calm.
Before the silence could settle too long, Thalen stepped forward.
Even standing still, he felt like movement waiting to happen.
“I built something I wasn’t supposed to,” he said.
His voice was quiet.
Calm.
Too calm.
Liora frowned.
“What kind of something?”
A flicker of amusement touched his face.
“A key.”
Cassian made a quiet sound from the bed.
“That is a very generous description.”
Thalen ignored him.
“A magical disruptor. It disabled containment fields. Cages.”
Liora’s chest tightened.
“You broke people out?”
“I opened every locked door in a private research facility.”
His blue eyes met hers.
“What chose to walk through them was no longer entirely my decision.”
Fear moved sharp and fast through her.
“What were they keeping there?”
“Creatures,” he said.
A beat.
“And people.”
The room felt colder.
Illegal experiments.
Magic users.
Prisoners.
Things no one was supposed to know existed.
Cassian spoke lightly, though something darker moved underneath it.
“They were not kind hosts.”
Liora looked between them.
“You knew about it.”
Cassian smiled without warmth.
“I’ve financed many things. Regret is expensive.”
Thalen continued as if they hadn’t spoken.
“The facility collapsed during the evacuation. Containment failed. Magic surged. People died.”
Her voice came out smaller than she meant.
“And you’d do it again?”
Thalen didn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
No apology.
No regret.
Just certainty.
And somehow, that was worse.
Liora hated how much she wanted to ask him more.
Kael moved next.
Slowly.
Like every step was chosen.
“I’m Kael.”
His voice sounded like something worn down from overuse.
“I stood in front of armed guards and told them to stop beating people who couldn’t fight back.”
Liora looked up at him.
“And?”
His expression didn’t change.
“They didn’t.”
A pause.
“I didn’t stop either.”
Something in her chest tightened painfully.
His eyes found hers, steady and unapologetic.
“They called it justice.”
He didn’t say people died.
He didn’t have to.
The silence said it for him.
Four confessions.
Four crimes.
None of them clean.
None of them simple.
Liora pressed her palms harder against the marble floor because suddenly she felt absurdly small sitting among them.
These were killers.
Rebels.
Men who had burned whole parts of the world down.
And she—
Finally she looked up.
“My turn?”
Cassian’s expression shifted, softer by a fraction.
“If you’d like.”
She drew a breath that hurt.
“I… broke a wand.”
Silence.
Then Rook barked out a harsh laugh.
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I was.”
Her cheeks burned.
“It belonged to a very rich wizard’s son. He thought humiliating poor human girls was a personality trait. I disagreed.”
Kael’s mouth twitched.
Possibly amusement.
Possibly approval.
“I broke it over his head.”
That got a real laugh from Rook.
Even Cassian smiled.
Liora hated that relief almost as much as she hated needing it.
“And prison for that?” Kael asked.
“And refusing to apologize,” she admitted.
Her voice dropped.
“They needed to set an example.”
The room quieted.
Thalen studied her for a long moment.
Then he said,
“You’re not the weakest link here.”
She blinked.
“What?”
He tilted his head.
“You’re the most dangerous.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Because I’m poor?”
“Because you don’t belong here.”
The words landed harder than any insult could have.
Cassian leaned forward then, interest sharpening.
“Which brings us to the real conversation.”
Liora’s stomach seized.
“What conversation?”
He looked at the others, then back at her.
“How do we survive this?”
Rook crossed his arms.
“I’m not sharing her.”
“Of course you’re not,” Cassian said sarcastically. “You’ll die first.”
Rook was on his feet instantly.
“Try it.”
The air in the room changed.
Not louder.
Worse.
Something old and territorial moved between them, sharp as teeth.
Thalen stepped between them before either of them could take another step.
“Fighting each other helps no one.”
Kael exhaled through his nose, arms folding across his chest.
“It helps me.”
“That depends,” Rook muttered.
“No,” Thalen said softly.
“It doesn’t.”
Liora looked between them.
Rook’s protectiveness.
Cassian’s calculation.
Kael’s silence.
Thalen was watching it all like he was already solving the problem.
And suddenly,
she understood.
Not escape.
Not survival.
Her.
They weren’t deciding how to survive the game.
They were deciding who possessed her.
Her stomach dropped.
“You’re making a plan.”
Cassian’s smile was slow.
“Of course we are.”
Cold spread through her.
“A plan for who gets me?”
Silence.
Rook looked away.
Kael didn’t deny it.
Thalen simply watched.
Cassian met her eyes.
Not amused now.
Not detached.
Focused.
“Not gets you,” he said, leaning closer than comfort allowed.
The bond pulsed low and hot between all of them.
“Who gets to share you.”
Liora scrambled backward, though there was nowhere to run.
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
She forced it harder.
“I am not a prize. Not a strategy. Not something you divide up like territory.”
Rook’s expression shifted.
Respect.
Kael’s too.
Thalen didn’t look surprised.
Only Cassian held her gaze.
Intent.
Measuring.
“Then tell us your plan.”
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