Page 54 of Prisoner of Steel and Shadow

For the first time in a long time, he was the Lord of Death.

And he was here to take what was owed.

He slowed his steps until they weren't even a whisper on the floor. Not because he was hiding, but because there was always value in collecting information.

“I can’t believe you faced off with the High Lord’s whore and lived. You must be the only man in Empyria who can make such a claim.”

Bannock grunted his agreement. “I don’t think her heart was in it, to be honest.”

“You saying she wanted to take you for a ride, Banny?”

“What pretty bird doesn’t?”

Male chuckles rolled through the room before a new voice spoke up.

“You have to admit, though. It’s kind of hot.”

“Getting stabbed by a cold bitch?” Bannock asked.

“No. The thought of fucking the High Lord’s prized piece of pussy. I mean, she has to be sweet if he keeps her so tightly leashed.”

“I wouldn’t mind putting a leash on her,” the first man drawled.

“I wouldn’t mind if she put a leash on me,” the second shot back.

“What do you say, Banny, you want to finish what you started? We could take turns. You could go first.”

“Fucking right, I’d go first. It’s the least I deserve after the bitch left me her calling card.”

“She stabbed you, so now you get to stab her?” This was the second voice again.

“Only seems fair.”

With every word, the men sealed their fates. There’d never been hope for dear old Banny, but the other two might have been spared had they not opened their fucking mouths.

Now it was too late.

As a general rule, Erebos considered himself unbiased. He had no reason to be. Death always won in the end. But in the rare instances someone was stupid enough to garner his undivided attention, he gave it to them. And then he made sure they lived only long enough to regret it. As this mewling triad was about to learn.

The idiots were still laughing when Erebos swept into the room, the darkness peeling away from him like a cloud of smoke. Before the men even realized he was there, the smoke shot out, condensing into a pair of phantom hands as it grasped Bannock’s two sidekicks by their throats and strangled the life right out of them.

Bannock wasn’t as fortunate, though under other circumstances some might consider him lucky since he was one of the rare few who could claim to have gazed upon the true face of a god.

The brawler managed to get to his feet, his entire body shaking as he held out his arms. “P-puh-please H-High Lord. I-it was ju-just talk.”

Erebos regarded him the way a giant might regard an ant. That is to say, not at all.

Bannock was still offering his stuttered apology when Erebos took him by the neck and lifted him straight into the air. It should have been an impossible move given the difference in their builds. But not for him. Not with death singing in his veins.

“You made a huge mistake.”

Bannock tried to nod, his eyes bulging, his face turning a mottled red.

“You will not live to repeat it.”

With that, Erebos tightened his grip until he crushed the other man’s windpipe, though he didn’t stop there. He continued squeezing until he grasped the top of the man’s spine in his bare hand. Then he jerked his arm back and severed the spine in two.

He was already walking out of the room before the bastard’s head hit the floor.

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