Chapter 77 Anything left to take
Lord Cassian ~
The vault was dead empty. Not a single coin. Not one fucking bar of gold.
Shelves that used to shine like they were laughing at everyone else—now just bare stone and shadows.
My whole life, my power, my safety net—gone. Vanished. Like someone walked in, laughed, and took it all while I was asleep.
My chest felt like it was caving in. Hot. Tight. I couldn’t breathe right.
“RIVEN!”
My shout bounced off the walls so loud it hurt my own ears. My hands were shaking. I didn’t even notice until I saw them trembling in front of me.
Riven appeared in the doorway like a ghost—tall, thin, silent as always. Head already down. He never spoke unless I forced him. Right now I didn’t want words. I wanted blood.
I pointed at the empty shelves. My finger shook.
“What… the fuck… is this?”
He didn’t answer. Just stared at the floor.
I took one step. Then another. My boots sounded too loud. Everything felt too loud.
“You had one job.” My voice cracked. “One. Keep this place locked. Keep my shit safe. And now—” I swept my arm across the nothing. “Now I’ve got jack shit! Nothing! Do you know what that means? The council hears this, I’m done. Vuk hears it, I’m fucking dead. And you—” I jabbed my finger into his chest so hard he rocked back. “You’re the first one I gut when they come sniffing.”
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t speak. Just stood there and took it.
That made me angrier.
I backhanded him—hard. His head snapped sideways. Blood sprayed from his lip. He staggered one step, then straightened again. Still silent. Still staring at the floor.
I hit him again. Knuckles split on his cheekbone. My hand burned. His face didn’t even change.
“Say something, you mute fuck!”
Nothing.
I turned away before I killed him right there.
“Get the girl. The blind one. Bring her. Now.”
He moved without a sound. Gone.
I paced. Back and forth. Back and forth.
My rings dug into my palms until blood ran between my fingers.
Every step I pictured someone’s face—some servant, some guard, that eastern bastard who sold me the oracle. Someone knew. Someone betrayed me. And when I found them…
The door creaked.
Riven dragged her in. Celeste. Skinny. Pale. Chains clinking like cheap bells. Milky eyes staring at nothing. Bruises already darkening on her arms from when the trader handed her over. She stumbled once. Riven yanked her upright. No gentleness. No words.
I crossed the room fast. Grabbed her by the jaw. Hard. Her head jerked up.
“Celeste.” My voice was shaking. “Who took my money?”
She shook her head. Tiny. Scared.
I slapped her. Open palm. Loud crack. Her lip split instantly. Blood trickled down her chin.
I didn’t let go. Dragged her to the first empty shelf and smashed her face against the cold metal.
“This one. Empty.”
Slap. Harder.
“This one.”
Dragged her to the next. Smashed her cheek into stone.
“Empty.”
Slap.
“This one.”
Slap.
“Nothing. All fucking nothing!”
She whimpered. Tried to curl away. I held her tighter.
“What the hell are you for?” I snarled in her ear. “I paid millions for you. Millions! And the same week you show up, my vaults get cleaned out? You see the future, right? You see prophecies? Then why the fuck didn’t you see this coming? Why didn’t you warn me? Useless. Fucking useless!”
I let her go. She dropped to her knees like her strings were cut. Blood dripped onto the stone—plink, plink, plink.
I spun on Riven. He hadn’t moved. Blood still running from his mouth and nose. Eyes down.
“And you.”
I slapped him again—backhand. Then forehand. His head rocked.
“Everyone in this house bleeds tonight if I don’t get my gold back. Every single one. Guards. Maids. The whores I keep upstairs. I’ll hang their guts from the balcony. I’ll make the servants watch while I peel their fucking skin. You understand?”
He nodded once. Slow. Blood dripping.
I crouched in front of Celeste again. Grabbed a fistful of her hair. Yanked her head back so hard her throat stretched white.
“I spent a fortune on you,” I hissed. “A fortune. And you give me nothing. Nothing! I should cut your arms off. Let you crawl around like the worm you are. Or maybe your tongue—rip it out so you stop wasting my time with bullshit.”
She was crying now. Small, broken sobs.
“Please… mercy… my lord…”
“Mercy?” I laughed. It sounded crazy even to me. “You think I’ve got mercy left? You think I can afford it when I’m this close to losing everything?”
She swallowed. Blood and tears mixing on her face.
“I… I can give you a prophecy,” she whispered. “One you’ll want. One that could make you bigger than Vuk. Bigger than anyone—”
I slapped her again. Harder. Her head snapped sideways.
“Fuck your prophecy, blind bitch. I don’t want riddles. I want my money. I want my gold. I want the power that keeps me alive. Not some fairy-tale dream!”
I shoved her backward. She hit the floor hard. Chains rattled. She curled into a ball, shaking.
I stood up. Chest heaving. Hands bloody. The room spun a little.
Then the rage settled—just enough to think.
“Take her to the lower cells,” I told Riven. My voice came out flat. Dead. “No food. No water. Let her rot in the dark until she remembers what happens when she’s useless.”
He nodded. Started dragging her away.
“And you,” I said to his back. “Start with the night guards. Ask questions. If they lie—cut fingers. If they keep lying—cut more. Work your way through the whole damn house. I want names. I want screams. I want every coin back before sunrise. Or I start carving.”
Riven paused at the door. Nodded once. Then disappeared into the corridor with the sobbing girl.
I stayed in the empty vault.
Alone.
Staring at nothing.
My hands were still shaking.
My rings were slick with blood—mine, hers, his.
I clenched my fists until fresh pain cut through the haze.
Whoever did this… they were going to beg.
They were going to scream.
They were going to wish they’d never heard my name.
Because I wasn’t done.
Not even close.
I’d burn this whole fucking Dominion down before I let anyone take what was mine.
An hour dragged by like a blade across bone.
I’d torn through the house. Literally. Guards screamed. Maids begged. Fingers hit the floor in wet thuds—pinkies first, then ring fingers, then whole hands when the lies kept coming. Blood soaked the rugs, pooled in the hallways, dripped from banisters. The smell was thick—copper and piss and fear.
And still… nothing. Not one name. Not one clue. Not one single fucking coin.
My hands were sticky with other people’s blood. My rings were crusted red. My chest felt like it was going to explode.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t stop shaking.
“Bring her back,” I snarled at Riven.
He didn’t speak. Just bowed once—blood still dried on his split lip from earlier—and disappeared down the corridor.
Minutes later the door to the vault creaked open again.
Celeste was shoved inside. She hit her knees hard, palms slapping the cold stone to catch herself. Chains clinked. Her face was swollen—cheek purple, lip crusted black with old blood. Tears carved clean tracks through the dirt on her cheeks. She was shaking so bad the chains rattled like loose change.
She didn’t look up. Just pressed her forehead to the floor.
“Please, my lord…” Her voice cracked. Small. Broken. “I’ve tried… I’ve tried so hard… I don’t see anyone… I don’t see anything…”
My vision went red.
“What?” I stepped closer. Boots squelched in drying blood. “What did you just say?”
She flinched at my voice. Tried to make herself smaller.
“But—but—”
“But what?” I roared. The word exploded out of me. I grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head up so fast her neck cracked. Her milky eyes stared past me, wide and terrified. “Speak, you worthless piece of shit!”
She whimpered. Lips trembling.
“I… if—if I can get two eyes… from a fox demon… I swear, my lord… I’ll be able to see. Everything. Who took it. Where it is. Everything you need…”
I stared at her.
Then I laughed.
It came out ugly. Harsh. Like something breaking inside my throat.
“You think I’m stupid?” I hissed. I slapped her—hard. Her head rocked sideways. Fresh blood sprayed from her nose. “You think I’m a fucking joke? Gods, are you blind and brain-dead at the same time?”
She sobbed harder. Tried to curl away. I dragged her back by the hair.
“I paid millions for you!” I shouted in her face. Spit hit her cheek. “Millions! I could’ve bought a whole army. A fleet. A dozen better oracles. And instead I got you. You useless, lying, blind little cunt. You sit here crying while my entire world burns, and your answer is ‘give me fox eyes’? Fox eyes?!”
I slapped her again. And again. Each one louder. Each one wetter. Her head lolled. Blood dripped from her chin in thick strings.
“You think I have time for fairy-tale bullshit?” I snarled. “You think I can just stroll into the eastern marshes and pluck the eyes out of a fox demon like it’s picking apples? You think I’m that desperate?”
She was crying so hard she could barely breathe. Snot and blood mixed on her upper lip.
“I’m… I’m telling the truth…” she gasped. “Please… I swear on the moon… on my life… if I have those eyes… I’ll see it all. I’ll give you the thief. I’ll give you revenge. I’ll give you… a prophecy. A real one. One that makes you unstoppable. Bigger than Vuk. Bigger than anyone…”
I let go of her hair. She collapsed forward, gasping, coughing blood onto the stone.
I stood over her. Chest heaving. Fists clenched so tight my knuckles popped.
The room spun. My pulse hammered in my ears.
I hated her. Hated her face. Her voice. Her useless milky eyes. Hated that she was all I had left.
But the rage was shifting. Twisting.
Into something colder. Hungrier.
Fox demon eyes.
Rare. Expensive. Dangerous. The kind of thing only lunatics or kings went after.
And right now… I felt exactly like both.
I crouched slowly. Grabbed her chin again—gentler this time. Forced her to look up even though she couldn’t see me.
“You get one chance,” I said. Voice low. Deadly calm. “One. I will hunt down a fox demon. I will rip its eyes out with my own hands if I have to. I will bring them back here dripping and lay them at your feet.”
Her breath hitched.
“But if you’re lying…” I leaned in until my lips almost brushed her ear. “If this is another trick, another stall, another way to buy yourself time… I will make what I’ve done to the rest of this house look like kindness. I will peel you. Slowly. Piece by piece. While you’re still alive. And I’ll make sure you feel every second.”
She nodded frantically. Tears splashing onto my wrist.
“Yes… yes, my lord… thank you… thank you…”
I stood up. Rolled my shoulders. The shaking had stopped. Replaced by something sharper. Clearer.
“Riven.”
He appeared instantly. Silent. Bloody. Waiting.
“Prepare my hunters. The best ones. Arm them heavy. We’re going east. Into the marshes. Tonight.”
He bowed once. Turned to leave.
“And her—” I jerked my chin at the sobbing heap on the floor. “Clean her up. Feed her. Let her rest. Because when I come back with those eyes… she’d better see everything. Or I start cutting again.”
Riven nodded. Dragged Celeste away by her chains. She didn’t fight. Just whimpered softly as they disappeared into the dark.
I stayed in the empty vault a moment longer.
Staring at the bare shelves.
My reflection stared back from a polished iron bracket—eyes wild, mouth twisted, blood on my face that wasn’t all mine.
I wasn’t done.
Not even fucking close.
I’d burn the marshes. I’d bleed demons. I’d tear the Dominion apart brick by bloody brick.
And when I had my gold back… when I had my power back…
I’d make every single one of them pay.
Starting with whoever thought they could take from Cassian Voss and live.
I smiled at my reflection.
It wasn’t a nice smile.
It was the smile of a man who had nothing left to lose.
And everything left to take.