I place a hand on my stomach, something I've been doing a lot of lately. It's hard to think about this baby. To think that it belongs to me and Fen. In my world, I wouldn't even know I'm pregnant yet, but magic has perks, and one of them is apparently early pregnancy detection.
"You think I deserve this, don't you?" says Levi, his head hanging low, but eyes fixed on me. "You think this is justice?"
I don't say anything. I won't give him my pity.
"There was a time, you know," continues Levi, "a time when I was no danger to anyone. I was but a boy, bright and eager to learn. But the world took that boy and forged him into a harsh man. It didn't have to be that way, but it was." He pauses, glaring into the fireplace burning within the stones.
"I still remember, back in the Silver Gardens, back when mother and father still lived. I remember being lost. Younger than Niam and Zeb, but older than Dean, Ace and Asher. Somehow, my older brothers were praised for being wise and mature, my younger ones for being spirited and youthful, and yet I was not praised at all. I didn't let it deter me though, no, not at first. I took hard to my studies, exceling in my classes and impressing my tutors. I grew found of smithing especially, and toiled long hours to perfect the craft. When testing came, I worked for weeks on a blade, pouring my ambitions and dreams into the steel. Gold it was, with a sapphire in the guard. Lightbringer, I called it. And when it was finally done, I took it to my father, eager to impress him for once. He glanced at the blade and laughed. 'Oh Levi, you couldn't possibly make such a blade,' he said. 'Tell me, who'd you steal it from?' I argued with him. Told him it truly was my work. But he just laughed once more and left for more important matters. I took the blade back to the forge then and bashed it until it shattered. I didn't forge again."
He turns his face back to me. "When the next testing came, I did as my father expected. I stole the project, a handmade cloak, from Ace and passed it off as my own. My father congratulated me more than he did before." He chuckles, then his eyes grow darker. "Ace and I fought after that, but not for long. He forgave me, though he had no reason. He just… did."
He pauses much longer this time.
I cross my arms. "So what? I'm supposed to forgive you? Is that the point of this story? Poor Levi had one bad thing happen to him, and instead of working harder to prove others wrong, he just did what they expected and turned bad? Well, boo hoo. We all have crap to deal with. At least you have brothers who care for you—"
"You think they care for me?" He flips back his head and laughs. "Really? You think Niam sides with me because he cares about poor old Levi? No, Princess. He sides with me because of the opportunities he sees for his own gain. The schemes he plots to undercut me. And who else do you think cares for me? Zeb, perhaps? Oh, no, Zeb does as he pleases, dear Princess. Sometimes he helps, and other times he stabs in the back. For centuries, he's darted back and forth between me and Asher, and he will flip sides once again. In fact… I'm not sure who he supports even now. Do you know, Princess? Are you sure?"
I stay silent, because he's not wrong. I don't know who Zeb supports. I don't even know if he voted for Fen and me to die, or if he tried to save us.
Levi grins at my silence, then continues. "And I hope you have no illusions about Asher and Fen. They despise me, I can assure you."
"Only because you've made it so," I say. "Only because you betray and hurt them every chance possible."
"Like when?" He looks up, as if he's trying to remember something. "Like when I witnessed the Presenting? The one Dean and Asher joined in as well? I understand it was hard for you, Princess, but you must understand such things are not rare in Inferna. Slaves are presented all the time, even free men sometimes, if they are looking for particular work. You may find the custom disgusting, but my brothers do not, I assure you. Well, perhaps save Fen. He is an odd one.
"Now, let me see, what else? Oh, perhaps I betrayed them when we went to battle with the Fae? No, wait. I don't believe that's right. I believe I fought at their side, while you hid the fact that you were the Midnight Star, the fact that you had returned the Druids from their slumber.
"Or perhaps you refer to the time when I threatened you. When I saw what you truly were, and I tried to end your life. When I tried to stop the war and save the lives of all in Inferna. Even the lives of innocent Fae.
"Or perhaps you refer to the time when I—along with five other Princes of Hell—sentenced you and Fen to death, the Midnight Star who brought ruin upon my people and the Earth Druid who had slain our father."
He pulls on his chains in rage. "I may have threatened you, Princess, hurt you even. But I have never betrayed my brothers."
I… I don't know what to say. He has hurt me, nearly killed me, and I always assumed he had done worse to others… but I have never seen him do harm to his brothers. Never even seen him act alone. I forget that Dean and Asher were part of the Presenting, even peripherally. I forget they were part of the Council who voted for my death.
This is a cruel world. I have let myself forget, but no longer. Before I came here, I had never killed anyone, never been taken captive or seen others tortured. Now I have endured all these things. And I know I will endure more.
Levi has done terrible things, but what of me?
I have killed.
I have lied.
I have ruined.