#suck on that lev misha and galina

[akoumi]

[ MONSTROUS, WRETCHED, AND DIVINE ]

id under cut: 

“You think it’s your duty, don’t you?” I ask quietly, looking through the bars to where they crouch, at the farthest corner of the dungeon. As far as they can get from me. 

He hasn’t moved. Lev sits in the same position I saw him last - shielding Misha and Galina with his body as they sit huddled behind him, heads bowed, bodies trembling. Exhaustion lines every part of Lev’s body as he breathes, wincing hard every time his chest rises and falls jerkily. Misha and Galina are still. They don’t even look up at my voice. 

I hope they remember what they did to me back at the palace, all three of them. I hope they remember the way they treated me. I hope they remember what they said to me, every last word. Because I haven’t forgotten - and I sure as hell haven’t forgiven. I step forward, rattle the bars lightly. It’s hard to see in the dim light, but I let my gaze follow the bruises on them - on Misha’s collarbone, around Galina’s neck, all over Lev’s body. 

They don’t look like royalty anymore. Bruised, battered, dirty, in rags - they now look like the filthy rats they are. I can already tell I’m going to have fun with them. 

“I said,” I say deliberately, kicking at the bars. Galina flinches, hard, as the metal cap of my boot rings out against the iron of the bars. “You think it’s your duty, don’t you? To protect them.” 

Lev leans back a little bit, pressing his body against Galina’s. One arm thrown across her body, the other one across Misha’s, even though both arms are bent at a horrible angle. “It is my duty.” His voice is so hoarse, so raspy. 

“Right. Because you’re a soldier, and they’re royalty.” I step forward again, as much as I can. “And now, even until the very end, you’re protecting them.” 

“Until the very end,” Lev repeats croakily. “Until the very end.” 

I chuckle. “I really did a number on you, didn’t I? Broke both your arms, cracked your ribs, your teeth, gave you those black eyes… and yet you refuse to stop.”

Galina lets out a ragged, hoarse whimper at that. Lev’s eyes never stray from me, burning into mine from his broken body. I laugh. 

“How’re you holding up?” I ask, directing the question at Misha. Enjoying the way he doesn’t react except to curl up tighter, shaking. “God, you’re pathetic.” He flinches as if I’ve hit him, and Lev snarls weakly at me. 

“Shut up,” he says. I smile and kick at the bars again, and this time all three of them cringe at the noise. “Shut up, or I’ll - I’ll kill you -”

“That’s not how we talk to our superiors, now,” I croon, and he goes still. The look on his face is so amusing. “You realize that you’re at my mercy, don’t you? I’d suggest you treat me with some respect.” 

“Why?” Lev spits challengingly, haltingly, after a moment of silence. The defiance in him is weak, but I don’t like it. I’ll punish him for that soon enough. He opens his mouth to continue, but Misha’s hand closes around his wrist, and Lev goes silent. 

“That’s right,” I say softly. “Listen to your master and hush now, puppy.” 

“Please,” Galina says raggedly, voice barely a whisper. “Please, let us go. I know you’re a good man. I know it. I’ll give you what you want - money? Land? Surely you know I’m the heir to the throne - I can - I can give you whatever you want, anything - j-just let us go now and you’ll be forgiven, pardoned for everything you’ve done -” 

I laugh, again, and she goes silent. “How can you call me a good man when you know everything I’ve done?” I ask, wrapping my fingers around the bars. The cold seeps through into my fingers despite the thick gloves I’m wearing. I can only imagine how cold they are. “You would really pardon a murderer, a traitor, a thief, a revolutionary - all one man? You’d give up your country for three people? I don’t think you’d make a very good queen.” 

She swallows, shakily. “I love my country,” she murmurs, hands snaking out - one on Lev’s body, the other on Misha’s. “But I love my family even more.” 

“Touching,” I say. “But ultimately ineffective.” I glance over at Misha, who’s been staring at me for the past few minutes like he’s never seen me before. “What’s wrong, lover boy? See something you like? You did back when I was on the floor in chains in your room, didn’t you?” Bringing that up isn’t my favorite thing to do, but it’s worth it, to see the way he shakes.

“What are you?” he whispers finally. He holds onto Galina’s hand tight, the other hand resting on Lev. “You’re - you’re - god, you’re not human.” He swallows thickly, dark brown eyes wide. I take a moment to savor this moment, the absolutely delicious terror in his eyes. The last time I saw him, he was on a battlefield, a sword in his hand as he mowed down the men around him - my men. And the time before that, I was on my knees in front of him, chained, as he smirked at me. As he grabbed my chin and tilted it up to study me. As he brushed a thumb across my lower lip. I smile at him, running my tongue over my canines. Misha goes pale, looking away as limp hair falls in his face. 

“I didn’t believe them,” he says brokenly, eyes on the floor. “The - the ones who called you inhuman. Monstrous. They - they said that the other woman - Katya, they said that she was the - she was the head of this insurrection, but - but you were the one to watch out for.” 

“Is that so?” I ask. It’s so gratifying, to hear that my reputation has far preceded me. I always enjoy hearing what the people say about me. “What else did they say?” 

Misha hesitates. “They said - they call you Aleksander Volkov, Black Wolf of Ksenia. They - they said that you’ve killed a thousand men and women. They said - they say that you were bloodthirsty and soulless.”

“I’ve found that a soul isn’t of much use,” I muse, looking at my fingernails. “Not in my line of work. Continue.”

“They say that you’re not human. That you’re an omen of death. That you’re the last thing that countless men have seen. That no man has ever survived a fight with you. That you revel in death and destruction, and the only thing keeping you in check is the devil himself.” He continues to recite, seeming to get smaller and smaller with each word. 

Each word sends a little shiver of pleasure down my spine. I close my eyes, listening to him speak, as warmth blossoms behind my sternum and spreads to every part of my body. The past few years have been hard. I’ve worked hard, so hard, but right now, it’s all worth it - every mile walked, every man killed, every village burned - to hear these words right now. To hear my reputation through the mouths of others. To know that all I have to do to conquer a village, a town, a city right now is to walk into it. 

I open my eyes. “Are you afraid?” 

“I’ve never set eyes on anything that’s ever scared me.” Lev is the one to snap, as Misha bows his head, but I see way his broken body shakes. 

I smile, looking down at them - huddled together at the corner of the cell. As far as they can get from me. “Then take a closer look at me, and start praying to whatever god you believe in.”