William's breath caught.
His hands trembled around the cleaver, eyes wide with shock.
"W-What…?"
Albert's voice broke through the silence. "Did that albino bastard just tell you to kill us?"
"Will, don't listen to him!" Daniel shouted, squirming in his bindings. "He's crazy!"
William looked up at Daemon, desperation in his eyes.
Daemon met his gaze, calm and cold. "If you don't want to do it, just say it."
He shrugged. "I'll untie them. Let them go. And you can go back to your old miserable life. Getting kicked, spat on, used. Until one day… they kill you."
"William, come on," Albert snapped. "We're family! We grew up together!"
"We looked after you," Daniel added. "Fed you when no one else would. Even if we're not blood—we raised you!"
William's vision blurred.
Memories flooded his mind—eating scraps with them, laughing once in a while, being dragged through alleys, scolded for stealing poorly, beaten for backtalk. Survival. That's all it had ever been.
