Byron began to lick. And gods help me, he did a good job of it too—his tongue working across the leather with the desperate enthusiasm of someone who'd finally, catastrophically understood that pride was a luxury he could no longer afford, that dignity had filed for bankruptcy, and that survival now required swallowing whatever remained of his self-respect alongside the accumulated grime on my boot.
The men around the room exploded into howls of laughter that rattled the silk hangings and made the crystal balls on their tables tremble with sympathetic vibration. The sound piled on itself, growing louder and uglier with every breath, until the air felt saturated with it—mockery distilled, fermented, and released all at once, the kind of laughter that didn't just observe humiliation, but actively fed on it.
Some of the men doubled over, clutching their sides as years of accumulated resentment found outlet in watching their former oppressor debase himself in the exact way he'd forced countless others to grovel.
A few began pointing, gesturing, already composing the story they'd tell later. This would be legend within hours, myth by morning, the kind of tale that gets embellished with each retelling until Byron's humiliation becomes nothing short of theatrical.
Yet still, I wasn't satisfied. Not even close. Because satisfaction required more than just witnessing humiliation—it demanded participation, escalation, the kind of poetic justice that left marks both physical and psychological.
So I decided then, without a single shred of mercy—to shove my boot straight down Byron's throat hard enough to crack his teeth against the sole.
He choked with a mangled scream that came out garbled and desperate around the leather blocking his windpipe, tears beginning to leak from his face in streams that carved tracks through the sweat and dust coating his ancient skin.
And you know what the really funny part was? He kept licking. Even with my boot halfway down his esophagus, even with his face turning colors that didn't exist in nature, he kept desperately working his tongue as though his life depended on it—which, to be fair, it kind of did.
I let him suffer for a good ten seconds—counted them out mentally, savoring each one—before withdrawing my boot in a slow, deliberate motion, letting him feel every inch of its retreat.
Byron collapsed forward then, choking and retching, strings of saliva connecting his mouth to the floor in ways that would've been impressive if it weren't so utterly pathetic to witness.
He gasped, wheezed, then looked up at me with eyes swimming in tears and something that might've been hope if hope hadn't been beaten so far down it was barely recognizable.
"Please, I'll do anything, just—just don't—I can be useful, I can help you, please, you have to listen to me, I can—"
"Oh, I know you can be useful," I interrupted, "And fortunately for you, I'm not quite done with you yet. Shocking, I know—you were probably hoping we'd reached the finale, that this humiliating little interlude was the end of your evening's entertainment. But no." I smiled down at him. "I just need one more thing from you first."
I tilted my head, studying him with quiet efficiency. "Information, Byron. Details. The kind of insider knowledge that only comes from decades embedded in this casino's operations. Think you can manage that?"
Byron complied with such enthusiasm I briefly worried he might strain something vital, his words tumbling out in a rush as though speed might earn him points toward redemption.
"Yes! Yes, anything you want to know, I'll tell you whatever you need just please don't—" He caught himself, swallowed hard, then tried again with slightly more coherence. "What do you want to know?"
I smirked, crossing my arms as I looked down at him with the kind of expression victorious generals wear when accepting surrender.
"Everything," I said simply. "About your operation, about your connection to Oberen, anything you can give me that provides an advantage for the battle to come. Names, numbers, weaknesses, scandals—I want the whole sordid biography of this casino's underbelly delivered with the kind of detail that makes historians weep with joy."
Byron hesitated for a moment—just a fraction of a second where self-preservation warred with whatever loyalty or fear still bound him to Oberen—before deciding it was best not to get on my nerves while I was in the position to introduce my boot to his anatomy again.
"Oberen and I," he began, his voice steadier now that he had a script to follow, "we used to be old business partners. Decades ago, before this casino even existed in its current form, back when it was just a gambling hall with delusions of grandeur. I provided the games, the techniques, the psychological manipulation that turned casual gamblers into addicts. He provided the venue, the protection, the legal framework that kept authorities from asking inconvenient questions."
His words were coming faster now, gaining momentum as memory overtook fear. "When he expanded, built this monstrosity into what it is today, he let me take up residence inside the casino proper. Gave me the third floor, my own operation within his operation, a kingdom inside his empire where I could run my games without interference as long as I paid appropriate tribute and occasionally helped with special projects."
He began going off on a tangent then, trying to justify his actions with the sort of self-serving rationalization predators develop when forced to confront their crimes. "You have to understand, it was mutually beneficial, a partnership built on shared interests and—"
I rolled my eyes—a gesture of such profound disinterest it bordered on contemptuous—before kicking him square in the face with a wet crunch that echoed through the room.
Blood began gushing from Byron's shattered nose in a crimson torrent that painted his purple robes and the floor beneath him as he scrambled back in horror, hands coming up to cup his ruined face. "Gah! You—I was just—"
"Cut the bullshit. Save the self-justifying nonsense for whatever afterlife you end up in—I'm sure they'll find it hilarious," I said flatly. "I don't need your philosophical defense for being a parasitic monster. I need actionable intelligence about Oberen's current situation, his vulnerabilities, anything that gives me leverage when I inevitably have to deal with him directly. So skip the autobiography and jump straight to the useful parts or the next kick goes somewhere significantly more sensitive."
Byron nodded frantically, blood still streaming between his fingers as he spoke through the pain. "Yes, yes, of course, I apologize, I'll—" He took a shuddering breath, visibly forcing himself to focus. "Oberen's been bleeding money recently. Massive hemorrhaging of funds due to a series of high-stakes losses to visiting nobles over the past few months. Lords and ladies from the capital, wealthy merchants from overseas, all of them coming in with enormous bankrolls and walking away with even larger winnings. He's lost hundreds of thousands of crowns—maybe even breaking into millions if the rumors are accurate—and he's desperate to recoup those losses before his investors notice the casino's reserves are depleting."
I nodded internally, pieces clicking together with satisfying precision as Byron's information confirmed suspicions I'd been developing since this whole scheme began.
That explained why Oberen had made his move against Julius now, why he'd suddenly decided to jack up the rent three thousand percent. He wasn't just greedy—he was desperate, backed into a financial corner and lashing out at easier targets to cover losses he couldn't afford to admit.
"But there's more—something bigger, something that could bring his entire operation down if it came to light." Byron continued, glancing around the room as though the walls themselves might report him for what he was about to reveal. "Oberen's been running a massive money laundering operation through the casino for years now. Not just skimming profits or hiding revenue—full-scale industrial laundering for criminal enterprises across multiple layers of the city. Drug cartels, smuggling rings, assassin guilds, anyone with dirty money and deep pockets."
Byron's voice dropped even lower. "He uses the casino's gambling operations as the wash cycle—criminals come in with illegal funds, place enormous 'losing' bets at rigged tables operated by house agents, then walk away with clean winnings that look like legitimate gambling proceeds complete with tax documentation and paper trails that would satisfy any auditor."
He was warming to the topic now, probably hoping that valuable enough information might buy him continued breathing privileges. "The volume is staggering—millions of crowns cycling through every month. He's got an entire network of shell companies, falsified ledgers, corrupted officials in the treasury department who sign off on his financial reports without actually auditing the numbers."
Byron's bloody face twisted into something approximating a smile despite the pain. "If regulatory authorities discovered the operation, if anyone were to trace the money back to this establishment, the entire casino would be seized, Oberen would face criminal charges that even his wealth couldn't buy his way out of, and everyone associated with him would go down in the scandal. It's his greatest vulnerability—the thing he's spent decades trying to hide, the secret that could destroy everything he's built."
I felt a smile spread across my face, slow and satisfied, because this was perfect. Absolutely perfect. The kind of information you couldn't buy, couldn't fabricate, couldn't obtain through anything except breaking someone so completely they had nothing left to lose by telling the truth.
"Well," I said mildly, "that's significantly more useful than I expected. Good job, Byron. Really stellar work on the whole 'complete betrayal of your business partner' front. I'm almost impressed." I paused, tapping my chin thoughtfully. "Actually, one more thing. Where does Oberen keep his financial ledgers? The real ones, not the sanitized versions he shows auditors."
Byron's bloody face lit up with desperate hope, clearly seeing this as an opportunity to earn additional favor. "His office!" he gasped, words tumbling out in a rush. "Hidden on the second floor, disguised as a private lounge. The ledgers—the ones with all the incriminating evidence, every transaction, every laundered crown—they're in a cabinet behind his desk. Mahogany, ornate carvings, looks decorative but it's actually reinforced steel underneath. Third drawer from the top, false bottom. You press the rose carving on the right side and it springs open."
He swallowed hard, blood still streaming from his broken nose. "But you need to understand—his office is guarded at all times by his personal Velvet guards, the two that move with him everywhere he goes. Getting in there would require either his personal approval or..." He trailed off, leaving the implication hanging.
"Or creative problem-solving," I finished. "My specialty, coincidentally."
Byron slammed his head to the floor then, the impact making a dull thud against the stone, then began begging once more with renewed fervor.
"Please, I've told you everything, given you ammunition that could destroy Oberen completely—surely that's worth something, worth at least a small stake to rebuild with, just enough to—"
I gave him a soft smile—the sort that reads as gentle from a distance—before producing a single chip from my newly acquired satchel. Nothing fancy, nothing valuable, just a standard five-crown gaming piece, its polished surface gleaming like captured starlight.
Byron's head snapped up so fast I swear I heard his vertebrae crack, his eyes filling with tears of gratitude that transformed his bloody, broken face into something almost pitiable if you had the stomach for sympathy.
"Thank you," he gasped, the words tumbling out in a rush of desperate relief. "Thank you, oh gods, thank you, I knew you had mercy. I knew you wouldn't—"
He reached for it slowly, fingers trembling as they extended toward salvation and second chances, hope blooming across his features until—
I flipped the coin across my knuckles with practiced ease, the chip dancing through positions with the fluid grace stage magicians spend years to perfect.
It rolled, spun, vanished between fingers only to reappear elsewhere, a miniature performance of dexterity and control.
Then I palmed it with a motion too fast to follow, closed my hand, and spread my fingers open to reveal my palm completely empty—no chip, no salvation, nothing but skin and the faint lines fortune-tellers read to predict futures.
My face curved into the most wicked smile I'd ever produced, stretching so wide even my eyes curled with the malicious glee flooding my system.
"Surprise!" I sang out.
Byron began crying again.
Not the desperate weeping from before, but something deeper, more broken, the sound people make when their last fragment of hope gets crushed and they're forced to confront the full magnitude of their ruin.
"You're the devil!" he sobbed, his voice cracking completely. "A demon wearing human skin, a monster worse than anything I ever—how could you do this, how could anyone be this cruel, this heartless, this—!"
The accusations dissolved into incoherent wailing that echoed off the silk and stone until the room felt smaller, more oppressive, weighted down by his suffering.
"Oh please," I sighed, rolling my eyes again. "As much as I'd love to help you, Byron—and believe me, the temptation to show mercy is just overwhelming, nearly irresistible really—I have a promise to keep. Bit of a stickler for that sort of thing. Personal code, you understand."
Byron's face crossed into confusion. "A promise?" he repeated.
"Yes," I clarified. "With Jazmin, actually. "Back when she and I were getting... acquainted in her chambers—I whispered something to her. A simple promise, really." I paused for dramatic effect because timing was everything in these moments. "I told her that if she helped me win tonight, I would kill her owner." The words came out light, almost playful, completely at odds with their content.
Byron's face melted into absolute terror then, muscles going slack as the blood drained from features already pale with shock and pain. He stared up at me with the kind of expression people wear when death stops being abstract and becomes an imminent reality with teeth and intentions.
"No," he whispered. "No, you can't—you wouldn't—please, I gave you everything, told you about Oberen, exposed myself completely, surely that earns—"
"Earns what, exactly?" I interrupted, stepping closer. "Mercy? Clemency? A gentle retirement where you fuck off to some distant location and spend your remaining years reflecting on your crimes?"
I crouched down, reaching out to grip him by his thinning hair, fingers tangling in the oily strands before yanking his head with enough force to make him gasp. I tilted his bloody face to meet my eyes—which I knew, from the reflection in his terrified gaze, had gone slightly manic with the enthusiasm currently flooding my veins.
"You spent decades breaking people, Byron. Destroying them systematically, methodically, turning human beings into broken tools that existed solely for your profit and entertainment. So tell me—what exactly gave you the impression that the ending of this story was supposed to be kind?"
I raised my fist, knuckles already positioning themselves to deliver maximum damage to his ancient face, prepared to make good on my promise by turning his skull into something that required dental records for identification.
The first hit would shatter his jaw, I decided. The second would cave in his cheekbone. The third would probably kill him if I aimed correctly, but I was prepared to go significantly beyond three if artistic vision demanded it.
However, before I could swing, before physics could translate intention into violence and my fist could begin its arc toward his face—
Jazmin gripped my wrist from behind.
Her fingers wrapped around my forearm like iron bands, holding me mid-motion. I froze completely then, letting her grip anchor me to stillness when momentum wanted to carry through with the promised beating.
Then I stood, rising from my crouch with careful control while Jazmin's fingers slipped away from my wrist, releasing me from the physical restraint even as her presence commanded my attention.
"You've done enough," Jazmin said quietly, "It wouldn't be right to put this blood on your hands, to make you carry the weight of killing him when you've already done so much to—" She paused, searching for the words. "You freed me. Freed all of us. That's enough. You don't need to become a murderer for my sake, don't need to compromise whatever moral lines you've drawn just because you made a promise in the heat of the moment."
I was about to protest—was already forming arguments about how I'd killed more people than I could accurately count, how one more death wouldn't weigh significantly on a conscience already buried under accumulated violence.
But before I could voice any of these objections, before my mouth could shape words into sound, Jazmin spoke again.
"I'll do it," she said with more conviction now.
I stared at her for a second, processing the statement and its implications while Byron's eyes darted frantically between the two of us, his mouth working soundlessly, probably trying to formulate some argument that would convince either of us to show him mercy.
Jazmin's face was set with determination, jaw clenched tight enough that the muscles stood out from beneath her bronze skin.
I gave her a shrug—casual, almost dismissive, the gesture carrying more permission than judgment. "Fair enough," I said simply. "He's your monster to put down if that's what you need. I'll meet you downstairs when you're finished."
I turned away from Byron without a second glance, already moving toward the exit because staying would've been intrusive, would've made this about me when it needed to be about her reclaiming agency through decisive violence.
I gathered my satchel of chips from the table, the weight settling into my hand with a deeply reassuring finality, then gave it a single, idle toss. The clink that answered was crisp and musical, compressed wealth announcing itself in the hush like a closing note struck perfectly on cue.
As I strolled past the ragged men still frozen in their various positions around the chamber, I fished a heavy chip from my sack without looking—some high-denomination piece worth enough to buy compliance—and flicked it toward one of them with casual ease.
He caught it with fumbling fingers, nearly dropping it twice before managing to secure it in both hands, his eyes widening as he registered the value.
"Have you and the others clean up the mess," I said without looking back, my voice carrying the bored authority people use when delegating unpleasant tasks to subordinates. "Whatever's left when she's done."
Without waiting for a reply—because waiting would've implied I cared whether they complied, and I'd just demonstrated comprehensively that defying me carried consequences nobody wanted to experience—I continued toward the exit at an easy pace, wearing the relaxed confidence of someone leaving territory they no longer needed to defend, the matter settled, the lesson delivered, and the consequences already well underway.
Behind me, Byron's voice rose into a fresh wave of pleading directed at Jazmin now, words tumbling over each other in desperate appeal to mercy she had every right to withhold. "Please, Jazmin, we can talk about this, I can change, I'll be better, I'll—!"
A sharp crack severed his words mid-plea—the sound unmistakable, that damp, decisive crunch that announces structural failure under applied force—followed by a gurgled attempt at a scream that failed to leave his throat.
It cut off abruptly, replaced by a silence so complete it felt less like the absence of sound and more like a conclusion.
I smirked as I descended the stairs, satisfaction warm in my chest despite the cooling air, knowing that my plan had been an astounding success beyond even my optimistic projections.
I'd infiltrated Byron's operation, identified his cheating method, turned his own accomplice against him, bankrupted him publicly, extracted intelligence about Oberen's vulnerabilities, then orchestrated his complete execution.
Not bad for a night's work, really. Not bad at all.