Ouroboros Spine My atonement lasts the best part of eternity.

It wasn't a painful interrogation. Tedious, that was all.

Bearclaw, the boy named it next. Let her go searching for it, he thinks. Whether she sends one of her minions or she goes herself, Merrick and those loyal to Ursus would have enjoyed picking her apart.

He wants to claim Merrick for himself, suddenly. To call Avicus and Aventus his siblings; but he thinks of Astyanax, and grows solemn. Family does not matter — he should know better than to desire such connections. He was alone, as he had always been.

A thought strikes him. What will you do with me? What is to become of me?

She did not have the heart to hurt him, and he had done enough to earn a death; so what, then, except to be a slave? The thought makes him curl in to himself.