Cyrus took in the gashes on Vivienne's face, his heart constricting as if squeezed by a vise.

He despised this feeling, the sensation of something that was his being tainted.

"Finish him off," he said.

The words floated lightly in the air but carried a deadly weight.

The man, in a last-ditch effort to use Vivienne as a human shield, found himself swiftly pushed back down as soon as he rose.

Cyrus was maneuvered next to Vivienne.

Her ropes were already ...