what happens next

Crouched at the hatch, the pong of waste products was much stronger than he'd realized, but Enrico forced himself to remain where he was. Enrico wouldn't be gone for long, and he could begin to right some of the wrongs he had done in his neglect. Always it seemed that he caused pain through neglect. It had to end somewhere. He stared down into the darkness, troubled. "What is the point of any of this?" Why was he drawing this out? He could have let Basileus out long ago if all he'd cared about was giving Basileus a fighting chance when it came time to finally end their cat-and-mouse chase. He'd been healed for some time now. So... what was the point? "I don't want to kill you." The words were given in a low growl, but he shook himself to settle his fur and started again in a cooler tone. It was idiotic beyond belief to feel hurt by Basileus' continued rejections of him, considering the hell Enrico had put him through. The man had no reason to think well of him in any way, and clearly Enrico had only been continuing to hurt him since. Expecting any more was just setting himself up for hurt, so he shuttered that behind the cold, metal doors of his mind. "My pack is not ready to be left without an alpha. I've just begun to enjoy my life, and I have no intention of risking it just yet. You will get your chance, Scarlatti."

Asriel bounded back up to him at that moment, fresh from the cabins beneath the deck. He carried with him a metal bucket, and a rope, both left behind from the long-ago human sailors. He'd used his teeth and claws to tie a simple knot in the rope to attach it to the handle, and used the rope now to dangle the bucket over the hatch. "Look out," Enrico said mildly, and then Asriel dropped the bucket to land with a clanging racket in the prison.

"You can kick your waste into the bucket and clean up as much as you can," Enrico continued in that same cool, placid tone. "Once you've cleaned up the solid waste we can see to getting the drains cleared and provide you an opportunity to get yourself clean as well. In exchange for your good behavior, that is. I will not risk my pack to improve your lot if you try any... foolishness."