what happens next

"Maybe I should have," he sighed in response to Basileus' words. "But I could not do that either." A weakness of character, perhaps. No doubt any of the red brothers, even he, would have thought that. After all, it was the final test of a potential to need to kill. Anyone who could not do that, could not stand back and allow an enemy to die, they did not deserve to be in the cosca.

Basileus' stare at the bucket spoke volumes of his horror, and Enrico just sighed again. He was trying but there was only so much he could do to make the man comfortable without putting Niente at risk. And, yes, himself, and God knew he was a coward for it but he wasn't ready yet to risk his own life either.

Asriel, however, had no mixed feelings towards this prisoner, and the leopard let out a threatening growl rumble through his chest. "Wolves," he said scornfully, though not without some amusement, shaking his heavy head and twitching his whiskers. "Perhaps if you were raised properly and knew to bury your scat you would not have this... reluctance to clean your own prison properly. It is not as though he is asking you to clean his scat."

"To be fair," Enrico said to the cat with some embarrassment, "it would not be an issue if I did not need to keep him caged. He could be out on parole for that... business... if I could trust his word to bring no harm to my people. But I can't," he said, turning his attention back to Basileus, his voice going flat and cool. "Can I." It wasn't a question. Basileus was honor-bound to kill him, and breaking his word would matter little beside that.