Her voice softens.
“He didn’t mean to abandon you here.”
For a moment, something flickers across my baby brother’s face.
Pity. Then it vanishes.
“I should kill you regardless,” he says.
Max lifts her chin.
“If you attack, I’ll have to killyou.”
Elio scoffs. “You couldn’t kill me if you tried.”
Max raises a brow, looking equally defiant and insulted. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Max mistakes his statement as a belittling jab, assuming Elio doesn't believe she could possibly be a threat, when in reality,he's speaking from the perspective of someone who can't be killed by most natural or supernatural means. Though the irony isn't lost on me that, if anyone in Faerie could prove him wrong, it's probably her.
I clear my throat. “How about no one gets killed?”
There are things even an end-all blade cannot kill, like Death itself.
No wonder Ethan was so gleeful to see me waltz back in here with no memories. I had no recollection of his abuse, of my hatred for him, and I was carrying the very weapon he needed to silence Elio once and for all.
Elio’s shoulders sag, his aggressive stance wavering. “You got out. After all the devastation you left in your wake, you got out. You escaped Ethan, the Sun Court, all of it.”
His voice quiets. “You even escaped yourself.”
The cruel snarl lifts from his face until all that remains is exhaustion.
“Do you have any idea what I would have given to forget?” Elio presses his fingertips to his temple. “I would've happily traded in my powers and my crown for a single day without his voice in my head.”
Elio blinks rapidly, looking around the chamber, and I get the sense his vision is slowly returning.
“You should never have come back here. You got a second chance, and you ruined it. As far as mistakes go, that's a pretty spectacular one.”
There’s no mockery in his voice, only sadness.
“Ethan must have been thrilled to get you back without your memories.” Elio snickers, the corners of his mouth flattening. “But then again, you were always his favorite. His precious little prince.”
My insides shrivel in revulsion at the nickname. I was my father’s heir all right, which he loved to remind me as hetortured me. As a young child, he’d offer to reduce the length or intensity of Elio’s beatings if I agreed to take his place. To make me stronger, he’d say. But I wasn’t always brave enough to agree.
After I joined the Royal Academy, my beatings were confined to the few patches of skin I never had to show. Ethan traded broken bones for broken spirits, but he always made sure I suffered.
I know he doubled down on Elio’s punishments during those times, but I was just so relieved to be out…
“I wasn't spared, and you know that. I was simply broken differently. In a way no one could see,” I say quietly.
Max slips her small hand into mine.
“Devi told me you were alive, but I—” My brother rubs a hand over his jaw. “I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around it. Now I find out that you got the peace of mind you always wanted, and that you blew it. For what?”
A sad smile curls my lips. “Don’t envy me for the life I lived in exile. My existence was empty. Max saved me.”
I squeeze her hand.
“Elio, this is Max. She’s Devi’s goddaughter, so before you get any ideas about killing her to get back at me” —I shoot him a dark look— “don’t.”
