Hearing him admit it still hits like physical force. Part of me was hoping I was wrong, that there was some other explanation, that my own brother wouldn't betray me this fundamentally. But no. He actually did this. "Why?"
"Because you wouldn't listen to reason." His voice gains strength, anger bleeding into it now. "I tried to talk to you, Mal. Multiple times. I explained the complications, the social ramifications, the political fallout of a high-ranking demon mating a human. You didn't care. You just kept insisting she was worth it, that you loved her, that nothing else mattered." He shakes his head sharply. "You were going to throw away your entire future for a human who would age and die in a fraction of your lifespan. A human who has no status, no power, nothing to offer House Virex except?—"
"Everything that actually matters." My free hand curls into a fist against the stone. "She offered me everything that actually matters, and you took her from me."
"I saved you from a catastrophic mistake." His eyes burn with self-righteous conviction. "You were so consumed by this—this infatuation that you couldn't see clearly. Someone had to protect you from yourself."
"Protect me." The words taste like ash. "You call stealing months of my life protecting me? You call making us both suffer through partial recognitions and fractured dreams and longing we couldn't understand—you call that protection?"
"I call it necessary intervention." He doesn't back down, doesn't show remorse. "And it would have worked if the slave company hadn't sent her back here. I had no idea she'd been reassigned to the estate. That was poor oversight on my part, admittedly. But by then the damage was done. The proximity was enough to start weakening the bindings."
I remember those early days after Lenna arrived. The inexplicable hostility I felt toward her. The way Azhrael responded to her presence. The dreams that felt too vivid, too real. My entire system was fighting against the magical restraints, trying to remember what had been taken. "How did you even do this? Memory binding of this scale?—"
"A kal'galan sorcerer." He says it matter-of-factly, like he's discussing hiring someone to repair stonework. "They specialize in blood magic and consciousness manipulation. Very expensive, very discreet. I paid them well to ensure the work was thorough."
Blood magic. Outlawed in even the darkest corners of Ikoth for good reason. My brother went to a kal'galan sorcerer—the kind of demon that most of our race considers abomination—to erase me. "You used illegal magic. On your own brother."
"I used the tools available to solve a problem." No apology. No shame. Just cold practicality. "The binding was supposed to be permanent as long as you maintained distance from each other. Physical and emotional proximity weakens this type ofspell, but under normal circumstances, you'd never see her again. She'd have been reassigned to some other household across Ikoth and you'd both have moved on with your lives."
"Moved on." I pull back slightly, needing space before I do something irreversible. "You genuinely believe we would have just moved on. That what we felt for each other was so shallow it could be erased and forgotten."
"I believed the magic would hold." His expression hardens. "And it should have. The sorcerer assured me the binding was absolute. But clearly your bond was stronger than anticipated. When you got close to her again, when you started spending time together, the spell began to fracture. The dreams were the first sign—suppressed memories bleeding through during sleep when conscious defenses were weakened."
I think about those dreams. Waking up aching with loneliness I couldn't explain. Seeing Lenna in the stables and feeling like something vital was missing. "And when you realized the binding was failing, you tried to convince me to send her away."
"Of course I did." He straightens, recovering some of his usual composure. "I was trying to prevent exactly this situation. If you'd removed her from the estate when I suggested it, maintained distance, the binding might have stabilized. But you wouldn't do it. You kept finding excuses to keep her close. And then—" He stops abruptly.
"Then what?"
His jaw works for a moment before he continues. "Then you started to fall for her again. I'm not sure why, but it shattered the remaining bindings completely. The sorcerer mentioned that extreme emotional events could destabilize the spell, but I didn't think... I underestimated how deeply you felt about her."
So I was right. My willingness to die for Lenna broke whatever chains Damiros had wrapped around our minds. Themagic couldn't contain that kind of bond. "You should have let us be happy."
"I should have protected my brother from destroying his future over a human." He says it with absolute conviction. "And I'd do it again if I thought it would work."
The admission lands like a blow. He's not sorry. Won't apologize. Still believes he was right to tear us apart. "I should kill you for this."
Damiros tenses but doesn't flee. "You could try."
"I could succeed." I let him see the violence in my expression, the barely restrained urge to make him hurt the way he made us hurt. "You used illegal magic to manipulate my mind. That alone would justify execution by law. And personally? Personally, I want to tear you apart for what you did to her. For the confusion and fear you caused. For making her think she was losing her mind when those memories started surfacing."
"But you won't." He says it with infuriating certainty. "Because I'm your brother. Because despite everything, you still care what happens to me."
He's right, which makes it worse. Underneath the rage and betrayal, there's still the memory of growing up together. Training together. Building our respective reputations within House Virex. He's wrong about everything that matters, but he's still my brother.
Was my brother.
"No. I won't kill you." I step back, putting deliberate distance between us. "But you're leaving Ikoth. Tonight. I don't care where you go—Glebe, Shozuh, Marinae, somewhere off this fucking planet entirely. Just go."
His eyes widen fractionally. "You're exiling me?"
"I'm giving you the mercy you didn't give us." My voice could freeze stone. "You get to keep your life. But you don't get to keep your position here. You don't get to stay in yourcomfortable home, maintaining your reputation and influence while pretending you didn't destroy something precious. You're gone. As of right now, you are dead to me."
"Malrec—"
"If you ever come back." I let him hear the promise in my words. "If I ever see your face in my household or near Lenna again, I will kill you. Slowly. And I won't feel guilty about it." I turn toward the door, done with this conversation, done with him. "You have until sunrise. After that, if you're still in my territory, you're forfeit."
I don't wait for his response. Don't look back to see if my words landed. Just walk out of his home and don't stop until I'm back in open air, breathing hard like I've been fighting instead of talking.
