Page 29 of On Brutal Thrones

“This is so fucking typical.” Thorian kicks at the dirt. Several chunks tumble over the edge, bouncing against the walls before disappearing into darkness.

Then he steps closer.

“Fuck you!” he roars into the crevice. His voice comes back at us in broken echoes. “You fucking egomaniacal asshole. You pussy coward. Going after a woman because you haven’t been able to take me out yet!”

He spins away before any of us can answer, stalking across the clearing.

Then he punches a tree.

The crack is so loud Nyx flinches against me. Bark explodes beneath Thorian’s fist, and the entire trunk shudders. For one startled second, I think the tree might actually come down.

I stare at him. I remember the time Thorian hit me because we were desperate enough to try forcing me into a berserker rage. Apparently, he was pulling his punches.

By a lot.

Thorian turns and comes back toward us, chest heaving, blood already appearing across his knuckles. I exchange a glance with Talon.

Talon lifts one shoulder. “I’ll pray tonight before bed and send up some curses and threats, if that would help.”

Normally, that would earn him a reaction. A glare. An insult. At the very least, an acknowledgment that Talon has spoken.

Thorian doesn’t even seem to hear him. He stops several feet away and stares at the ground. Then, to my surprise, he crouches and buries both hands in his hair.

“I don’t know what to do.”

The words frighten me more than his rage did.

In all the time we’ve been together, I’ve never heard Thorian admit that. He always knows what to do. Or at least he convinces the rest of us that he does. When everything goes to shit, Thorian finds the next step and takes it.

Right now, he looks lost.

“We follow the river,” I say, because someone needs to give us a next step if he can’t. I clear the dust from my throat and point toward the distant Spire. “It should take us toward the tower, right?”

Thorian shakes his head. “I can’t take the godhood now.”

My hand stills against Nyx’s back.

“What are you talking about?” Nyx pulls away from me and steps toward him. “That’s the whole reason you entered the Trials.”

Thorian lifts his head. The expression on his face makes something twist inside me.

“Right. But I can’t have a normal life with all of you if I take it.” He gestures helplessly toward the ring on Nyx’s finger. “I can’t do this. The family. The house. Any of it. Not if I become one of them.”

“So don’t take it,” Talon says with a shrug. “It’s not like you signed a contract.”

Thorian lets out a low, humorless sound.

His gaze returns to the crevice.

“That’s the problem.” His voice drops. “If I don’t take it, we'll never be safe.”

No one interrupts him now.

“My father won't stop.” Thorian looks at Nyx, then Talon, then finally me. “And now he knows.”

A chill works through me despite the morning sun.

“Knows what?” Nyx asks quietly.