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I couldn’t let James get to Redmond. If I did, James would kill him, and my life would end, too.
“But you are. Don’t you get it? I know your secret, Erin. I know Maeve’s your mother.”
My mouth dropped open. “How?” I felt dizzy and terrified. Nobody was supposed to know that, nobody but my parents and Maeve herself.
“Because I’m her son.”
I staggered back against the wall.
James grinned. He pressed the knife against his cheek and held it there, the tip pointing at his nose. I stared for three long seconds—
And I saw it.
The family resemblance.
We both had the same straight bridge and small nostrils. The closer I examined him, the more I saw. The chin, the cheeks, the ears. Even drenched in gristle, he still looked like my brother.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think you were ready, and I knew you wouldn’t understand.” He took a few more steps closer. “People think it’s strange, falling in love with your sister. But it’s not so strange, not really. You’re only my half-sister. We have different fathers, thank God. We would be so perfect together, Erin. You’d be the brains and I’d be the muscle. We could take over the world if we wanted, and our children would rule like kings and queens. They’d be pure, so pure. Don’t look at me like that. Royalty has been marrying within their family for generations. We’re no different.”
“You’re sick. I should’ve seen it sooner.”
“I’m not.” He slipped forward and I tried to get away, but he grabbed my arm and shoved me back against the wall. I grunted in pain, but he brought the knife to my throat and held it there. “I knew you weren’t ready, Erin, but it’s too late. I can’t wait for you to see the light. Redmond has to go before he ruins you forever. My perfect, sweet girl.”
“Let me go.”
“I will, and then I’ll finish what I started.”
He jabbed me in the face with the butt of the knife. I gasped and staggered sideways, running into an end table covered in bottles and glasses. The table tipped and I fell on top of it as the glass cracked and broke.
James stared, one hand to his mouth as if he hadn’t meant to throw me aside like trash.
I groaned and picked glass from my hand. My fingers trembled and I got to my knees.
“I’m sorry,” he said, backing away. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to kill him now, and then we can be together. I swear, Erin, this will be better.”
He turned and jogged down the hall toward the bedroom.
I got to my feet with a groan. Everything hurt. I grabbed a jagged shard from the floor, slick with my blood, and forced myself to follow.
My head spun with his revelation.
James was my half-brother. He was Maeve’s son, like I was her daughter. Except he’d gotten some kind of crazy gene and wanted to make incest-babies. He had some sick power fantasy where we ruled the world as sibling lovers.
The freak was broken and I should’ve seen it sooner.
He’d been so loyal and useful. He was strange, I couldn’t deny it, and he’d come at such an opportune time—almost as if he’d been waiting for me to start recruiting an army. I didn’t question it and assumed he was a particularly loyal mercenary, but now I saw it was more than that.
He loved me. He was obsessed with me.
And he was my brother.
I stalked after him. The door to the bedroom was open and James’s voice drifted out.
“…not going to ruin her anymore,” he said with real rage.
“You think she’ll love you?” Redmond sounded calm, like a blood-drenched monster wasn’t standing next to his bed with a knife, intent on murdering him. “You think killing a defenseless man’s going to make her want to be with you?”
“You don’t know her at all,” James sneered. “Erin values intelligence over anything else, and I’m smart enough to know you’re too dangerous to be left alive. You won’t corrupt her, Oligarch. You’ll die here and now.”
I crept to the doorway, glass gripped in my hand. It was long, about five inches, and the tip was sharp. I held it up, shaking with fear and exhaustion, and caught Redmond’s eye. His bandaged chest was bleeding. He must’ve tried to get up and couldn’t manage it.
He frowned, but said nothing.
“You’re her brother,” he said. “Your mother’s Maeve, like her. Erin would never be with her own blood. She’d never stoop so low.”
“Stop talking,” James snarled.
Redmond spoke louder. I crept closer.
“You’re finished,” Redmond said. “Even if you kill me, she’ll never let herself be with a pathetic creature like you. And can you blame her? Look at you. Unhinged and raving. You want to fuck your own sister, you sick piece of shit.”
“Fuck you,” James snarled and raised the knife.
