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How much energy could Theo have left? I raised myself to my forearms, swiping tangled hair out of my face, and for the second time in my life, felt a different kind of fear.
It wasn’t a fight or flight response, or even the surge of adrenaline. It was an anchor, sinking at the center of my gut, its chains wrapped around my heart. With each second ticking by, the chain grew heavier, heavier still, until my heart followed the anchor to the depths of despair.
This had only happened once before. The last time I was with Theo, the final seconds when he confronted Trace and denied his family calling. When he stood in front of a gun and told his brother to shoot him.
It’s not fear you’re feeling, Letty. It’s love.
Love.
Gasping, gulping, I pulled myself to stand, one hand out as if I could stop Theo from taking it any further through psychic command.
Losing someone you knew was bad enough. Watching a person you loved die before your eyes, that was a different anchor entirely.
And I felt those chain links straining with effort.
“Theo, let’s go,” I said, and staggered toward him. I was weaker than I anticipated, but no matter. Once we got back into the car, metal and mechanics could be strong for me. “He’s out cold.”
“No he’s not,” Theo said through his teeth.
Before this moment, even with the new cuts, the fresh blood, I was able to spot the man beneath. No…
Now I couldn’t find the man I’d come to understand again.
Theo reared and kicked his brother in the stomach. Trace spasmed, grunts spewing forth with saliva and blood.
“You goddamnedbastard.”Theo’s voice ground against his vocal cords. “You escape this city, and still I can’t escape you. I leave you alone, yet you and Father won’t allow me to live my life. You manipulate, you mutilate, youkill, and still that’s not enough. Whatwillbe enough, brother?” Theo laid out another kick. “When I’m dead? When it’s me at your feet? Let me tell you this, you willneverhave me under your heel, do you understand?”
Trace mumbled incoherently, raised the gun he somehow still had in his hand, but Theo swatted it away with the toe of his shoe like it was nothing but a spatula Trace was attempting to fight with.
Then stood on his brother’s throat, pressed just enough to elicit a choking cough.
“Hear this,brother. I have you under my heel, but no matter how far you push me, how many people I love you threaten, I will never kill you. I swear, on a Saxon oath, that I will never turn my back on my family. When you call, I come. When Father beckons, I do as bid. But not because you control me. Oh, no.” Theo bent down further. “But because I’m patient. I’ve waited for this day. Your greatest punishment, Father’s greatest fear, is to lose this kingdom. And he will.” Theo pushed off Trace’s throat, and Trace rolled to the side, sputtering. “You will. And I get to witness it all.”
“You’ll always be a Saxon,” Trace coughed, cutting Theo a glance sideways. “You’re here because you love it. The violence. The cruelty.”
Theo lifted his lips. “You touch Scarlet again, youlookat her again, so much as ask her directions, I’ll have no trouble taking one of your limbs.” Theo spat at the ground beside Trace’s face. “I should’ve taken at least one of your fingers last time.”
“Nice scar, brother,” Trace said through the blood bubbling on his lips. “Where’d you get it?”
That earned him another kick to the gut.
“Where’s Drea?” I asked Trace’s shuddering form. I stepped up beside Theo.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Trace ground out. “She got to you. I’ve forgotten to ask her how, considering the only person getting close to the zipper on your pants has been my brother.”
I wasn’t proud of it, the instant weakness as soon as I laid eyes on Drea, shrunken and beaten in a chair much too big for her body.
“You did that to her,” I said. “I’m not ashamed I felt something for a frail woman beaten half to death.”
“She wanted it.”
“The poor girl wantedyou,” I said. “That I can forgive her for, considering she’s not the only one drawn in by the Saxon lure. It’s the betrayal I can’t fathom. The idea that she ran to you as soon as she realized who Theo and I were.”
“I learned from my father.” Trace smiled weakly. “Always have people in the right places, and there will always be a right time.”
“Where is she?” I asked again.
Theo moved deftly, readying for another round.
