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“Maybe not,” I said quickly. “We know you’ve got a traitor from the Nobles on your side. Anyone who’ll double-cross for you will double-cross you as well.”
Xavier swiveled back toward me with a fierce expression, his boot coming down just an inch shy of the nearest tracker. So fucking close. “What are you talking about? No one would dare bullshit me.”
I was bullshitting him right now, wasn’t I?
“How do you know?” I shot back, letting whatever popped into my head spill out of my mouth. “I’m sure Ezra has heard all kinds of interesting things from his guy.”
“Good thing I know not to trust a rat with anything important, unlike Ezra, isn’t it?” Xavier waved me off and turned back toward the doorway. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to destroy the boy and the cat, and enjoy doing it.”
His head started to dip, his gaze veering toward the carpet and the trackers, and panic blanked my mind. I spat the next thought that crossed my mind. “And that won’t matter anyway. You won’t even have gotten the real heir.”
Xavier’s head jerked up. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. But it couldn’t hurt to say this, could it? It was mostly a lie anyway. It’d distract Xavier, confuse him, and maybe give us an opening. “Wylder’s the younger brother. He’s just a decoy. It’s his older brother Roland who’s the real heir.”
“Really?” Xavier loomed on me again. “Then where is this real heir?”
“Oh, you know, he’s got all his training to get through,” I said, making things up as I went. “Ezra wants him totally prepared when it’s time to take his rightful place. He moves around a lot, learning from all the best people.”
“Liar,” Xavier said.
I shrugged as if I couldn’t care less. “There are these things called birth certificates. It wouldn’t be hard to confirm that Wylder isn’t Ezra’s oldest kid.” As for the rest, well… I’d either be dead or long gone before Xavier had any clue what was real there.
Xavier considered me for a few more seconds before he stepped even closer and raised his fist. I tried not to shrink away. He punched the wall right behind me, taking a good chunk of plaster off. “Whether it’s true or not, your friends have been thorns in my side for too long,” he sneered. “I’ll enjoy slaughtering all of them.”
He marched away from me toward the door. He was looking ahead, not down—but I could tell he was going to miss the trackers again with his feet as well as his eyes.
With a sudden burst of defiance and determination, I made as if to charge at him.
It was ridiculous—I didn’t stand a chance even with all my faculties, let alone with my arms tied up. Xavier heard my footsteps and whipped to the side. He slammed his fist into my gut just before I reached him. I smacked into the wall and crumpled, agony exploding through my torso.
“Nice try,” Xavier sneered, and stomped out of the room—with his boot landing right on the second tracker. It stuck on, vanishing underneath when he strode away. As the door closed in his wake, I let myself smile around the metallic taste of blood seeping from where I’d bitten the inside of my lip at his punch.
It was worth it. I’d accomplished one useful thing here. When I got out of this place, who knew where Xavier might lead us when he thought he was going unseen?
IfI got out of this place. My stomach sank all over again. Xavier had talked about killing Wylder and Mercy with pure delight. What would that menace have waiting for my friends and my woman when they came for me?
