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"Never said you didn't. Your brother made it sound that way, though."
"Sefton was jealous when I inherited the title and the business, but I didn't realize how jealous until he…" Dax shuts his eyes briefly and sighs. "Until he destroyed the world."
"It's not your fault he did that."
"Perhaps not. But I should've noticed the signs that something was wrong." He pushes past me. "I'm going to the study. You can follow me or not."
I get that he doesn't like talking about his brother, and I decide to let it go for now. So I hurry down the stairs after him. When we reach the study door, Dax tries to turn the knob, but it won't budge. Sefton keeps his inner sanctum locked.
"You didn't really think he'd leave it open, did you?" I say. "Sefton might be crazy, but he's not stupid."
"But I am. Is that what you're implying?"
"Don't get grumpy with me because your brother locked the study door. You damn well know I never implied you're stupid."
He stares at me, his lips puckered and his body tense.
I stare right back at him, brows raised, arms crossed over my chest.
Dax growls and backs away from the door. Then he runs at it, slamming his large foot into the wood. The door flies open.
He saunters into the study. "Not locked anymore."
"That's just great." I finger the broken lock while I cross the threshold into the room. "Now the lunatic holding us hostage will come home and realize we broke into his study. Good job, Dax."
"I don't give a toss if he knows."
"Start giving 'a toss.' Your brother has an enormous amount of power, and we have no way to stop him."
Dax leans over the big wooden desk that sits in front of a large window and begins to rifle through the papers and notebooks neatly stacked on the desktop. "Let Sefton do what he wants to me. I don't care."
What happened between the moment when I saw him in a towel and the moment we reached the study? I asked what he'd done for a living before the apocalypse, and then he turned into a growling jerk again. He really has some kind of complex about his brother. Jealousy? Guilt? Maybe it's both.
I grab his arm to make him stop and look at me. "Maybe you don't care what happens to you, but I do."
He freezes. His expression goes blank, and he might not be breathing either. "Why would you say that?"
"Because it's true." I grasp his face with both hands. "I don't want you to die, Dax."
"You want me alive to protect you."
"I want you alive, period."
He shuts his eyes, releasing the breath he must've been holding in, and his posture slackens. "You shouldn't care about me."
"Of course I should. I haven't forgotten about the way you treated me at first, but I've seen more sides of you since then." I move closer until my body is brushing against his. "It's too late to tell me not to care about you."
He opens his eyes but doesn't meet my gaze. "We need to search the rest of the study."
Okay, I'll let him get away with pretending he didn't hear what I said. Can't believe I did say it. But I meant every word. Maybe he's right and I shouldn't care about him, but I can't help it. I have seen different sides of him, like earlier when he taught me how to defend myself. That's only the latest in a series of little things he's done that prove he's not a total bastard.
So I help him search the study.
Mostly we find papers on which Sefton wrote down notes that make no sense. I should've gotten a PhD in physics and taken an intensive course in alchemy before walking into this room. Dax is clearly just as confused as I am. If we'd hoped to find the key to stopping the apocalypse inside the study… Well, we were complete idiots.
One of the desk drawers is locked. I don't bother trying to talk Dax out of smashing his way into it because I know that won't do any good. Besides, we've already broken into the room. Sefton will know we invaded his study the second he sees the door.
Dax uses a letter opener to break the lock on the drawer.
