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Michael only raised a shoulder. “You’ll find him one day.”
I wanted to grit my teeth. I wanted to climb through those bars and spank the little shite. I wanted to snap and snarl and demand he tell me.
He wouldn’t. He was too busy wallowing in his misery for having lost the battle.
We’ll get it out of him eventually, Rafael said in my mind.
I gave him a short nod, turned, and started toward the exit.
I hadn’t made it halfway down the hall when Lux caught up to me and said, “Can we speak, esiasch?”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
LUX
Nix didn’t want to be here. That much was obvious in his tight jaw and his stiff posture.
Lux hated that. He hadn’t seen his brother in more than a year, and Nix was itching for a way to get out of his presence.
It wasn’t what he wanted. None of this had been his goal. Despite those rough years early on, when he was only eighteen years old and he forced Véa to marry him, when she chose Nix over him, Lux still never wanted to lose his brother.
Over the centuries that followed, the two of them had rekindled the bond they’d had as children. It wasn’t identical to what it’d been. There’d always been resentment in his brother’s eyes, and it hurt, but he’d see that glimmer of joy in Nix when they’d played music together. He’d see his bossy big brother in every eye roll, in every backhanded compliment, and even though there was bad blood, the blood was still thick.
They were family. No matter how pissed they were at one another, no matter what they’d done, they had an unbreakable bond.
That was one of the many reasons Lux was more than willing to take the punishment the par animarum had agreed upon. He wanted to show Nix that he wasn’t pretending. These thousands of years were not a facade. He wanted to be a good man. He wanted to do right by his people, by his family, and by his children.
He wanted his brother to be proud of him.
Today, Nix was not.
He hadn’t been in a very long time.
Lux broke the silence with, “I’m sorry.”
“Tell it to all the souls you butchered.” Nix crossed his arms and leaned against the windowsill, gazing out it.
“That’s not what I was apologizing for,” he said. “I am sorry for that, and I know no apology makes that better.”
“What is your apology attempting to make better then, Lux?”
Lux swallowed. “My boys.”
Nix huffed, shaking his head.
This part burned like fire coming out of his mouth, but he had to say it to him. “They’re me. They’re the teenage versions of me, but…”
“Mad?” Nix asked.
His chest tightened, but he gave a short nod.
“I’m glad you acknowledge that.” Nix stared vacantly out the window. “The trouble is, they’re not only apathetic sadists. They’re bloody brilliant.”
And Lux wasn’t.
He wasn’t stupid, but no, he wasn’t nearly as smart as his sons. Conniving, yes. Hot tempered, also yes. Brilliant? No.
His sons were evil masterminds.
