Sins of Mine - Mary E. Twomey Page 0,49

King Regis has nothing better to do than make my miserable day impossibly worse.

I’ve been held at gunpoint. I know the drill. Get down on your knees and wait for Sloan to address the issue.

Only Sloan isn’t here. Sloan is dead.

And there’s no way my knees are hitting the ground in front of this royal jackass.

I should back up and try a different way out. I should at the very least ask Regis what he wants.

I should do a lot of things that I don’t bother to consider when someone I love has been taken from me.

Instead of cowering, I charge at the king, not caring in the least that I’ll most likely die in the effort. I’ve been out of my mind, bathing in bleach stink and terror. My legs are unsteady, but my determination makes up for what I lack in coordination. Regis should shoot me, but he’s taken aback by a crazed bald woman running at him, instead of backing down like a good girl.

I’m tired of being good. If I’m going to be marked as a criminal, this is my chance to earn the title.

My body collides with the monarch as I tackle Regis to the grass, relishing his unpolished “oof!” and the careless way he drops his gun.

“You killed him! You killed Sloan! He was everything to me, and you murdered him like he was nothing!”

Regis tries to speak, but I don’t hear a word of it.

Rolling to my right, I scramble in the grass, my hand stumbling over his as we both reach for the gun.

I’m never going to lose another man I love to this megalomaniac.

I’ll never be backed into a corner by his wicked policies ever again.

“You don’t understand!” Regis chides through gritted teeth. Though the roar of the fire in the house behind us threatens to drown out his words, I hear every one with crystal clarity. “Magic like yours is wasted on you! Your father is trying to buy the loyalty of the fugitives. Don’t you see what he’s doing? You could potentially enhance all of the people you were incarcerated with. Every donation he makes to your commune is a step he’s taking to create his own army. He wants to overthrow me! It’s what he’s always wanted!”

All of that sounds exactly like the reason why my father would be suddenly charitable. Helping us secure the mobile homes and getting us all settled couldn’t have been completely altruistic. My rush to secure the job with Elizabeth Lauren’s Vault wasn’t because we were out of food, but because I didn’t want to rely on my father’s provision any longer.

Though the words ring true, I don’t have it in me to separate which megalomaniac is at fault more than the other. They can both burn, for all I care. They can have their stupid feud.

They can chase the power they crave until they race each other off the edge of the cliff.

The world might never understand my actions, but in this moment of moments, I know the path I need to go down. I also know there will be no coming back from this.

And I don’t care.

Rafe does me a favor and bites the king’s ankle, giving me just enough time to grab the weapon up from the grass and hold it tight, just like Sloan taught me.

My Sloan. My best friend. My true father. Revenge won’t bring him back, but it will stop Sloan’s killer from coiling his malicious fingers around my neck.

“Stop!” Regis begs, his hand raised toward me. “We can do so much more with your magic than you could ever dream!”

I expect my grip to be shaky, but it’s not. In fact, it’s my first calm moment, and perhaps my last.

“My dreams have nothing to do with you,” I tell him, my jaw firm. “Look away, Paxton!”

It’s the only warning I give, and then I pull the trigger.

16

Flames and Fathers

Arlanna

The sound is deafening from a shot taken at such close range. I don’t want to be my father’s daughter, solving problems so cruelly.

But he has his sins, and I guess now I have mine.

Rafe makes a low gurgling growl when the light goes out from the king’s eyes. He whines for the pain of it all—his own wound, and the one I can’t even feel that’s striped across my soul.

I drop the gun while my family’s vacation home burns. The trembling finds my fingers once more. Paxton is at my side, though I didn’t hear his footsteps