the King you were worth any risk. He just needed a little more time. But. Since he fought for your life, your fate will now decide his.”
A brief moment of dizziness, the confession rocking me. “When? When was all this decided?”
“After the plane crash, just before the car wreck.”
He bought me time—with his life. And yet someone is trying to kill me anyway.
I want to shake him. And kiss him, for real this time. But mostly I want to shake him. What am I supposed to do about my future now? I can’t allow Killian to be harmed because of my decision.
“Maybe I’ll kill you both,” Elena says, as if she’s speaking to herself. “He’ll Fuse with another soul and start over, and you’ll suffer countless agonies in Many Ends until you die and start over, as well.”
Okay. She’s gone too far, threatening Killian. I lean over the rocks—notice they don’t burn—and slam the tip of the toothbrush behind her ear. While her Shell goes still, I claim her dagger and stride from the tent, only to grind to a halt.
The sun is once again in the process of setting, the sky ablaze with colors—and framing my parents’ house, a three-story mansion that’s sprawled over two acres of land. The house is box-shaped, taller in the center, shorter on the sides, with some walls made of glass, others of white stucco. Flowers of every color bloom along the edge, and orange and lemon trees offer sweet scents and shade. The grass at my feet is soft and green, as plush as carpet.
My stomach clenches. Home, but...not home. Everything is exactly as I remember it, my absence completely unnoticed. I don’t belong here. Not anymore.
Killian must have driven through the night and then some to get here.
A bright beam of light explodes in front of me and when it fades, Killian is standing there. He’s scowling, his dark hair unkempt. Dirt mars his clothing and there are tears in his shirt, revealing the ripple of muscle underneath. He’s so beautiful it almost hurts to look at him.
“Snake.” I throw a punch at his jaw, and it lands. On impact, his head whips to the side.
He masks his features as he faces me. “The end justified the means. You’re home, as promised.”
“Well, I hope you enjoy the end, because my trust in you is destroyed. You tricked me!”
“For your own good.”
“And you tied your life to mine!”
His eyes narrow, his lashes fusing. “Elena has a big mouth.”
“Yours should have been bigger. You lied to me.”
He raises his chin. “I told you the truth at first, and it was clear you felt I was pressuring you further. I took the pressure off.”
So. The boy who praised victory above everything else refused to use his ace against me. Argh! Now I’m even more torn.
“I don’t want you killed,” I say, stomping my foot.
“That makes two of us.”
Archer and Deacon appear in beams of light to flank his sides. He swings around, two guns palmed, cocked and aimed. The Troikans merely smile in challenge, daring him to take a shot.
The muscles in his shoulders knot with tension, but in the end, he lowers the weapons.
Elena comes charging out of the tent. When she spots Archer and Deacon, she hisses.
Neither boy pays her the slightest bit of attention.
“I have news,” Archer says to me, dread heavy in his tone.
Everything else is forgotten. “Did my mother—”
“No. She’s still alive. For now.” His eyes are grim. “But, Ten...while you were at the asylum...when she left your father and remained in seclusion, even refusing to come see you...she had a baby.”
What? “No.” I shake my head. “My dad’s mistress is going to have a baby. Not my mother.”
A secret...
Taught me how to be a mother again...
A baby crying...
“I didn’t say she was going to have a baby.” Archer pins me with a look. “She had a baby. She carried and gave birth to your brother in secret a little over a month ago. Had anyone known, she would have been forced to give the child to a childless family.”
I reel, my mind trying to make sense of everything being thrown at me. I have a brother...
Women are usually sterilized a year after giving birth to their first—and only—child. Time to ensure the baby survives infancy. My mom could have healed. There are always rare cases...
I have a brother!
“Your father found out this morning,” Archer continues. “He’s requested a meeting with his ML.”
“No way.” I’ll die before my brother is