Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10) - J. R. Ward Page 0,117

so well. “Indeed?”

“Aye. He did so all day long. And this night, he has not even gone out to fight. He is back at the safe house, sitting by himself. He ordered everyone but me away, and then gave me this.”

Throe brought the box even closer to his body, holding it tightly. “Are you sure I am the cause for such upset,” he said dryly.

“Very much so. In truth, he is not like the Bloodletter in his heart. He wants to be—and he is capable of much against others that I personally am not. But to you, to us… we are his clan.” Zypher’s stare was filled with candor. “You should come back to us. To him. He shall not act thus again—those ashes are your proof. And we need you—not just because of all you do, but who you have become to us. It has been but twenty-four hours and we are broken without you.”

Throe glanced up at the sky, at the storm, at the violent, churning heavens above. Having once been damned by circumstance, he couldn’t believe he would even consider being damned by consent.

“We will all be incomplete without you. Even him.”

Throe had to smile a little. “Did you e’er think you would say such.”

“No.” The laugh that floated over upon the gusts was deep. “Not about an aristocrat. But you are more than that.”

“Thanks to you.”

“And Xcor.”

“I’m not sure if I’m ready to give him any credit.”

“Come back with me. See him. Rejoin your family. Much as it might pain you this night, you are as lost without us as we are without you.”

In response, Throe could only stare out over the city, its lights like that of the stars that were eclipsed up above.

“I cannot trust him,” he heard himself say.

“He has given you your freedom this night. Surely that means something.”

“We are all facing death sentences if we continue. I saw the Brotherhood—if they were formidable before in the Old Country, that is nothing compared to their resources now.”

“So they live well.”

“They live smart. I couldn’t find them even if I wished. And they have extensive facilities—they are a force to be reckoned with.” He glanced over. “Xcor will be disappointed with what I have learned—which is nothing.”

“He said no.”

Throe frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“He stated he wishes to know none of it. You shall never get an apology from him directly, but he has given you the key to the binds that entangle you, and he will accept no information from you.”

A brief anger shafted through him. Then what had it all been for?

Except… mayhap Xcor hadn’t considered that he’d feel the way he did. And Zypher was right; the idea of not being with those males was… like a death. After all these years, they were all he had.

“If I come back, I could be a security risk. What if I’ve made a secret pact with the Brotherhood. What if they are here.” He motioned around. “Or perhaps waiting elsewhere to follow me?”

Zypher shrugged with complete disregard. “We’ve been trying to meet up with them for months. Such a confluence would be welcome.”

Throe blinked. And then started to laugh. “You people are crazy.”

“Shouldn’t that be ‘we’?” Abruptly, Zypher shook his head. “You would never betray us. Even if you hated Xcor with your whole being, you would never compromise the rest of us.”

That was true, he thought. As for hating Xcor…

He stared down at the box in his arms.

There had been many times over the years when he had wondered at the turns and twists of his fate.

And it appeared tonight he was going to wonder anew at his destiny.

He had been unsure about the course against Wrath, but now that he had seen that Chosen female, he rather liked the idea of o’ertaking the throne and finding her and claiming her for himself.

Bloodthirsty? Yes, indeed—his earlier self would have never thought in such ways. But his newer self had gotten used to taking what he wanted, the cloak of civility having grown threadbare after years without his tending its delicate fibers.

If he could get to Wrath, he could find her again.…

Abruptly, he felt his mouth move and heard his own voice in the wind: “He is going to have to allow me to buy cell phones.”

Xcor stayed home all night long.

The problem was the damage to his forearms. He hated the fact that they had yet to heal, but he was smart enough to know that he could barely use them. Indeed,