by Penelope Sky
I sat in the chair in front of my desk, my body pivoted toward the door. My decision had been spontaneous, caused by a rush of adrenaline and guilt. I’d never planned on doing that, but now it was done, and I would face whatever consequences came to pass.
The door to the cabin opened, and Raven stepped inside. The girls were always excused after the conclusion of the Red Snow—or after the conclusion of whatever just happened.
She closed the door behind her then stood there and stared at me.
My eyes were on the floor, one elbow on the desk, while the other arm was over the back of my chair. My knees were apart, and I was surprisingly calm after everything that had just happened.
She stepped toward me until she was directly in front of me. “Look at me.”
My head wasn’t bowed in shame. It wasn’t bowed with guilt. I just wasn’t prepared to see her expression, to witness the look on her face that I would never forget.
Her hand went to my shoulder before it slid up my neck and then to my chin. Her fingers tugged at me slightly, forcing me to look up.
I met her gaze and would never forget the way she looked at me.
Her eyes were wet, and tears had fallen in rivers down her cheeks, creating two shiny streams of emotional release. Her bottom lip trembled once our eyes met.
It was hard to look at her, but I didn’t turn away.
She lowered herself to her knees in front of me so our faces were level. Her palms cupped my cheeks, and she looked into my eyes like she never wanted to look away. She sniffled as more tears fell to her lips. “I love you…”
My chest tightened and my stomach did somersaults when I felt the heaviness of her words hit me like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t just the words she said, but how she said them, how they were visible in every teardrop. It was the first time I’d really felt loved since I’d lost my family, since I’d lost my mother’s warm embrace, since I’d had my last good Christmas. She was a new version of the family that I’d lost, all the love that had been taken from me. Now, it was back…and it was beautiful. “I love you, ma petite amie.”
Thirty-One
Brother
I stepped into the cabin carrying a tray of food. I continued to eat in the communal cabin with the other guards just so I would be present within the camp, to hear their conversations and be part of them. After the Red Snow yesterday, it was definitely tense, but none of them opposed me.
Raven sat on the floor in front of the TV, and she looked up at me when I walked in.
I handed her the tray.
She took it and set it on the floor beside her, eyeing the cup of yellow liquid. “What’s this?”
“Lemonade.”
She took a drink and licked her lips. “I haven’t had lemonade in a long time.”
I took a seat in the chair in front of my desk. My shoulders hung with the heavy weight that no one else could see but me. My heart was having slight palpitations because of the dread in my veins. It was only a matter of time before I would come face-to-face with the consequences of my decision.
She listened to the TV with her eyes down on her food. She was always starving at the end of the day since she didn’t get breakfast and had to work for hours straight.
I stared at the TV, but I really paid it no attention. There were only a few channels in English, so there was very little entertainment for her to enjoy.
When she was done eating, she turned off the TV and got up to place the empty tray on the table. She looked down at me, studying the consternation on my face. “What’s going to happen?”
I kept my eyes on the dark screen and didn’t answer her.
She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes still on me.
“Fender will arrive tomorrow. And we will have words.”
She rubbed one of her arms gently, taking a deep breath at my answer. “What do you think he’ll do?”
I shook my head. “He’ll be angry.”
“Will he hurt you?”
Probably.
“Will he kill you?”
“We’ll see.”
“I don’t want to be in this cabin when he arrives. I want to be there with you so I have your back.”
It was one of the things I loved about her and despised about Melanie. Raven was fearless. “I don’t think that will work. You’re not exactly his favorite person.”
“I’m not trying to be,” she whispered. “But I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Sometimes I wondered if I had fallen in love with a soldier instead of a gorgeous woman. “You can’t help me. I don’t need you to help me.”
“But last time—”
“Last time, I accepted my punishment. This time, I do not. This time, I will stand by what I believe. I will look him in the eye and tell him he’s wrong.”
She kept her eyes on me. “I know he loves you. I’ve seen the two of you together. I know you are a weakness for him…”
I nodded. “I warned him I would resist him, so he shouldn’t be surprised. That’ll either help me…or hurt me.”
When it was time for him to arrive at the gate, I left the cabin.
Raven was dressed as if she intended to come with me. She moved to the door like she planned to stand her ground and watch my back when I could only watch my front.
I opened the door and turned around and looked at her. “You can’t help me with this.”
Her eyes were both impassioned and furious, frustrated that she wasn’t getting her way when it was so important to her that she did. “Where you go, I go… Remember?”
“I know. But not this time.” I didn’t want her there anyway. She couldn’t help me, and I would be more worried about protecting her than protecting myself.
“Please…”
I shook my head. “He’ll probably want to talk to me in private. There’s no place for you. I’ll be alright.”
She started to breathe hard, overwhelmed by the frustration that sank her to the bottom of the ocean.
I left the cabin and locked the door behind me so she wouldn’t follow me. Then I walked across the dark grounds and headed to the gate where his horse would approach any moment. Whenever I passed the other guards, they gave me a look of contempt, but they didn’t dare oppose me. They were cowards, only showing their dislike but not actually doing anything about it.
I waited at the gate with the other guards.
It was dark and quiet. A long silence filled the space with only the distant sound of the forest. There were no clouds in the sky, so the stars were bright. It was unfortunate that such terrible things happened in such a beautiful place.
The sound of hooves became audible as the horses approached the perimeter. And then a member of his entourage yelled for us to unlock our side of the gate.
I removed the bolt that slid across the door and pulled the doors inward.
The formation of horses entered the camp, Fender in the lead. His eyes swept over his surroundings as he entered, but he took specific measures not to look at me.
He knew.
He climbed out of the saddle and handed the reins over to one of the guards. His bag was taken from the saddle to be carried to his cabin in the rear.
I approached him.
He looked me square in the eye, his eyebrows furrowed in subtle hostility. His brown eyes were cold and vicious, and the squaring of his shoulders and the tightness of his arms showed all the rage he was suppressing.
I didn’t apologize. I didn’t make excuses. I stood by what I did, and I would do it again and again. If he really wanted me to stop, he would have to kill me.
He spoke, his masculine voice deep and low. “If you want to have children someday, don’t fuck with me.” He turned away and walked to the cabin without asking for a report on the daily progress of our work. He’d just issued a violent threat against his own brother without skipping a beat.
I watched him walk away and couldn’t hold back my retort. “You don’t w
ant to fuck with me either, brother.”
He halted in his tracks, his muscular back rigid and tight. A few breaths made him expand and decrease in size, processing the rage I’d just provoked within him. Just when it seemed like he might turn around and face me, he walked off.
And blended into the darkness.
Fender didn’t speak to me.
I worked the next day without seeing him or crossing his path. He must have been in his cabin the entire time, going over all the reports that Eric took for me and dropped off.
This had never happened before. Whenever Fender was angry with me, he charged me like a bull. He spoke his mind and engaged me directly. This was completely unlike him.
At the end of the working day, I approached the clearing to get Raven and escort her to the cabin, and that was when I noticed the torches.
They were lit.
Adrenaline dumped into my heart, and I jogged across the earth to get closer to the clearing and see what was happening.
There were three nooses set up now.
And the three women had already been chosen.
The girls struggled against the guards as they were yanked below the nooses. They screamed and cried, begging for God to help them. The woman I had spared days before was one of the three.
Raven immediately looked at me once I was visible, and the relief in her eyes showed her faith in me. I would put an end to this and spare their souls.
I marched past the table, with my eyes focused on Alix. “What the fuck are you doing? I made my stance on this perfectly clear.”
Alix turned around and left the woman on the ground. The mask covered the bottom half of his face, but the shine in his eyes showed his hidden smile. “I don’t take orders from you, asshole.”
I pulled my knife from my pocket and held it at the ready. “Let them go, or I’ll cut off your balls, your lips, and your nose.”
Alix wasn’t scared, as if he had a more formidable foe on his side. He looked behind me, like he saw someone standing there.
I already knew who it was.
I slowly turned around and met my brother’s look. He was the only one in jeans and a shirt, never wearing the uniform. His focused stare was full of anger and disappointment. “Because of your foolishness, I will take three lives instead of one. The women can thank you for that.”
We looked so much alike, had so many identical features, but in that moment, we couldn’t look more different. The women and guards stared at us as the torches flickered in the breeze. “You’re better than this.” I dropped my voice, so only he could hear what I said.
“Sorry to disappoint you, brother.” His eyes shifted back and forth as they looked into mine, his anger slowly fading to a subdued state.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Yes, it does.” He looked past me and nodded at Alix, telling him to continue with the butchering.
I turned around and punched Alix so hard in the back of the head that he fell to the ground and didn’t get up again. My knuckles burned at the contact with his hard skull, but there was so much adrenaline in my veins that I was immune to pain. I turned back to my brother and stared him down.
The two other guards with the women didn’t move forward, having seen their enormous comrade collapse on the ground from a single hit.
I stood my ground and didn’t back down. “I’m not going to let this happen.” The line in the sand had been drawn, and there was no going back from this. I’d proclaimed my loyalty, and it wouldn’t falter.
Fender took a step toward me, his expression starting to boil with rage. “You’re weak.”
“And you’re deranged.”
“Step aside, Magnus. I mean it.”
“Or what?” I challenged. “You’re going to kill me?” I asked the same question that he had asked me. I didn’t believe he would, but I’d put him on the spot with a public audience, so he might have no other choice.
He looked slightly insulted, like the suggestion was offensive. But the anger quickly swallowed him again.
“The only way you’re gonna stop me is by killing me. So, I suggest you pull out your knife and do it.” I rolled the dice and waited to learn my fate.
My brother stared and stared, his feet planted on the earth and still. All eyes were on him, and he had to react. He had to do something to regain the power I’d just taken from him. If he didn’t, he would forever be humiliated.
“We can do this another way. I promise you.”
His eyes remained focused and didn’t change, like he didn’t hear a word I said.
“Don’t be like Father. Be like Mother.”
The mention of her made his eyes change slightly.
“Let’s stop disappointing her more than we already have. Come on, Fender.”
“We’ve already talked about this. It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late. Stop this.”
Silence seemed to last forever, and he didn’t convey the thoughts in his mind. He didn’t pull out his weapon or order the guards to continue the slaughter. “You win, Magnus.”
I did my best to hide my reaction, but I felt so much relief in those words. My brother still had a soul…deep down inside.
“For now. When your rotation is finished, you’ll be discharged from your service. You will never return here— and I will run this camp as I see fit.”
My eyes fell as a new level of disappointment hit me like a ton of bricks.
“You called my bluff and won.” He nodded to the guards to release the crying women and extinguish the torches. “I won’t kill you. But we aren’t brothers anymore. When you leave…I don’t want to see you again.”
Thirty-Two
Three Souls
Days passed, and Fender acted like I didn’t exist.
The guards ignored me too, like there was no point in terrorizing me since I would be leaving soon…and never coming back.
I’d never expected Fender to counter with a threat.
To banish me.
Hearing him say he never wanted to see me again hurt—hurt deeply. The fact that he would rather lose me as his brother than do the right thing made me question who he really was.
Maybe I was wrong.
Maybe he didn’t have a soul.
Raven sat on the bed across from me while I sat in the chair. Her feet were on the wooden frame so she could rest her arms on her knees. She was in one of my shirts with her hair pulled over her shoulder, tired and ready for bed. We hadn’t spoken much since the incident in the clearing.
I hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
“What are you going to do?”
I shook my head, my eyes focused on the window behind her. “I didn’t expect him to say that.”
“Me neither.”
He didn’t try to hurt me. He didn’t try to kill me. He seemed to just abandon me instead. He got tired of listening to me push for justice, and it was easier to toss me aside.
It hurt because I knew we were more than that.
I just knew.
“How are we gonna stop this?”
I rubbed my hands together, my right knuckles still swollen and hot from when I’d knocked out the executioner with a single punch. I might be leaner than the bulkier guys, but I was fast and strong, and I could do a lot of damage. “I have no idea. I could hire a convoy of men to come here and dismantle the place, but unless I kill Fender, he’ll just keep doing it…over and over.”
Raven studied me, her thoughts obvious in the look in her eyes. She wanted me to kill him but would never ask.
It was something I would never do. Neither would he. “I’m gonna try to talk to him before he leaves.”
“Do you think it’ll help?”
“I’ve given him a couple days to cool off. I might get something done…but probably not.”
I walked up to his cabin and saw Eric posted outside. I walked up the steps and approached the door.
Eric moved in front of me and placed his hand again
st my chest. “He doesn’t want to see you.”
“And he put you here to make sure that doesn’t happen?” I asked incredulously. “Eric, if you want me to break your face again, continue to stay there. But if you want your previous injuries to fully heal, step aside.”
Eric didn’t move, but there was already defeat in his eyes. We both knew he stood no chance against me. Fender probably had different guards on rotation outside his cabin, and Eric just got the bad time slot. He stepped aside.
“Good choice.” I opened the door and stepped inside.
Fender was relaxed on the couch with a bottle of scotch on the coffee table. The TV was on, and paperwork was scattered everywhere. “Eric’s such a pussy.” He grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, his back to me.
“You know none of the guards has a chance against me.” I moved to the couch across from him and took a seat.
Fender sat up, shirtless and in his sweatpants. He tossed the remote on the table and stared me down, slowly growing angrier the longer he looked at me. “Say what you need to say. Then leave.”
It was hard to look at my brother and see the lack of affection in his eyes. It was like he hated me. “I’m just as loyal and committed to you as ever. I don’t want to leave the empire. You know I’m the only one you can trust fully. I just want to do things differently, that’s all.”
With his arms resting on his knees, he looked at me like he hadn’t listened to a word I said. “Trust you? You made me look like an idiot in front of all my men. You know I could never stab a knife in your heart, and you used that against me. Maybe I trusted you before, but I certainly don’t now.”
“I did what I had to do.”
“No, you didn’t have to do it. Your dick is wet all the time because you can’t think about anything except pussy. And pussy makes you weak.”