Page 3 of Shattered Jewel

I snarl, “Fuck you. If you start spewing magic at me right now, that my brother was killed because some maniacs think this is a fucking school for wizards and spells?—”

“Not magic,” Kaspian calmly interjects. Though Cav’s expression shutters like he doesn’t entirely agree. “It’s a symbol. Status, history, evidence of atrocious deeds. The Sovereigns want the Heart to maintain their iron grip over the Court and every high ranking individual they can blackmail and control. They’ve used it against our fathers, and they’ll use it on us. In any way they can.”

“But why involve Maverick?” I press. “He had nothing to do with the Cimmerian Court. He liked video games and books and related more to online friends than real-life ones. What did he have to do with any of this?”

Cav speaks next, allowing my “reward” of information to continue.

A bitter thought surfaces. Well, at least they’re true to their word.

He says, “Your brother had Anderton blood in him, same as you. Not only that, he uncovered something he shouldn’t have. Combine those two things, and you will get some very vengeful Sovereigns. Something made him break that ruby and prevent the Court from possessing its full value or even their ability to prove it’s the lost Heart. That tells me your big brother discovered something about the Court’s past that might just be more valuable than the ruby itself.”

I struggle to process his meaning. “What are you saying? This is a gemstone. A piece of jewelry. It’s not like it could sit down and tell Maverick its history. And he would have to be interested enough to study Sarah Anderton, which is just not like him. He wasn’t passionate about the history of Titan Falls. We had enough going on at home.”

I avert my eyes after the confession, heat moving from my neck to my cheeks. I’ve never admitted the state of my home life to anyone except Sasha.

But even without looking at them, I’m incredibly aware of their unblinking study.

I fight off the urge to argue against their callous answers—that I’ve stared at this necklace with the jagged ruby and gnarled metal finishes for so long, my eyes crossed. It gave me no answers as to why so many are hungry for it. It didn’t do anything but bring me in front of these men, made me vulnerable enough to care for each irredeemable quality they possess, and ripped my brother away.

If Maverick was involved with the Court, with these corrupted men and a poisoned secret society operating around campus and spreading their erosion across the globe...

No. Not him. Not my sweet, quiet older brother.

“The Heart isn’t just some sparkly rock,” Cav continues over my internal agony. “It carries its weight in blood. If Maverick was after it and broke it, then there’s something either he or the Court is desperate to keep hidden.”

My mind starts to form a complete picture. One I really don’t like. “Why would the Court kill my brother before getting an answer on where he put the other half? And if they knew my family had it, why all the smoke and mirrors with the four of you? Why not just kill me?—”

“Don’t say it,” Axe growls.

I jolt, so intensely focused on the two men giving me answers that I failed to remember the predator at my back, silently observing until he prowls to the forefront. And Wilder, his arms crossed as his hunter’s eyes assess Cav’s and Kaspian’s responses.

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Axe adds, half his profile bathed in columns of moonlight streaming through the panels of the balcony doors. “The Court isn’t going to kill you, too. Or get anywhere near you.”

Cav nods, ceding Axe’s point. His stare scrapes over me with invisible claws. Moments ago, our real nails were doing just that, memorizing skin, gouging our claim into one another.

Yet so much has changed in such a small amount of time, minutes separating our pleasure far from my grief.

I blink out of it.

Out of falling for them.

Wilder’s opinion rumbles to life. “We may never know why Maverick died when he did, because that’s how our Sovereigns operate. Riddles, shadiness, lies, manipulations.”

“I refuse to let that be the answer,” I say. “We find it. We find the other half of the Heart and expose the Sovereigns for who they truly are.”

Even though I still have no idea how a ruby will do that.

The continued chill in the room despite being cut off from the rest of the cavernous manor seeps into my bones, goose bumps rising on my exposed skin. The blanket around my shoulders does little to shield me from the drop in temperature … or these men.

But I forge on, because the only softness in this room is the cashmere. “Wilder, you lost someone too. How would you feel if this were you? Being told Maverick was killed because of mind games, but never getting to the bottom of it? Never getting your revenge?”

“Careful, sweetwitch. Your mouth is way too innocent for that word,” Wilder murmurs. “And you don’t want to know the kind of revenge I seek.”

His words are firm, but his eyes betray all the past horrors he’s endured. Clinging ghosts I’m starting to recognize all too well.

I imagine what he must’ve endured that night, the mania and anguish that would have coursed through him when his friend Teagan was shot and killed. He tried so desperately to save her, but sometimes even the most tenacious efforts fall short.

But even as I sympathize with Wilder’s loss, my anger at his inaction surpasses it.

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