Page 64 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

His brother made a very valid point—one he found difficult to argue with. But he wasn’t provoking an argument to converse about his sex life or his lack of strings attached. He was doing it to see what Gideon knew, to see if he would let anything slip of what he knew about Emara. Gideon was a hunter, of course he would have done some digging on her.

Torin stepped back nonchalantly and crossed his arms. “If you must know, I happen to know a thing or two about her.”

“The only thing you get to know about a girl is what type of alcoholic drink she prefers and her bralette size.”

Torin barked out a laugh. “You don’t even know what a bralette is.”

His jaw ticked. “Keep her out of your nonsense,” Gideon warned again, pointing a finger at Torin’s face. “I mean it.”

“Don’t size me up like a snake, thinking you can take me on because I had a little flirt with a girl you just met. You and I are not even in the same league when it comes to girls.” He offered Gideon a twinkling smile laced with ice.

His brother didn’t respond verbally, but the heat of his face did. If Gideon was big enough to poke the beast in the first place, he should be big enough to take the bite.

“I am just saying stay away from her.”

“It is ludicrous if you ask me, brother.” He walked around Gideon to leave through the threshold of the door. “You have spent a whole two minutes with the girl, and you have already whipped your mind into a frenzy about your feelings for her. Get out of your head and you might have a shot with her.” He leaned in, knowing that there was no warmth in his voice, and said, “But what’s the point? You are either going to end up in a marriage that Father sees fit enough for the clan, or you are going to spill your blood before that happens.”

Gideon stood utterly still for a moment, not responding to Torin, before he began to shake. He closed his eyes and then spoke, “You know, Torin, I used to look at you and I would wish I were you. My big brother—the god. My brother—the brave. But now when I look at you, all I see is fear.”

Torin froze at Gideon’s words.

“Fear that you aren’t good enough for my father. Fear that you are not good enough to step into his position once he’s gone. Fear that you will love, and it will be taken from you.”

Torin’s chest tightened as Gideon continued, feeling like the air was being pulled around his lungs like a tornado.

“You fear to open your heart and be vulnerable because we were always told it makes you weak. But it doesn’t.” Gideon shifted his weight between his feet. “It’s sad when you fear love and happiness more than you fear death, Torin. It’s miserable to think that all the fear that consumes you is going to ruin who you are before death finds you.”

Gideon walked past him and slammed the door shut.

Torin didn’t move for a few minutes. He was numb. He couldn’t move his body or his legs, or even feel his heart in his chest. He couldn’t swing a punch or even come up with some snide remark about how his brother was wrong.

He was stunned.

The Blacksteel brothers never showed each other emotion, not since they were small children. Even if one had injured the other during training, they were not allowed to show any remorse, or they would see the back of their father’s hand.

It was the commander’s method of conditioning.

Would you show your enemies the same empathy? Would you offer your hand to help the enemy?

Torin flinched at his father’s words before running a hand through his hair.

“May as well get this over with too,” he muttered. He left the briefing room, disregarding breakfast, and headed in the direction of his father’s office.

Torin strode into the commander’s office, his perfectly trained poker face intact. He had pushed any emotion that had been stirred up by Gideon’s words in the briefing room to the back of his mind.

“You really should knock when you enter the commander’s office.” Viktir Blacksteel looked over his nose at his son, his face unimpressed, as usual. “Or do I need to remind you of your rank?”

Torin flung himself into a brown leather chair that sat opposite of his father. “You told me to be here, so here I am.” He offered a fake smile whilst propping his feet up onto the mahogany desk. A few books fell from a pile.

His father paused, but didn’t say anything as he dragged his eyes from Torin’s face to his boots. Viktir knew that if he gave him any indication of exasperation, it would only spur Torin on to continue. He waited for the flicker of irritation to cross his face. But Viktir was skilled enough to keep himself professional. “We have had word from The House of Air about our alliance.”

Torin’s heartbeat advanced with every second his father didn’t speak.

“The House of Air would like to promise their empress to you in exchange for our protection. Aligning you both in a marriage that would benefit not only the coven, but the clan.” He spoke with no emotion, only with authority. “As you know, we have built an extraordinarily strong alliance with the House of Air, and we intend to keep it that way.”

That was his father’s diplomatic reminder not to screw anything up before the alliance could be forged in matrimony.

“And have you heard from the chief commander and the prime, regarding this?” Torin asked.

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