Page 85 of Their Offering

Nicholas was a genius, and I felt guilty for the short moment I doubted him. Our father would back off, at least directly. He’d probably be lurking in the shadows, have us followed, but he’d surely stop confronting us about the portal.

Our father looked like he wanted to say more, but I’m sure he was regretting taking on all three of us at once. “I have more important matters to attend to. I’ll be watching.” After one more look, he stood from the chair and left the office.

I waited for several seconds after his departure to breathe out and relax.

“Fuck,” Keir whispered.

“He knows about the portal.” Nicholas’s eyes matched his worried tone. “What if he knows about Lilly?”

“He doesn’t. There’s no way. We’ve been careful,” I comforted him.

“Have we? Welether leave the flat today.” Keir groaned in frustration. “I knew it was a bad idea. I should never have agreed to it. We’ve put Lilly at risk, all for a little fresh air.” His hand wiped down his face as he groaned again.

“She’s fine. Ida is more than capable of handling things. She would never let anything happen to her. You know that. Lilly is safe.” I looked between my brothers, one angry and one worried. “Let’s go home. I want to see our girl.”

Both of them relaxed a bit.

Nicholas was definitely on the same page as me. We missed her. We’d grown used to spending all our time with her.

Kier, though he denied himself the privilege of touching her, still found comfort in being near her, seeing her. I’d noticed it many times, especially when he came home from a particularly rough day. Even if he didn’t talk to her much, he was softer and calmer when they were in the same room.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Keir told us, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair and following us out of the office.

Chapter 39

Nicholas

Lilly and Ida were sitting on the couch laughing when the doors opened.

“And then the twins froze all his underwear, so he had to go commando for the entire day,” Ida finished, telling Lilly of one of our pranks we’d pulled on Keir when we were younger.

“Come on!” my twin beckoned me. “Hurry up. He’ll be back any minute.”

“I’m trying. I’m trying. Shut up.” I found the drawer I was looking for, grabbing its contents and stuffing them into the bag I’d brought with me. “Got ‘em,” I told Aiden.

He was smirking, waiting for me at the door. He’d been the lookout. Keir hated when we got into his room. He’d kill us—literally—if he found us in here.

We laughed hysterically as we power-walked down the hall and headed toward the kitchen.

“What do you two think you’re doing?”

Fuck.He’d caught us.

We turned to find Keir looking at us dubiously, knowing we were up to no good. We never were. We had way less responsibility than Keir, who was heir to the throne. We could get away with just about anything because we didn’t matter. We didn’t have the weight of the realm on our shoulders. Unfortunately, that meant Keir was the victim of our crimes. He was an easy target.

“Nothing,” Aiden said, lying flawlessly.

“Uh huh.” Keir eyed us, more suspicion in his eyes.

Shit.There was no way we’d get away with this one. We were as good as dead, and we hadn’t even completed our prank.

“What’s in the bag?” he asked me.

I focused on my breathing. I’d always been the worst at lying. “Don’t lie to me, Nicholas,” my older brother warned me.

I gulped. “Nothing. Just some clothes.” It wasn’t a total lie. He didn’t need to know they werehisclothes.

“Let me see,” Keir said as he reached his hand out to grab the bag.

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