Page 216 of Mud

What could I possibly do?

I knew what Iwantedto do: take her away and disappearin the night somewhere, where nobody saw or heard or knew we existed. I wanted to hide here in a place where nobody could get to her ever—least of all my brothers.

And I had planned to do exactly that.

I’d lie all day if I had to, but I couldn’t lie to myself.That’swhat I had planned to do once I figured out a way to get close to her: get her far away from my brothers.

But now she’d come right to their door, and Radock wasn’t the only one there to witness her existence. Kaid and Seth were right behind him, laughing. Cheering. Hi-fiving each other. Shocked byour good luck.

“Our stars must have finally aligned…” Radock whispered, looking down at Rosabel’s face with a gleaming in his eyes that I didn’t like. That made me want to burst into flames. That made my magic want to come out violently,killhim right on the spot for daring to look at what was mine like that.

Except this was Radock.

This was my brother, for fuck’s sake. This was the man I owed everything to.

His eyes met mine. “How?”

When I spoke, I didn’t sound any different. “She came by herself.”

An arched brow. “How would she know? Have they discovered us?”

I shook my head. “She’s alone. Wounded. Bleeding.”

Why, sweetness? Who did this to you? Tell me, goddess, tell menow…

“How the hell did she know how to find us?” Kaid said, as he, too, looked at Rosabel.

The urge to move away, hide her in the darkness, grew. I stayed put.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

Of course I lied. It was bad enough that I had to endure their bullying forletting a girl fool mefor the rest of my life, but if they knew I’d told said girl where to findtheirhidden lair if she ever needed me, they’d never let me live it down.

Worse yet—they would trust me even less than they already did.

“A trap,” Seth said. “Could it be?”

It’s not.

It wasn’t a trap. She was wounded. She’d passed out. She was feverish, which made very little sense. She wasn’t faking it. I’d know. And maybe I was a fool to think so, but I’d know if she lied. I always did.

Except the time it mattered.

She betrayed me.

Those three words that I somehow had to remind myself of even now. She was in my arms and I wanted to forget everything and everyone, especially those three words, but I couldn’t.

Because she’d come to my door. My brothers had already seen her.

And simply put, I couldn’t win against them.

Fucking hell, that I was even consideringfightingthem or escaping from them was fucking absurd, but Icouldn’tif I tried. Together, they were more powerful than me. They’d never let me get away.

No, I couldn’t take Rosabel to safety, not right now.

I had to wait.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Radock said, eyes up at the sky now, as if he was curious to see if he’d find some fancy IDD device flying over us. He wouldn’t—Rosabel was alone.I had nowhere else to go.She was alone and she needed me.

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