Page 22 of When Day Breaks

"There's no need for an irrational game of tag, brother." A familiar voice speaks up from behind me, and ifthatwasn't a good enough indication, Troian's celebration of his presence hints to me that Travois is somehow free from his imprisonment and now stands right behind me.

"Trav!" I sneak a small peek from my peripheral to see Troy jumping into his arms with a little bit more avidity than I'm sure she intended.

"Do I even want to know?" I grind out at the exact same time as I realize I've lost my level with Kacian.

In the snap of a finger, I'm thrown back into the wall furthest from me. My back hits a light fixture, connecting with the sharpest point sticking out from the candelabra and the sting of the intrusion bites at my back as the vintage piece of metal pierces my skin.

"Kacian!" Troy shouts at him from a few feet back as he storms my direction.

"It's okay, Troian," I say in a sharp, but labored tone, feeling the pain from the object stuck in my back. "Let the man squander his problems. Soon he'll realize that I am not the enemy."

Kacian approaches where I'm still hooked into the wall, the pain not much to complain about in comparison to what my wife left for me earlier.

"Youbrought her here! That makesyouthe enemy!" His tone cuts through the silence around us in a fit of fury. The dimly lit recessed lighting in the ceiling above surges for half a second before powering back on. "You know what she did to me." His voice is low and triggered by the pain buried deep into the memories of his greatest, yet forbidden, love. His greatest loss. His greatest enemy.

Nathairia.

I try to maneuver myself off of the sharp point stabbing me in my back. I palm the wall, both hands on either side of me and use my feet to kick off. I'm not far above the ground, so as the sharp piece of metal slides out of my back—blood squelches as it dislodges from my skin—I don't have to drop too far to land on my feet.

I steel myself and stand to face the irate man before me, leveraging my tone with the rage in his, eager to hope that he'll heed my warning. "I also know whatyoudid toher."

"Don't you dare try to turn anything on me. You-" Kacian sets out to toss me aside to another part of the hallway, the look of hatred set deep in his eyes.

I'll let him, if that's what he really wants, he can toss me around until he’s tired. He won't win this battle against me. But we can fight this war all day long.

We haven't talked much about the night everything went down since the deal was made with the witches. We swore it would leave our minds and we almost went as far as to compel it fromour brains, butIcan't be compelled unless by another Royal and we decided it was far more the hassle than needed. What was done, had been done and we had both moved on from that night.

Until now. But I couldn't have known that I'd need to break the deal in a rather desperate act of needing her help. But unfortunately for Kacian, his torment and guilt are no match of importance when it comes to that of my wife or the rest of the Society.

"ENOUGH!" Troian's voice breaks through the fight I'm eager to let play out. He can take all of his rage out on me, it won't lessen the blood on his hands.

"All of you." My sister looks between the four of us. "This has got to stop. Can't you see that everything is falling apart and you are all acting like a bunch of little scorned bitches."

The animosity between my brother and I. The Rogue. The secrets. My wife's curse. My desire for absolution in revenge. And now, the witches.

All of which I play some sort of role in.

"Somebody better start fucking talking or whatever is happening, it's going to ruin us." Troy throws her hands in the air.

"I'd like to stay out of this." Zharus puts his hands up, palms out, in mock surrender as he attempts to back away. I turn my head to face him, wondering why the fuck he's been acting like such a . . .pansy.

"Oh, no you don't." Troy rushes to him and forces him back forward, making sure he has no time or room to escape. "I know you've been sneaking out to see someone at Valor. I'd like to know who?"

There it is, the first request for answers from a secret that wasn't in fact kept hidden too well. Is it anyone's business other than Zharus who he decides to spend his free time with? No, not typically. However, I do see importance in making sure that he iswhere he says he is, something that I should have been keeping up with myself but I let it slide so that I can partake in my own unforthcoming agendas. I knew his extracurricular activities would soon find their way to light. Not that I ever considered his choice in lover a need for secrecy, but ratherwhomit might be is something he seems to want to keep unknown and I do fancy interest in that.

Zharus turns his eyes to me and I don't do much to defend him. I might not extend the luxury of prying ears to be privy to the knowledge that I hold of the current situations at hand, but I sure as Hell won't turn away from whatever is about to be spilled from the mouths of the others I seek to gain control of for the better part of a plan. Or rather, to garner intel to determine who I can and can't rule out in the case of the Rogue. My wife's situation will be dealt with soon enough.

"Don't look at me," I say to my Factotum, who is obviously seeking some sort of help from me. I know if the roles were reversed, he'd no doubt cover for me but in this case, he has no choice but to come clean and I won't let him skate by so effortlessly.

"I caught you. More than once," Troian adds, while walking back around to face him.

She takes a place between Kacian and Trav. Kacian still seething with rage as he forces himself to calm his anger to be present enough for whatever meeting Troian insists on holding. Kacian knows well enough to control his anger now anyway; I am still his king.

Travois doesn't stand too far from me on my left as Zharus is now closer to me on my right. Ironic that the circle we form has more broken fragments than we care to admit when really, the five of us are who we should trust most. Next to the cursed queen in the dungeon, that is.

"Obviously, we're all holding on to secrets here." I give a very firm glance to Kacian, letting him know that I will not play nice the next time he tries to fight me forhismistakes. "And Troy is right, we need to end whateverthisis."

"Care to start, brother?" Travois' voice is not entirely the one I expected, seeing as he hasn't said more than a few sentences to any of us outside of what I forced him to reveal. I squint my eyes at him, unsure of what he might be asking of me.

---