Page 41 of The Shadow King's Brother

“Hey,” I say, lifting her chin and forcing her to meet my eyes. “I love it when you get like this, but let’s breathe. Tell me what happened.Now.”

My jaw clenches.

She lets out a slow sigh. “Everything happened. It’s—messed up.”

I hold her face between my hands, my thumbs stroking her cheeks. Her lip is swollen, a bead of blood clings to the corner, and her eyes are puffy.

“What is?” I ask softly, my thumbs tracing the curve of her cheekbones.

“Everything. My mom, Tuvio…”

“Tuviodid this to you?” I bark.

What the hell?

“No, no!”

I wait patiently, letting her gather her thoughts. My hands still stroke her cheeks, waiting for her to continue.

“So?” I ask. “What happened?”

I want to punch someone or something for doing this to her.

“I followed Tuvio. I was paranoid,” she admits, finally meeting my gaze. “Turns out he didn’t do anything. Well, he did do something, but nothing bad. I followed him to the Broad Corporation building. He’s in AA.”

I tilt my head, my eyebrows raised in surprise. “Really? My uncle is an alcoholic? You sure?”

I didn’t see that one coming.

She nods and looks down.

“And the bruise?” I ask, my tone suddenly sharp, my eyes narrowing on her bloodied lip and down to her elbow.

“Someone threatened me… at the Broad building,” she says, her voice catching.

“Someone?” My blood spikes. The thought of her in danger makes my fists clench. I can’t stop them from tightening, loosening, tightening again.

“Please, just let it go, Elio…” she says, eyes cast down. “I’m okay.”

“I’m going to kill whoever did this to you.”

“I’m fine. Really. It was probably a mistake—someone mistook me for someone else.”

“You’re not telling me everything.”

“Please,” she whispers, “just let it go.”

“Never.”

“For now then. I don’t know who it was, okay?” Her voice trembles, but there’s honesty in it.

I stay silent, swallowing back the urge to shout, to tear the whole damn city apart.

Instead, I pull her close and kiss her—gently, focused on her split lip. She tastes like fire and something sweeter underneath. Then I draw back, keeping her at arm’s length, my hands gripping her shoulders.

“What happened after?”

“I went to see my mother…” Her voice steadies just a bit.

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