Page 80 of Blood of a Huntsman

Cat blinked in confusion. "Don't what?"

Seth sat up on the sofa. "Is that a new sword? Nice blade. Where did you get that?"

"Don't what," she repeated impatiently.

“Mother tells you to listen to our aunt, as she doesn’t want you to get into trouble. Dear Aunt Drusilla says that all is forgiven, your treachery will be brushed under the rug, as long as you let our troops into Oldcrest right now. And I say, don't."

“I won’t. I have a life here. Friends I value. Friends who value me. You can throw everything at me. You can torture me. I will not let our family destroy this place.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Didn’t you just hear me clearly tell you not to do as you’re told?”

Oh, yes. He’d mentioned that.

Cat cleared her throat. But Aunt Drusilla…

"If I don't, I'll be made an example of. You know that. They’ll—”

"What, torture you again?"

She closed her mouth and looked down.

Mages of great power affected the very energy around them without meaning to do so, even when they didn’t use magic. Their emotions, their movement were enough for the elements to vibrate all around them.

Cat had seen that with her aunt. Whenever she was angry, the room darkened, the air crackled.

She'd never seen Seth angry.

His expression didn't change at all, but his eyes were a dark galaxy with flickers of light. And the room grew colder, the air thinner. He took three steps toward her.

Cat had never been afraid of her brother until today.

"I realize I'm busy," he said quietly. "I realize I'm older, and that we have greatly different schedules." His voice held an edge. "And I also realize that I'm rather self-centered, but Catharina, learning what she did to you?"

Cat blinked.

Her brother had reached for her hands and was looking at the faint scars on her fingers.

"That was a long time ago."

"Yes. And the family doctor was so good as to inform me now."

His voice held as much thunder as his mind.

"You will stay here, where you're safe. And I will take care of our dear aunt."

That wasn't a question, it was an order, delivered with as much authority as any directive Drusilla had ever given.

"You can't. She's the head of the family." But it was more than that. "She is the first Stormhale, turned by Ariadne herself."

No other family was still led by their founding members. Most had died, the surviving ones had long turned into hermits, and, of course, there was Eirikr in his cage. But the Stormhales were under the thumb of a woman almost as powerful as the gods themselves.

“I came back from New York early yesterday to be told that Claudia was in the hospital. A broken ankle, they said. She was bruised too. Do you happen to know how she got those wounds?”

Cat looked away. “Our training was rough.”

“They didn’t train you. They brainwashed you into behaving, into believing that having a mind of your own would only lead to pain. Claudia told me what Uncle Antony did to her, under Drusilla’s orders. She told me what they did to you.” He glanced at her hands. “Have you ever played again?”

Cat wet her lips, finding nothing to say.

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