Page 68 of Kept to Kill
‘What do you expect me to do about it?’ Quin snapped.
‘We need to find a different way,’ Bastian stated yet again, sitting heavily in one of the chairs. ‘This. Will. Not. Work, Quin.’ He emphasized every word with a fist, pounding on the table.
Quin threw his hands up in frustration. ‘There is no other way. Why don’t you understand?’
‘We do understand, but you forget that Lily is not a Brother, not Maeve. She is a girl with a gift for death but no skill in it. For this to work, we must have someone on the inside, someone that can let her in later, after the festivities have already begun. Perhaps then she’ll have a fucking chance of actually getting to the ones she needs to kill,’ Bastian growled.
Quin let out a frustrated sigh, but an idea began to take form in his mind. ‘The unit we have in Kitore is coming here in the morning. They might know someone who can get inside to help.’
‘They know where the safe house is?’ Bastian asked.
‘They’re Brothers, aren’t they?’ Quin replied impatiently.
‘Can we trust them?’
‘If we can’t, it’s already too late,’ Quin replied sardonically, turning to Mal. ‘I want Lily there as well.’
His Brother nodded.
Quin scowled. ‘Where is she, anyway?’
‘Abed,’ Mal grunted, and Quin heard him take out his knife and begin to sharpen it anew.
His brother seemed very tense. It wasn’t like Mal not to be able to relax. Usually he was calm and collected, but at the moment he seemed worried, Quin mused as he left the room and walked up the narrow stairs. He paused on the landing, hesitating at Lily’s door before knocking lightly.
‘Come in,’ floated Lily’s soft voice from the other side, and he opened the door.
Inside, she was sitting on the bed, propped up and reading a book. When she saw it was him, he saw her shoulders tense.
‘You need not be afraid every time I walk in the room,’ he said. ‘If I’m going to punish you, you’ll know.’
Her expression became even more shuttered and he belatedly grasped that she feared being alone with him. He cursed himself for being the Commander. He hated that he had had to be the one to do it, knowing that she would despise him for it, yet it had been his fault that he had not reined himself in.
‘I’m sorry,’ he blurted out to her.
‘What did you say?’ she asked, putting the book down.
‘I said “I’m sorry.”’
‘For what, exactly?’ she inquired.
‘I don’t apologize for the punishment,’ he clarified. ‘It was necessary and the way of the Brothers, the way of the unit. If I make such a mistake in the future, I would hope that you will do the same for me to correct my behavior.’
Her brow furrowed. ‘Then what are you apologizing for?’
‘For losing control,’ he answered. ‘I don’t know why I did. I was angry.’
‘Angry?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Because— because of what you saw at the inn,’ she guessed. ‘Because I was with Mal and Bastian.’
‘Yes,’ he said again.
Lily frowned. ‘I don’t understand. You don’t even like me.’
‘That’s not true,’ he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
