Page 88 of Kept to Kill
Quin
His hands were bound behind his back. There was a black hood over his head. He could hear low, whispered voices, at least three, perhaps four. One was distinctly different from the others. A female.
They were still in the forest. They hadn’t taken him back into Kitore, he knew that much. He could hear the rustling of leaves, feel the wind on his back and the crunch of fallen leaves beneath his boots as he was walked forward roughly by whoever it was that had caught him unawares from behind. This wasn’t going to end well for him.
He wondered who it was that had him. Was it Drake and his unit? Had they been tricking them all along? Were they truly Nixus’s men now? Or was it the king’s forces? No, he discounted that quickly. If it was palace soldiers, he’d already be in the king’s dungeon.
The First Scholar was the most likely. Quin knew Nixus liked to play games, enjoyed outthinking his opponents and toying with them. Whoever was doing this was trying to keep him on his toes before they killed him, that was certain.
The hood was ripped off. He blinked against the sunlight, his eyes adjusting quickly, and what he saw surprised him … and made his heart sink.
‘Brother,’ he said.
‘We are Brothers no more,’ Kane growled. ‘I told you, Quin, the next time I saw you there would be retribution for what you did to our Fourth.’
Quin looked around, seeing Kane’s Brothers, Sorin and Viktor, there as well. And behind them, Lana.
‘I did not hurt your Fourth,’ Quin growled.
The girl herself seemed unharmed. In truth he was glad to see her alive and well. He had meant no harm to come to her.
‘I was trying to save her,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘If I had left her wandering the citadel, Greygor would have found her and killed her.’
Sorin strode forward, backhanding him across his cheek hard enough for him to stagger to the side.
‘On your knees.’
He was pushed down.
‘Firstly, beg for forgiveness from our Fourth,’ Kane ordered.
Quin gave his former Brother a hard look, but he turned his eyes to Lana. He did owe her an apology at the very least.
‘I regret my involvement, but I did what I did to save you. If I had known you’d be in danger, I’d never have left you so defenseless.’
‘Spoken like a true Commander.’ Kane sneered.
Lana said nothing. Instead, she turned to Kane.
‘Are we finished here?’ she asked.
‘He must be punished for his crimes.’
‘He is the Commander of the Dark Army now,’ she hissed. ‘It’s done. Leave it now, please. Let’s just continue on,’ she pleaded.
Kane looked back at her with a stony expression, though Quin was astonished when his countenance softened.
‘It is our way.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘But you are not Brothers any longer.’
‘We do not stop truly being Brothers even when we leave the Army,’ Kane returned.
She looked at Quin. ‘I do not blame you,’ she said to Quin directly. ‘But I cannot speak for the others.’
Quin gave a nod. ‘It is our way,’ he echoed, ‘but my unit will come for me.’
‘It seemed to me they’d abandoned you outside the city gates.’ Viktor snorted. ‘Not surprising from what we’ve heard about Mad Mal and the new one who drinks and whores all day and night.’
