Page 92 of Kept to Kill
She let out a sob, wishing she could hug him.
‘But I know you don’t believe me. Forgive yourself,’ he whispered and she nodded. She wasn’t sure she ever could. But she would try.
‘This is for you,’ he said, holding something out to her. ‘I think you’ll find it useful.’
‘What is it?’ she asked, looking at a thin metal collar with a small locking clasp with a hole for a key.
‘The Collector had it,’ he said quietly. ‘Did he never put it on you?’
‘No. I’ve never seen it before.’
‘Odd,’ he said. ‘I would have thought Vineri would have kept it on you all the time.’
Was Kane suspicious of her? Did he think she wasn’t being truthful, Lily wondered?
‘What is it? What does it do?’
‘See for yourself.’ He held it out to her and she took it gingerly from his bare hand. ‘I don’t know why I kept it,’ he muttered. ‘Perhaps it was meant for you.’
She put it around her neck and he took off a chain with a tiny key on it that hung around his neck, giving her that as well.
‘Keep them together,’ he advised. ‘Then you can take it off when you need to.’
Lily was confused. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Lock it,’ he invited her. And she did, looping the chain that held the key around her wrist.
But then he did the unthinkable. He stepped forward and touched her cheek with his hand. She drew back with a gasp, her stomach lurching.
‘What have you done, you fool?’ she hissed.
‘Trust me,’ he said with a smile, the smile she remembered from when they were children.
Tears came to her eyes, sure he’d die now as well, just like Toman had.
But he didn’t fall. He did not gasp for breath. He didn’t bleed from his eyes or keel over dead.
‘Your touch won’t kill me now,’ he said. ‘Not now, not within two nights. The collar checks the power you hold.’
‘I— I can’t believe it,’ she said, touching the rigid necklace. ‘Will it work with everyone?’ Lily asked him in wonder.
‘It should. You truly haven’t worn one before?’
She shook her head.
‘Odd,’ he said again.
‘Not very,’ she replied with a wan smile. ‘I was kept in a tower alone, Kane. Vineri ensured that I was too afraid to leave it without him. He knew what I had done to Toman and that I never wanted such a thing to happen again. He would never have given me one of these. He knew that with it, I would find a way to escape. Gods, he didn’t even give me shoes unless I was journeying somewhere with him.’
‘He made you his assassin,’ Kane guessed and she nodded. ‘I’m so sorry, Lily. If I’d known …’
She hushed him, tentatively squeezing his hand with hers. Then she hugged him, relishing the feel of him.
‘I missed you,’ she whispered. ‘I wondered so many times what had happened to you, if somehow I had killed you as well. I’m so sorry about everything.’
‘I joined the Brothers to get revenge,’ he said. ‘What could we have done differently?’ he asked her, looking over at Lana. ‘Everything happened the way that it was meant to.’
He gave Lily a quick brotherly kiss on the forehead before drawing away.
