Page 89 of Kept to Kill
‘They were looking for our Fourth,’ Quin shot back, wondering how they knew about Bastian. Kane had met him only once. They were getting news from someone. Who? Was it the same one feeding information to Nixus?
‘Your Fourth?’ Kane’s eyes narrowed. ‘Did you capture this hapless woman as well?’
Quin stifled a grin in spite of himself. ‘Thatishow it first began.’
He looked at Lana again. Odd that only a few weeks ago, he had been besotted by her. What he had said was true. He had done what he had done to save her, given her some story about his mother making him promise. But really he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind, and he had no idea why.
For the first time, he had put his plans of being Commander away, focusing on someone else. But now, as he watched her, he realized that whatever he had thought he felt before, paled in comparison to how much he cared for Lily. His feelings for her ran much deeper than he had imagined them to before she had been taken from them.
But after all that had happened, she probably hated him. His eyes drifted to the ground.
‘I am sorry,’ he said, looking back up at Lana. ‘I’m glad you escaped.’ He glanced at Kane. ‘And I’m glad that you were able to leave the Army with her.’
‘It all worked out well for you, didn’t it,Commander?’ he said with a smirk. ‘That was the role you always wanted, wasn’t it?’
‘It was,’ Quin said, ‘and I am better at it than you ever would have been. I was born for this, and I’m glad that I took it when I could. I would not change it.’
‘What good fortune for you, then,’ Viktor said.
‘What shall we do with him? I assume you have a plan, Brother,’ Sorin said.
‘I do,’ Kane replied, taking a small blade from his belt and putting it to Quin’s throat.
‘Surely you don’t mean to kill me,’ he said. ‘Your woman is safe.’
‘There must be retribution.’ But Kane hesitated. ‘I told you that when we saw you again, there would be, did I not?’
‘You did, but I did not think it would cost me my life,’ he muttered. ‘You always were dramatic.’
They heard a crunch in the forest and Quin looked up just in time to see Lily, of all people, running into the clearing with an angry scream.
‘Get away from him!’ she cried.
She was closely followed by Bastian and Mal, who pulled her back, but she had already stopped short.
‘You,’ Kane said, sounding surprised. ‘I saw you in the Library.’ An odd look came over his face.
* * *
When Lily sawthe Brother put a knife to Quin’s neck, she scrambled forwards faster than Mal or Bastian could grab her.
‘Get away from him!’ she cried, but as she got into the clearing and saw his face, she stopped dead, again met with the strangest feeling of familiarity.
‘You,’ he said. ‘I saw you in the Library. How did you escape?’
Lily didn’t answer his question.
‘I know you,’ she blurted. ‘And you know me. I can see it in your face, but how? Who are you?’
Behind him, one of his Brothers rolled his eyes. ‘This is a trick, Kane,’ he said. ‘She seeks to save her unit Brother. That is all.’
‘Kane.’ She uttered his name softly. ‘Kane?’
With a gasp, her hand covered her mouth. She knew him. She remembered him, that boy from her childhood who used to run and play with her, used to help them steal food. The boy who kept her and Toman safe until the end.
She took a step forward and fell to her knees.
‘Kane,’ she asked. ‘Is it really you?’
