Page 94 of Godsbane
I count the bodies that fill the cramped space. Only six have joined our original two. Cal has pulled Theo off to the side, and despite their hushed voices, it’s obvious that the brothers’ conversation is heated. I take a tentative step towards them, risking Cal’s ire for information on the location of his other brother and our missing heir-adjacent.
“Marianne got word to us about the coup. Henry fucking lost it when he heard she was joining the fight. Revenge against the prick for torturing you was motive enough for me to?—”
“Torture?” I interrupt.
Both men swing to face me. Rage simmers in Cal’s storm-filled eyes, the emotion not directed at me but at Theo’s careless words. Words that were never intended for me to hear.
“Theo,” Cal scolds through gritted teeth. “You will stand guard outside until Henry and Marianne are ready to grace us with their presence.”
“Cal, you’re being ridiculous,” the youngest brother refutes. “You know I couldn’t stop him.”
“What I know is that you shouldn’t be here, yet here you are.”
Every person in the small house pretends to be very interested in their current task, purposefully avoiding Cal’s attention as he storms off for the tiny bedroom. The rickety door slams with a force that nearly knocks it from its rusted hinges.
“Give him a minute,” Theo says, laying a hand on my shoulder to stop my forward motion. He squeezes it and motions silently for me to follow him outside instead.
Darkness envelops the streets of the skeletal town. Sticking to the shadows, he leads me around the corner of the house and into the small alleyway that runs in between the homes. Theo gives the space a careful inspection before sitting on a wooden crate and extracting a pipe from his pocket.
“Light this for me, will you?”
I tense, unsure if I should borrow a thread of Cal’s power given his current state. The moment stretches between us as if it’s a test I have yet to pass. With an exaggerated eye roll, I wield the tiniest bit of his brother’s power, a single flame hovering above my finger.
“Thank you, m’lady.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“Should I call you sister instead?” He laughs.
The spicy, woodsy smell of burning tobacco fills my nose as Theo takes a puff from the ornately carved pipe. He extends his hand, motioning for me to sit on the crate to his right.
“What is this?” I ask.
“Tobacco, darling. You’ll love it.”
“Not the pipe, Theo. What isthis?” I ask motioning between us. “Do you think I’m not furious with you, too?”
The lieutenant takes his time exhaling smoke slowly from his mouth before he speaks again.
“We didn’t have a lot growing up. My adoptive brother tends to get a little possessive of things that he considers his. Battles, victories … you.”
“If you think he’s mad because he’s being possessive over this battle?—”
“I don’t,” Theo stops me. “He’s worried about me and Henry, but he’s pissed because we brought collateral with us.”
Collateral. I let the word sink in as I take the pipe from his outstretched hand and inhale from it slowly.
“Is that what my friends are to you?”
“That’s not my opinion, darling, that’s the truth,” he says flatly. “Marks will use all of us against you both if he can.”
“Then why are they here? Why are you here?” I demand.
The mask that has been carefully concealing Theo’s true face drops, replaced by the face of a little brother terrified for his sibling.
“Marks created monsters out of the people we love the most. We want them back. Not the caricatures, the real fucking people. The ones who love and laugh and have a real chance at changing this godsdamned world.”
“And if those people don’t exist anymore?”
