Page 154 of Filthy Royal

Operating on autopilot, he’d gotten them down to the lobby as the walls buckled and the massive chandelier crashed to the ground. He’d hurled himself and Scarlett out of the elevator shaft just in time. Then it had been all too easy to use the ensuing chaos as cover while he slipped back into the tunnels.

But he wasn’t sure how to settle the turmoil in his head.

Crex was alive.

All these planetary rotations, Damien had watched over Crex’s sisters, blaming himself, and Scarlett, for the male’s death.

Except the bastard lived. He worked for Darvish. And Scarlett had always known.

Each damned time, the cuts she delivered just got deeper.

Damien ran faster, charging around corners, powering through the maze of rubble and twisty turns until he finally reached his and Maddox’s agreed meeting spot.

The space was an old sleeping quarters where they’d bunked for the past few nights, a considerable distance from their interrogation room.

He shrugged off his pack, the cloak, even his holster and weapons.

But he couldn’t put Scarlett down. Or stop moving. Maxheim would analyze the vids for any useful information. Anya would find a way to report that she was safely back at the shuttle, and Maddox would return here as soon as he could. In the meantime, there was nothing to do but wait.

Wait and somehow try to come to grips with what he’d discovered.

“It’s not possible.” Restless and on edge, Scarlett still clutched to his chest, cradled in his arms, Damien paced past the two sleeping bags and their cache of weapons, then turned and did it again. “I watched him die with my own eyes.”

“You were drugged. They made you see what they wanted.”

“No. His eyes were empty, his neck twisted to one side.”

“They gave him something too. Some kind of unsanctioned, off-market drug designed to mimic death. He walks with a shuffle now because of it.”

“No, Crex died. I saw it.”

“None of us knew until later, but Darvish had incriminating vids of him stealing from other fighters. Once he found out about your friendship with Crex, Darvish blackmailed Crex into doing his bidding, but the male liked the power. He took to being Darvish’s assistant with sadistic pleasure.”

“No.”

“Damien, please.” She gripped his chin. “Put me down, and I’ll explain what I can.”

He stopped short. “Now you want to tell me?” Rage thundered through him, burning through the numbness and leaving a searing ball of agony in its wake. “How could you keep something like that from me?”

He dropped her to her feet and stormed to the other side of the small room, the top of his horns scraping the ceiling.

Silence descended.

It barely registered over the pounding of his heart.

“All that wasted hate and rage.” Restless energy drove his footsteps back and forth. “All the time spent hating myself and you. For nothing.”

Scarlett’s breathing grew ragged. “I wanted to tell you.”

“Yet you didn’t.” He slammed his fist into the wall, the shredding of his knuckles nowhere near enough to distract from the agony ripping through his chest.

“Don’t!”

“Don’t what? Keep pretending? Isn’t it time one of us told the truth?” His chest shuddered, rising up and down faster than he could control. “I wanted to come back to you a hundred times a rotation. So many damned suns’ rises I dropped my guard and walked into someone’s fist just to feel something besides the empty, churning rage in my gut.”

Her expression crumpled.

Damien felt the throb of her pain in his chest. Right alongside his own.

---