“I … can’t. Not until I get my brothers back. If the bond breaks, Bran will know I won’t kill the emperor. And he’ll kill my brothers. He just warned me that he has a group of vampires devoted tokeeping them safe.”
Surprisingly, he doesn’t argue, but his eyes narrow in contemplation.
We fall into a strangely comfortable silence. Warning bells begin a low thrum in my head. No. There should be no comfortable silences.
I roll to my feet, stomach churning. My thigh screams at me, and Rorrik glowers. “What are you doing?”
My skin prickles. This is the man who made me kill Tiberius Cotta.The same man who killed Lucius after playing cards with him just hours earlier.
Getting cozy with Rorrik, having conversations with him … it’s a betrayal to everyone he has hurt and killed. Any help he’s offering will come with the kind of strings that are likely to strangle me.
“Thank you for helping me get back here.” The words are stilted, formal, and Rorrik’s eyes narrow, turning to pools of ice. Ice that slowly crawls down my spine.
“What is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play with me.”
“Fine. I just remembered who you are.”
“And who am I?”
I take a deep, shuddering breath. Rorrik’s eyes sharpen, like a hawk spotting its prey.
“You’re a monster.”
One side of his mouth kicks up. “A monster? That seems a little excessive.”
Every muscle in my body stiffens. It’s viciously unfair that someone so evil is also so compelling.
My frustration makes me reckless. “You didn’t even let Lucius complete his sentence when you murdered him. You couldn’t even give him that.”
His face turns white, and the temperature of the room plummets. Slowly, he gets to his feet. “No. I couldn’t give him the opportunity to relieve my brother of his responsibility. Tiernon should have protected his people.”
“Protected them from his father? Fromyou?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand you—”
“You don’t need to—”
“But I understand this much. You killed one of your brother’s people—one of his friends—in front of him.” My eyes sting. “Some of the imperiums considered Lucius a brother.”
A muscle twitches in Rorrik’s jaw. “I’ve known Lucius since before Tiernon ever met him. We played together as children.”
I gape at him. “You think that makes itbetter? You were friends once, and you still killed him. That makes it even worse.”
Bitterness wars with the temper in Rorrik’s eyes. It’s the first time I’ve seen him look anything other than languidly amused, carefully bored, or coldly enraged.
He’s dangerous. But now that I’ve begun, it’s like I can’t stop. All the hurt and fury comes pouring out of me.
“It’s not just Lucius. You made me kill Tiberius Cotta. He was a good man.”
Rorrik takes a step toward me, muscles roiling beneath the exquisite design of his tunic. “Because he noticed you and gave you a few weapons for the arena? Your father issues are showing, darling, and frankly, it’s a little embarrassing.”
I scowl at him. “He was making life better for mundanes and sigilmarked.That’swhy you wanted him dead.”
