“I wasn’t going to kill him,” his brother said then. “Everything was under control. We just needed to shake him up a bit. Scare him the way he’s been scaring you lately. Or, well,” he gave him a once over, “he had been before. You’re looking a lot better.”
“Shut up.” Rin gripped his hair and forced himself to inhale slowly and exhale even slower. He couldn’t lose his cool.
“You meant the case though, right?” he didn’t listen and kept going. “We were given the role of the killer and I assumed keeping that information from you would ensure we’d win. That’s why I did it. At the beginning of the semester when we got the notice, you weren’t involved with your Imperial, so winning was still important. I should have told you afterward, but I was honestly having fun setting up the crime scenes—by the way, all of those girls believe I was you when we did that. So if one of them thanks you for helping apply the stage makeup, you’ll know what they mean.”
“You shot at the Imperial Prince!” Rin couldn’t believe he was wasting time talking about something as obsolete as a school assignment.
“Yes, I did also shoot at your Imperial Prince,” his brother admitted. “He made you sad.”
“I deal with my own emotions,” Rin growled. “Remember? We discussed this!”
“But it wasn’t a rule,” he said.
Rin cursed.
“It’s okay. The wound healed within a day. They heal fast here, just like back home. The bullet barely grazed his skin.”
His brother was an epic shot, he’d had to be for the both of them to keep up the appearance as Rin. If he’d intended to murder Kelevra that day in the forest, he would have, and the two of them would be having an entirely different conversation right now. Most likely behind bars.
Just before their public executions.
“You got to see what he’s really like in an emergency too,” his brother continued. “He turned on you. If that’s his base instinct, I rescind the encouragement I gave previously. Even if you have looked happier these past weeks since.”
“If you look at it from his perspective, he had every reason to suspect me.” Rin didn’t mention how pissed he’d been after the fact though.
“I won’t stand by if someone threatens us.”
“You’rethreatening us!” Rin shoved him. “What if this gets out, hmm? What then?”
“How would it?” He didn’t sound the least bit concerned. “I was careful.”
“Why Nila? You promised you wouldn’t harm innocent people when we came to this planet. That was one of the rules.”
“Have you heard about what happens at the docks, brother?”
Rin frowned. “Yeah, the racing.”
His gaze grew frigid. “Some people don’t go there for the races.”
“Don’t.” He held up a hand. Rin had enough going on without adding whatever other criminal activity he’d gotten himself involved in. “Don’t tell me. Just answer this. Did you have a good reason?”
“She deserved it.”
Rin blew out a breath. “All right.” He snorted derisively at himself. “We’re both so fucked up. Here I am, outright trusting you when you say you murdered someone, and there you are, running around shooting blasters at Imperials.”
“He made you sad.”
“Stop saying that!” Rin groaned and dropped back against the edge of the table. “New rule.”
“You don’t—”
“Yes,” he stopped him with a steely look, “I do.”
His brother considered it and then nodded once. “Then I get one as well.”
Rin waved at him in the affirmative.
“Okay. What’s the rule?”
