That was the major reason he’d agreed with his parents when they’d begged him not to tell anyone. Why he’d kept this secret for so many years, hiding it away along with his true personality.
Shouts were volatile and hot-tempered, but only because the power coursing through their veins made them that way. Without them, there was no reason for Flix to have that sort of pent-up anger. He’d gone out of his way to fake things to make everyone see him as carefree and easygoing.
This was no longer about protecting Aneski from Berga’s wrath. Now Flix was the one at risk.
“You’re hot, Ani,” he said quietly, “but I won’t exchange my life for yours.”
“Neither of us have to die,” Aneski insisted. “I just want answers. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll promise not to sayanything to anyone. You can have the tape that caught you using your powers.”
He was far too cavalier about all of this, but Flix didn’t have the time to dwell on that just yet.
“And Popcorn?” he asked.
“He doesn’t know anything.”
“I’m just meant to believe you?”
“Why won’t you just do it?” Ani stated, losing patience. “Come on! It can’t really be that big of a deal! Why the hell won’t you tell me?! I have a right to know what happened!”
“What happened? I’m insinuating I now have to kill you for what you know, yet you’re still hung up on what happened to Russ?” That bastard didn’t deserve this type of loyalty. “Why didn’t you just move on, Ani? Huh? Why didn’t you just forget about it and leave well enough alone?”
“Because I couldn’t,” he said. “He’s my brother.”
“He’s a pathetic coward,” he corrected with a sneer.
“Tell me why you think that.”
If he’d been in his right mind, Flix would have noticed how calm Aneski was, but as it were, his thoughts kept folding in on themselves, one after the other, making it difficult to focus and not internally freak out. It wasn’t just him on the line. His parents could easily be labeled traitors to the Brumal if it was discovered they were the reasons Flix had kept his Shout powers a secret in the first place.
They weren’t best friends or anything like that, but Flix and his family were closer than most. He cared about them.
The way Russ should have cared about his own family.
“Fine.” He wanted to know so badly? “You want to know what happened to your brother, Ani? He left you.”
“What?”
“He. Left. You. By choice.”
“My brother never would have let you kill him. He—”
He laughed humorlessly. “He didn’t let me kill him. He didn’t even die. It was a fake. Your brother is fine.” He waved a hand in the air. “Somewhere out there. Living his life. Without you.”
Aneski grew silent.
“What?” Flix taunted. “Don’t believe me? That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. Because I knew you’d never take my word for it, not without proof, and the only way to prove it is by taking you to Berga, which isn’t fucking possible after the stunt you pulled.”
Berga was the only person on the planet who could see right through Flix. He’d know something had happened without him having to say a single thing. And he was batshit crazy on a good day, so there was no telling how he’d choose to retaliate against Ani.
If anyone was going to kill the Tiny Terror for the things he knew and the things he’d done, it was going to be Flix.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
Flix exhaled and rested his hands on his hips. “Things are about to become a lot more complicated.”
“That’s not what I want an apology for,” Aneski surprised him by saying. “You should have told me sooner. Then maybe I would have known what to look for, and I wouldn’t have wasted so much time hating the wrong person for leaving me.”
