He felt a sinking sensation in his gut. “Until what is done, exactly?”
Aodhan held up a finger and then beamed at the camera set in the device he held up. “Hey, babe, got a minute for your favorite surgeon?”
“That depends,” a silky voice came through, along with the shuffling of papers and the occasional click of a key, “what trouble has he gotten himself into this time?”
“Not me,” Aodhan replied. “It’s Zane. Say hello, baby brother.” He spun so the camera could capture all three of them, their images reflected at the bottom corner of the holopad.
Most of the screen featured another man a little older than Aodhan, with inky hair and sharp green eyes. He had on a pair of thick-rimmed glasses which Zane recognized as having been designed by the Void Corporation, but he removed them delicately once he saw Aodhan wasn’t alone.
“Zane,” the man on the screen greeted, though his tone lacked warmth.
“Titus.” He’d only ever met his brother’s boyfriend once before and the guy had given him the chills. Really, he should be grateful, since it would take a real monster to handle someone like Aodhan, and it was his understanding that Titus actually kept him in check. But still. Zane would prefer to keep his distance.
He’d prefer to keep Pavel distant from the older man as well.
“Who are you hiding?” Titus asked, and it was only then that Zane realized he’d instinctually shifted to block Pavel from the camera.
Pavel who, in a move that was most definitely not the definition of behaving, plopped his chin on Zane’s shoulder, giving them all a straight view of his face.
“This is my brother’s future husband,” Aodhan introduced for them. “That’s where you come in, Mercy.”
“No.” Zane vehemently shook his head, knowing where this was going. The move dislodged Pavel, who pulled back with a furrowed brow.
“What’s up?” the other Retinue member asked.
“My man is ordained,” Aodhan filled in with a devilish wink.
“I said no,” Zane repeated. “I have until graduation. This isn’t happening tonight. You can’t just spring a marriage on me.”
“Why are you acting like I selected your groom and sold you off? You’re the one who said you would marry him, remember? You can’t have forgotten, it was less than an hour ago.”
“Aodhan, love, I don’t think you should pressure your brother into such a major commitment,” Titus chimed in, catching Zane by surprise with his help.
“His friend walked in on us,” Aodhan said. “Allof us.” He twisted to show the corpse.
“He’s Retinue,” Zane stated, knowing that he had to keep Titus on his side in order for this to end in his favor. “There’s no way he’d say anything to anyone. He’s also claimed me as his bashert, which means he can’t betray me.” He had no idea if that was how it worked or not but figured it couldn’t hurt to make an estimated guess.
“Is that true, love?” Titus stared at his boyfriend.
“Well, yes—”
“How about we come to an agreement, Zane,” Titus offered. “Would that satisfy you?”
Making an enemy out of his brother and Titus Mercer wasn’t an option, but neither was allowing them to kill Pavel.
Which he hated.
He hated that he’d somehow grown this attached.
But when he pictured the way he’d appeared on that video footage, the way he’d looked at Pavel…Zane wanted to explore that further. He wanted to know if those emotions had been a fluke or if he was actually capable of becoming enamored by someone.
Lyra clearly feared he was.
“I’m listening.” He waited to see what Titus was offering since he seemed to have come up with an idea already.
“Someone needs to explain the actual stakes to me first. I’m failing to see the connection between a dead body and a marriage,” Titus drawled.
“Lyra wants to force him into being her Royal Consort,” Aodhan said. “If Zane marries before graduation, then he avoids that, and if he marries Pavel, there’s no fear of Pavel telling the world I’m a serial killer.”
