"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Malus produced something from his pocket, a silver leaf that caught the light. "She's been keeping secrets, brother. Sneaking through your castle with this clever bit of magic, visiting poor Thomas Gray in your dungeons. Such a bleeding heart, yourpet."
"There is no Thomas Gray in my dungeons."
"No. There isn't." Malus smiled, clearly amused by the revelation. "Just your dear brother, locked away and forgotten. Until she found me."
Eliam turned to look at her then, and what she saw in his eyes made her stomach drop. Not just anger, but betrayal. Raw and cutting.
"You visited the dungeons." Not a question.
She tried to speak, to explain, but the compulsion still held. Her throat closed on the words, leaving her mute and damned by her silence.
"Several times, actually,” Malus provided, knowing full well she could not speak for herself. “Bringing food and comfort. Building my strength meal by meal." Malus stepped closer, Ferria moving with him like a shadow. "She was so kind. So eager to help the poor, starving human. Even promised to plead my case to you."
“Quite a resourceful little thing isn’t she?” Ferria purred mockingly. "I didn't expect her to be so successful. But then, you always did have a weakness for broken things that needed saving."
"Ferria." Eliam's attention snapped to his former courtier, and now real fury began bleeding through his control. "You're with him. With my brother."
"I go where power flows," Ferria said simply, fingers trailing lightly over Malus’ sleeve. "Where balance might be restored."
"The Star Court?"
"Knows nothing of this. This is... personal."
Briar watched as understanding dawned in Eliam's eyes, and with it came rage that made the air itself heavy. "You gave her the means to deceive me. You orchestrated this."
"I gave a trapped girl a tool. What she did with it..." Ferria shrugged, the gesture both elegant and dismissive. “The rest was her choice.”
Eliam's hand tightened on Briar's wrist until she gasped. She raised her other hand to catch his sleeve, desperate to explain but unable to form the words. Finally he looked down at her and it was as if he'd never seen her before. Like she was a stranger wearing familiar skin.
“Is this true?” He asked. “Deny it, tell me they’re lying, and I will believe you.”
Briar could only lower her head, the compulsion ensuring she was unable to even deny her crimes.
"How many times?" The question came out rough. "How many times did you sneak down to feed my enemy while I—" He cut himself off, jaw working.
She couldn't answer. Could only stand there as his grip turned bruising, as understanding twisted his features into something far colder and more cruel than she’d ever witnessed.
"While I tended you after the river, while I let you choose your dress… while I gave you my crown…" His other hand came up to touch the circlet, and she flinched at the gentleness of it. "You were betraying me."
"Such drama," Malus observed, a malicious grin stealing across his face. "Though I must thank you for keeping her so well-fed, brother. Made her such an effective savior. Every kindness you showed her, she passed to me."
That did it.
Eliam moved faster than Briar’s eyes could track, releasing her to lunge at his brother. They collided, Eliam slamming Malus into the ground with enough force to crackthe marble, Thorned vines erupted from the ground around them. The vines curled around Malus, thorns piercing through his finery into the flesh beneath.
"You dare," Eliam snarled, pinning Malus down. "You dare use her against me?"
But Malus was laughing even as Eliam’s grip tightened, choking him. "Not—so weak—anymore—"
Golden light pulsed from him, the vines touching him withered instantly, green to brown to ash in heartbeats, crumbling away from his skin like paper in flame. He threw Eliam off with more strength than he should have had, rolling to his feet with all the grace and poise of a seasoned predator.
"You see? Your pet fed me well." Malus straightened his disturbed clothing. "Not enough to take what's mine today. But soon."
"Yours?" Eliam rose slowly, and the very air seemed to thicken with his fury. "Nothing here is yours. You lost that right when I put you in chains."
"Because you couldn't kill me. Couldn't bring yourself to end your own blood." Malus's smile was sharp as glass. "That weakness will cost you everything. Starting with her."
They circled each other while the court pressed back against the walls. Briar tried to move, to speak, but found herself frozen by more than compulsion. The two brothers radiated power that made her human bones ache.
