And Myrine, that bitch. She’d stood there and done nothing while her father had murdered a boy in cold blood. Samuel Everett was just fifteen years old.Fifteen.
How old had Dante been when Cosmo beat him the first time? Had Myrine known? Had she just stood there and watched her father abuse her only son? Before, I would’ve said there was no way. I always thought she was one of the strongest women I knew. But now, I knew the truth, and there was no excuse for that kind of weakness.
Olympia,Luca’s voice was an intrusion in my mind. I slammed my mental doors shut, locking him on the other side, but I couldn’t avoid him being physically across from me.
“Olympia, don’t do this,” he said, his tone low in warning.
I just kept my gaze on the white sheet in front of me, now soaked through with crimson where the lump of the boy’s body ended without a head.
“Don’t go there,” Luca continued, sliding close to me as my chest rose and fell in rapid succession.
Harrison, who’d come with us as Luca and Milo had carried the boy’s body back to his home, looked over with a frown. I could feel his eyes on me as I clenched my fists at my sides and fought the rising tide of anger. Then he was pushing past Luca and gripping my shoulders in his hands, shaking me slightly to get me to look at him. I saw the concern in his expression when our eyes met.
“Breathe,” he barked.
I gasped in a breath.
“I want to kill him too,” Harrison confessed quietly.
I blinked at him as Luca glanced between us, pursing his lips and tilting his head to one side.
“I want to rip his fucking throat out,” Harrison whispered, “but I can’t. So we’ll find another way to hurt him.”
I exhaled, chest deflating and rage dissipating slightly. Luca’s eyes widened at the realization that someone had actually managed to calm me down, to help me control my anger, for once. I was just as surprised, if I was being honest, but I fought hard not to let it show as I gave Harrison one firm nod. A promise.
“He was fifteen,” I whispered, voice cracking.
“I know,” he replied, still staring into my eyes.
“Milo promised his mother she’d be provided for,” Luca interjected, trying to help, as always.
“Not much consolation for a woman who lost both her sons this morning,” Harrison snapped, gaze whipping toward Luca who glared back.
“We’re trying to help, Third Ringer.”
“Yeah? Well, start by being less of an asshole.”
“What did you just say to me?”
“Enough,” I barked as Luca took a menacing step forward. “We need to clear out, let this woman mourn in peace.”
I could still hear the sobbing from a back bedroom where the dead boy’s mother was now surrounded by people from her ring.
“You go,” Harrison said, still glaring at Luca. “I’m needed here.”
He turned back toward the hall that led to the bedrooms and the sobbing woman within one of them. I looked down at the body in front of me once more before stepping away and heading for the door. Luca followed a moment later but didn’t say another word as we made our way through the crowd of Third Ringers who’d gathered outside this poor woman’s home to offer comfort or gossip about what had happened. They stared at us as we passed, eyes wide and distrustful. I scanned them with a shrewd glare. Some would have that tattoo inked into their skin, hidden somewhere that wasn’t visible. Some would use this as an excuse to justify violence in the form of retribution against all those on the First Ring, not just the Vipers. Some would come for my family. Some couldn’t be trusted. But which ones?
“Is it him?” Luca asked when we reached the stairs and began our ascent.
My steps faltered as I turned back to find him watching me with a frown.
“Who?” I asked.
“That guy back there; Harrison. Is he the one you have feelings for?”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I turned to face the Second Ring we were ascending to now.
“You didn’t say he was a lower ringer, Olympia,” Luca said and there was an accusation in his tone that had me bristling.
