Vidar smiled, just slightly wider.”That’s the first real thing you’ve said,” he replied. “You do know them. You do know what they are.”
“What do you plan todo?” Bjorn asked.
Vidar’s expression smoothed again.”Nothing yet,” he said. “But I’m going to.”
Bjorn’s gaze sharpened, trying to read the shape of the threat.
Vidar gave it to him.”I’m going to take over,” he said. “And I’m going to eliminate the other sons.”
Bjorn went very still.The words didn’t land like rage.They landed like a door locking.Bjorn’s mouth opened, then closed, as if his mind couldn’t decide whether to deny or command.”Why now?” he demanded.
Vidar’s gaze remained calm.
“Because you’re waking up,” he said again. “Because you’re close enough to awareness to understand what’s happening, and far enough from potency that you can’t stop it.”
Bjorn’s face contorted with effort. His hand twitched on the blanket.
Vidar watched it with interest.
“You want to move,” he observed. “You want to reach for the call button. You want to sit up. You want to do something that makes you think you still run the room. But you don’t.”
Bjorn’s teeth clenched.”What doyou want from me?”
Ah, bargaining. How delightfully predictable.Vidar’s expression didn’t shift.”I want you awake for this,” hesaid.
Bjorn froze.The monitor beeped faster.Vidar watched his father’s eyes widen, just slightly, as meaning finally cut through the medicationhaze.
“I wanted you awake for this,” Vidar repeated, quieter, as if sharing something personal. “You see, Ican’t inherit anything while you’re still breathing. And since I disposed of the file disinheriting me, Severin’s will be all mine. That is... Once your other sons are erased like you tried to erase me.”
Bjorn’s breath hitched. Hetried to speak. No sound came out at first. His lips moved, but the words caught in a throat that had forgotten how to function under pressure.
Vidarrose from the chair.
Bjorn’s eyes tracked him in a kind of horror that didn’t require strength.
Vidar stepped to thedoor.
He didn’t rush.
He didn’t look back rightaway.
He placed his hand on the handle and paused, giving Bjorn a final second to understand that this wasn’t a threat meant to changehis behavior.
It was a statement meant to close the last openloop.
He shut the door.
The latch clicked.
The sound was small.
It was also final.
Chapter 15
ALARIC WOKE NAKEDto the wrongness of hisbed.
The sensation wasn’t dramatic. It didn’t arrive with pain or dread. It was subtler than that, and far more dangerous for it. His body knew something was off before his mind bothered to wake fully, alow-level alert humming beneath his skin, tugging him toward awareness whether he wanted it ornot.
