Something in my expression satisfied Sirro. Whatever he saw made his smile grow broader, more delighted, and reflected in his eyes like a mirror, I glimpsed myself, the flash of silver in my irises as territorial fury rampaged through my entire being. He wanted her, and he was going to get his hands on her no matter how.
And yet… I was the bastard who couldn’t go against my family and save Nelle from the likes of him. Worse, I couldn’t save her from the likes ofme, nor my family. I’d be the one to put her up on that auction block to be sold. Me.
I can’t…
But without Nelle, we’d never save my mother.
My mother or Nelle.
The weight of it all crushed the air from my lungs and had loathing tugging me down into black despair.
Sirro seemed to read me so easily.
He pressed even closer, so close I could smell his minty breath that almost covered up the scent of his decay, and the coldness radiating from his age-suspended body had mine prickling all over with gooseflesh.
“Choices.” He pushed the word out, and it sounded cruel. There was nowhere else to look but into those dark eyes. “We all have to make choices. Some divide us right down the middle, cleave us in two. We have to pick one side or the other. Make one choice over another.” He scrutinized my face as if trying to pierce through my inner thoughts and unearth the turmoil. One blink, one heartbeat later, that hard glare softened as if he understood the perilous position I was in.
He smiled, angling his head slightly. The words were a low purr, rich with challenge. “So, what will you do, Graysen Crowther? What choice will you make?”
It was the clang of a crash cymbal that reverberated through my very soul.
What choice will I make?
But it wasn’t a question he was waiting for me to answer.
He strode into the atrium.
And sound filled my ears of shuffling feet, shifting fabric, and chair legs scraping across the tiled floor as everyone rose to bow. But it couldn’t drown out the question in my head that looped over and over, tearing into my flesh like rusted barbed wire.
As I followed my brother through the atrium, past all those gathered who held such vast power in their own right, yet were on bended knee before the Horned God, Sirro’s question rattled around in my mind, in my heart.
What choice will I make?
9
Nelle
When I finally dragged myself out of bed for the day, I found Penn placing a second cloche next to my untouched breakfast on the dining table. “You’ve slept late,” she said.
I almost rolled my eyes. What else was there to do but pace or sleep?
“You told me he’d be back by now.” A cough tore up my throat, and I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to ease the wet rasp in my lungs. I cleared my throat before asking, “Where is he? When is he going to return?” I’d been stuck in this room, thisprison cell, for three days.
She lifted the cloche, and I drew closer to see there was a light lunch of salad and cold meats. “I’m not sure what is detaining the Crowthers, or when Graysen will be back.”
I didn’t care what detained him or where he had gone on whatever business that needed the Crowthers. His safe and unharmed return didn’t even matter to me. He was only needed here, so I could roar at him to free me. I wanted to chip away atthe ice wall he’d built around himself and make him let me go. I couldn’t do any of that if he wasn’t here, and the only person I saw was Penn. She couldn’t remove the collar frommy neck. Only a Crowther could.
She pulled back a wooden chair. “Please…sit and eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You need to eat. You must be starving.”
But as I checked myself, my stomach and its twisting emptiness, the listlessness in my body and mind, I realized I had no desire to eat. No desire, really, to do anything.
Because I was sure she’d argue if I told her the truth, I sat down and picked up the fork and knife, stabbing at the crisp salad. As I crunched down on lettuce and capsicum, their juices bursting along my teeth and tongue, I heard her retreating footsteps, and the door shut softly behind her. I swallowed the measly mouthful, dropped the cutlery on the plate with a clatter, pushed the meal aside and rose.
I’ll return as soon as I can, he’d said.
