He pulled away from me completely, reaching down. His fingers slipped around the hem of his shirt as he lifted the material from his stomach. On his side sat a fresh scar. “My latest addition.”
“He did that to you?” My father bruised, but not once had he ever left a scar on me.
“He did this toThorne.”
“To Thorne? I don’t understand.”
“Your father loves to exploit weaknesses and trains all of his men to do the same.” Dropping his shirt, his eyes returned to me. “Thorne’s weakness is that he cares too fucking much.”
“So he did that toyouto hurt him?” The pieces were fitting, making me feel like an ass for the way I treated him last night. I disregarded the statements he’d told me in private as a farce rather than genuine. Not once did I think he was telling the truth, but Matthew’s story explained a lot of shit, more than what I’d believed to be possible.
“He’s leveraged me against Thorne countless times. Hell, he tortured and killed one of Thorne’s first recruits in front of him. To break him. To destroy the man he once was.” His tongue danced across his teeth as he ran his fingers through his hair. “He sees himself in you, Oren. Who heusedto be.”
I took a step back, my heart beating frantically at his words. “Matthew, I think I fucked up.”That’swhy my dad had asked me those questions, because he was snooping on Thorne.
“What do you mean?”
“My dad’s in the room with Thorne right now. I swear I didn’t know what he was doing at the time, but I told himeverything. I told him everything Thone had confided in me: killing his men, kissing me, refusing to break me like he wanted.” I pressed my fingers into my scalp. “Did I just cause more damage?”
“Wait… What?” His eyes flashed to the closed door. Two soldiers now stood outside of it.“Shit.”
“Did I mess up again?” I took in shaky breaths, but it wasn’t helping.
Fuck, I was wrong about so much. Sure, it didn’t ease the past pain Thorne inflicted on me, but there was areasonbehind it. I’d spilled everything to my dad to condemn Thorne; he wasn’t the commander Dad thought he was. His commander wanted no part of any of this, and knowing my dad, he wouldn’t let that shit fly.
Matthew’s words pulled me from my spiraling thoughts. “Look at me. It’s not your fault, Oren.”
“But itis. Can’t we go inside?” I took a step toward the room, but he caught my hand, stalling me.
“No. No, we can’t.”
“But he’s probably doing something to him in there! How can you stand out here knowing Thorne might be getting hurt?”
“Because if you go in there, you’re giving your dad another lever to pull. He will use you against him, Oren.”
“Why? I’m nothing to him, Matthew, but someone has to dosomething. It’s not right!” It wasn’t anger or wrath flooding me. No, this was about justice, and it was frightening me. I felt this way aboutThorne Graves.
“Oren, we?—”
“Is there an issue, Harveil?” one of the soldiers guarding the door snapped.
“No, there isn’t.”
“No? But you just said?—”
“Stop. Talking.” Matthew snarled between clenched teeth.
My lips pursed together at the drastic change in his tone. One minute he’s telling me to defy orders, and now he wants me to listen?
“Fine. We’ll let God knows what happen to Thorne in there.”
The male who’d spoken to us first cocked his head to the side. “Something you’d like to share with us, Harveil? I believe you’re well acquainted with the charges that come with the disclosure ofclassifiedinformation to the ranksbeneathyou.”
“I’m well aware?—”
“Treason,” the other crooned, his gaze flashing to me. “Punishable by death.”
Treason? Death?
