“Brother.”
Still walking.
“Casimir!” I lurched forward and grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”
He turned. Looked at me. And his voice came out hollow.
“To find the rest of the Harrows.”
“No—”
“Why not?” His voice was dead. No inflection. No rise or fall. Like the body in front of me was just a vessel now, and the thing inside it didn’t care about pretending anymore. “They threatened what was mine. They hurtmy beloved. They hurtmy brothers.”
“We talked about this. Cutting the head off the snake only ends the immediate threat. We need to find out how deep the roots are. Besides, one of them is dead now—”
“One is not enough.”
My heart was pounding so hard, I could feel it in my throat, my fingers trembling where they gripped his arm. I didn’t know if I was trying to stop him or hold him together.
“Cas.” My voice broke. “Don’t. They’ll want you here when they wake up. Our brother. Our beloved. They’ll wantyou.”
His throat worked. For one agonizing second, I saw it, the leash fraying. Unraveling. One tug away from disintegrating entirely.
And for half a second, I thought,This is it. This is the day our brother breaks.
And then, impossibly he closed his eyes.
And slowly,so slowly, the leash tightened again.
“I won’t. I won’t. I won’t.”
Each ‘I won’t’ sounded like it was being ripped out of him, like the words were barbed and tearing him apart on their way out.
“Cas?”
“I won’t.”
His eyes were still black when he opened them. His hands still trembled. His chest still heaved. But he willed that thing down. Forced it back into its cage, even when it was howling to get free.
The air in the room shifted, the pressure easing just enough to let me breathe again. But the cold didn’t leave. It clung to him like a second skin, a reminder of what he carried.
“Hurt,” Cas hissed as he grabbed one of my hands again. “All hurt. Seri. Zane.You. Because I didn’t— I wasn’t—”
Ah. So that’s what stirred up his inner beast.
Casimir wasn’t afraid of killing. Wasn’t afraid of dying. Wasn’t even afraid of the monster inside him. He was afraid ofbeing too late. Just once. One moment of hesitation, one misstep, one second too slow, and he’d lose everything. Me. Zane. Seri. Even Brummy.
That fear, that bone-deep, unrelenting terror, was the leash. Was what held the true monster back. Was what kept him from becoming the end of the fang-rotted world.
“Casimir,” I murmured. “Come back.”
He tightened his fingers, and little zips of lightning danced over our joined hands. It wasn’t painful, but his hold was unyielding, like he was clinging to something that was slipping away.
“She’s safe,” I all but crooned. “Zane’s safe. I’m safe. You’re safe.”
His nostrils flared like a caged animal’s, and the darkness in his eyes churned.
“You weren’t too late. You never have been.” I swallowed, softening my tone as the muscle in his cheek jumped and his fingers flexed against mine. “And you don’t have to carry everything all alone. Zane and I are big boys now. We make our own choices, and we choose to stand by your side. Always have, always will.”
