Not wanting to think aboutthat, Urian headed for Tannis, who appeared upset over some matter. She hadn’t looked this despondent since their father had forced her to change her name from Dyana to Tannis because he refused to have her go by a name that honored Apollo’s sister who’d abandoned them to die.
As soon as his shadow fell over her, she looked up with a startled gasp, then settled down in relief.
He scowled at the sight of her utter misery. “Are you all right?”
She dabbed at her wet cheeks. “Fine.”
He didn’t believe that lie for an instant. “Last time you said that to me, it preceded your hurling a shoe at my head. And the other at my groin.”
The latter of which had landed true and caused him endless suffering that still made him flinch.
His reminder almost succeeded in making her smile. Or perhaps that came from the urge to launch another shoe at him. “That’s because you were annoying me at the time.”
“Am I annoying you now? I just need to know if I should be ready to duck and cup … or not.”
She laughed, then choked on a sob.
He instantly sobered. “All right, I know you’re not fine.” Worried, he knelt down at her side. “What’s wrong?”
Her lips trembling, she reached out for his red chalmys and clutched it, then blew her nose into the thick wool.
Okay, that was disgusting and under normal circumstances he’d take serious issue with her actions. Tonight, however, he forced himself to be patient with her and not cringe too much. “You’re really lucky you’re my sister and crying. Otherwise I’d kill you if you were one of my brothers. Oranyoneelse.”
She looked up at him so that only her eyes were visible over the scarlet material. With one dainty sniff, she finished wiping her nose off on his cloak before she lowered it. “Sorry. Would it help if I said it’s one of the reasons you’re my favorite brother?”
Scoffing, he glanced down at his soiled garment. “Not really. Mostly, because I know that for the lie it is. You much prefer Paris or Ophie.”
“That’s not true.” She rubbed the wool together, trying to remove some of her damage.
Urian unpinned it. “Here. You might as well take it now. I’ve no further use for your snot rag.” As he moved to fasten it around her shoulders, he paused at the sight of the bruising on her neck. Her throat had been brutally ravaged. “Who did this to you?”
Panic flared in her eyes. “It’s nothing.”
Anger rose up from deep inside and temporarily blinded him. “Erol?”
When she didn’t answer, he knew the truth. Damn her husband. She’d only been married a week.
A week!
He felt the heat stinging his cheeks as he stood.
“Urian, no!” Tannis grabbed his arm. “What are you about?”
“Honor. Decency. And fair play. Same things your father taughtyou.We don’t pick on those weaker than us.Ever.” He felt his fangs cutting into his lips as he spoke—that was the degree of his rage and how much he wanted to taste the blood of his brother-in-law.
Tannis shot to her feet. “They already think you’re a freak,adelphos!If you attack Erol over his husbandly rights—”
“I can’t control what others think. And I don’t give a shit what they think of me. But I can stop him from hurting you.” Urian grimaced at the rawness of her throat as his fury continued to mount. There was no way he would let this go unpunished. It wasn’t in him. It just wasn’t. “I will not see you like this. Not because he can’t control himself.”
He gently extricated his arm from her grasp, then headed for the hall where her husband normally passed the time with his friends. They oft gathered there, hoping for a stray Apollite or human to fall through one of Apollymi’s portals so that they could prey on them.
Which said it all about their mind-sets.
And with every step he took, his mood darkened so that by the time he entered the dismal hall, he was ready to taste blood and break some bones.
Just as he expected, Erol sat near the front, at a table where he was surrounded by a group of young men. All laughing and having a grand time while Tannis had been left to weep alone.
If he hadn’t been furious before, that alone would have pushed him to homicide.
