“Damn, Butcher, she got you good,” she said, her eyes tinged with sorrow. “What happened?”
Ronin rubbed at his bandages. “It doesn’t fucking matter. What are youdoinghere?”
Layla aimed a look at Selene, a look that held far too much familiarity for Ronin’s liking. Selene dipped her golden-blue eyes to her wringing hands.
“Do you two know each other?” he asked.
“Not…not exactly,” Selene answered in a meek voice. “Though I do know the organization that Layla works for. Quite well, in fact.”
Ronin jolted as if struck, remembering theguestsSelene had been entertaining the last time they’d talked. Before he’d gotten sucked into… He wasn’t going to think about the assignment. About Otto or Kosera or Nyctima or…herever again. Tainted fucking memories.
High Gods, he wanted a Delirium. Selene had finally caved and purchased a case a few days ago. After Ronin had roared at her, said some very nasty things in his grief and anger,beggingfor a bottle to quiet his mind. Quiet his soul.
He didn’t ask for one now though. Thought it best to see through this conversation as alert and focused as possible. He’d drown himself afterward. “How long?”
“Wh-what?” Selene asked.
“How long have you been a member of the Teles Chrysos, Selene?”
Her answer was barely a whisper, and she didn’t look at him as she provided it. “For the past twelve years.”
Ronin, shockingly, found a new reserve of anger. “Do you know how fuckingdangerousthat is? If anyone had ever found out?—”
Color rose on his twin’s cheeks as she finally met his gaze. “I have neveroncejudged you for your choices, Ronin. Do not presume to now judge mine.”
“Bullshit,” he laughed. “Where’s my Delirium, huh, sis?”
She pushed her shoulders back. “That’s different.”
“How?” he roared, something within him stirring to life. Wrath of Vestan, it felt good to get the anger out. Even though he knew his sister was not who he wanted to take it out on.
Layla stood at the edge of his bed, arms crossed, not joining in the sibling rivalry.
“Because it’s killing you!” Selene snarled, more ferocious than he’d ever seen her. “Because it’s been keeping you fromlivingthese past years. You’re a slave to it, and you don’t even recognize it.”
“And becoming a member of an organization that’s planning to rebel against the Empire isn’t going to killyou? I fail to see how this is different.”
Layla piped up. “Hate to interrupt this lovely family moment, but you have a decision to make.” She shot her gaze to Ronin.
“What decision?” Ronin leapt out of bed, the swiftness of the movement making his head swim. Staggering, he caught himself on the edge of the nightstand. Selene stepped over to help, her concern overriding any lingering irritation from their shouting match.
“I’ve come with an offer from the Teles Chrysos leadership. They want you to return to Delos, to the Empire now that your wolf is uncaged, and rejoin the Imperial Defense Council. And feed us any useful information you come across.”
Ronin laughed bitterly. “You want me to play spy again? Why would I agree to that? And why the hell would the Empire take me back when I defied their orders and fled after what happened at the estate?”
Layla leveled a sympathetic stare at him. “Because she covered for you.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“She was captured,” Layla said, and Ronin’s heart fell to his feet. “Skanisse tracked her down, brought her back to Kheimos. Made a pretty big spectacle of it, too. She took the fall for everything. Said she orchestrated Otto’s takedown in order to claim power for herself.” Layla cleared her throat. “Said you were just a pawn and that she’d broken your cage to turn you back into a weapon to use against the Empire.”
A vein jumped in Ronin’s clenched jaw. “What happened to her?”
Fury tightened Layla’s delicate features. “They sent her to Tartarus.”
A big part of him was glad to fucking hear it, while another part… No one ever got out of the dangerous prison. Not alive, anyway.
“She sacrificed her freedom to save you, Ronin,” Layla whispered.
