Kira stood between the brothers. “You're not doing this to him.”
While he didn't know what to call the emotion weighing on his brother's features, he knew it was something like sorrow. “I'll give you time together, after I collect his weapons.”
“Don't come anywhere near him.”
Luke shifted the gun from Zayne's face down to his shoulder. “Do you want to test whether I'll hurt him? Take three steps backward and do not move from that spot.”
The Phaedra really was sadistic, choosing his brother to do this. Unable to move, Zayne watched Kira step back while Lukeapproached.
What about Brock? He should have found them by now. Did he get his best friend killed too? The only real brother he had?
Kneeling beside him, Luke looked down at the bloody hole in Zayne's uniform and up to the red smearing his lips. “You're dying.”
“Spare… her…” Zayne struggled with each word, but he begged his brother with everything inside him.
Quiet, Luke took Zayne's gun and knives, confiscating his weapons, searching for anything hidden. Then, he took off his uniform jacket and settled it over Zayne. “You're freezing.” His brother looked at Kira, jaw knotting. “Come back.”
She ran back to Zayne's side, but Luke stopped her and nodded at her pockets, hand extended. After she gave up her knife, he quickly patted her down, and Zayne wanted to burn the flesh off his hands. At least he didn't find the uranium.
As soon as she was released, she fell over Zayne to block his head. “Get away from him.”
Luke's eyes flickered to her and then to the ground. He nodded, giving them their space. Though he still held his gun, he aimed it at the ground.
“I'm sorry,” Luke said.
“You don't have to do this.” Kira held Zayne's head. “It's not too late.”
“No one is making me do this.” Tears coated his eyes like glass. “The Phaedra doesn't know.”
His words tore through Zayne's chest like another bullet. He didn't think they could hurt each other anymore, but if there was no limit to love, then there wasn't to hate either.
“Why are you doing this?” Kira's cry cut through the air, a condemnation and plea in one.
“I don't want to.” Luke was still looking into his eyes. “I never wanted this, brother. You left me no choice.”
Dying hurt in a way the worst injuries never did, but it brought more than pain. The dead no longer whispered, satisfied with Zayne's suffering, content to watch and wait. Just like his brother.
The old anger and wounds he thought impossible to forget about felt meaningless now. Zayne saw beyond his resentment. All this looked so much like hate, but there were tears in his brother's eyes.
Grief.
Forever, Luke claimed to be helping Zayne. His brother believed that, didn't he? He didn't relish killing him, but thought he had to. Could Zayne do this to him? If he had to choose between Kira and his brother, what would he do?
Anger and terror had gotten the best of Kira, but her voice sounded more sober now. She couldn't dim the fire in her eyes, never had been able to, but Zayne knew she was controlling herself. “You are making a choice. You can kill your own flesh and blood, or you can save him.”
She was right. This wasn't the same as Luke holding a gun to Kira's head. Zayne wasn't trying to kill his girls or anyone he cared about. He was just trying to save Kira.
Luke set a trap for him, lay in wait while Zayne slowly died, and came to finish the job.
That was unforgivable.
“I know you think even I can't do this to my own brother, so you'll try to get to me. Don't waste what time you have left with him. I've made up my mind.”
Luke walked closer, and Kira clasped Zayne's head, shifting to cover him again. But he knelt down, just out of reach. “I told you I was always watching, even when you think I'm not. Why did you have to do it? I warned you.”
It was never the Phaedra waiting for him at the end of all this, but his scorned brother. He knew not to underestimate Luke, but Zayne didn't think he'd go this far.
“Make him comfortable,” Luke said. “Go on.”
