Page 345 of Coal Hearts

My heart pumped so fast it smoked.

I actually smelled it.

The burning, charring scent of soot and sorry organ.

Fear I’d never felt before burned me alive.

Peter trembled; all his bravery seemed to desert him. “I, eh...” He swallowed hard as five years of abuse strangled his throat. “He...I mean, Master H won’t appreciate you touching what’s his. He—”

“Can take a running leap off the cliff for all I care,” Daxton muttered. “I didn’t like that Henri fellow the moment he arrived, and I dislike him even more now. Know what I think? I think he’s still a cop. I think Victor is wearing rose-fucking-glasses where he’s concerned and I’m performing my duty as a fellow Joyero member in getting rid of him.”

Larry nodded. “So we’re gonna do it then?”

My head snapped up.

Do what?

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll kill him. Just have to bide our time for a bit. You know Victor doesn’t like us brawling.”

“I’ve got one of the guards on a bribe retainer. He’ll give me his gun when we choose to shoot the bastard,” Larry said.

“Perfect.” Roger nodded.

“Are we gonna stand around all night and fucking chinwag?” Daxton barked. “You.” He shoved a finger in Peter’s face. “Kneel. Now.”

Peter’s knees visibly wobbled.

A horrible lifetime of obedience swayed his legs to bend.

But...he glanced over his shoulder at me.

Our eyes met.

And something happened.

The uselessness, the helplessness—every tragic lesson taught by fists and kicks—all faded from Peter’s harrowed stare.

All his abuse.

All his pain and rape and degradation.

It curdled into one mass of addictive, noble fury and he nodded just once. “You know what, jaanu? Fuck it. Main aapke saath reh Kar yuddh Karnes ke like tayyar khadi hoon.” (I’m ready to go to war with you.)

His words hadn’t even sunk in before he threw himself forward and tackled Daxton.

The Master tumbled like a rotten building, crashing against the grass as puddles went flying and another fork of lightning flashed.

“Run, Ily!” he screamed as the other Masters swarmed him.

A flurry of feet as they all kicked him.

A single scratch of time where Peter chose to protect me all while knowing it was pointless.

And I made an equally pointless decision.

I roared and threw myself at Larry. The smallest one. The only one I might have a chance to overpower. “Get off him!”

He grunted in shock as I punched like a wild thing. My knuckles bloomed with pain. Something cracked in my hand. My arms turned into dead weights as I threw hit after hit as strong and as savage as I could.