Page 161 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘He had no right to keep you. You are our nephew. Our blood. Isabel thought she would get free to come back for you, but she never did. It is our responsibility. My responsibility now to bring you home. You do not belong here, Jean-Marie. You—’

‘My name is Riley.’

‘No, that is what your captor named you to hide you away.’

‘He’s just trying to keep me safe.’

‘The manner in which humans craft safety is a cage for us!’

‘I need to be here,’ he tells her. ‘I want to be here.’

‘Your gift has hurt you, I know. To be raised without blood around you… I cannot imagine how hard it was. Jean-Marie—’

‘Riley. My name is Riley.’

‘Fine, Riley, then. Come here, darling,’ she begs, hand through the bars, reaching for him. ‘We are not made to be alone. Blood kin is like oxygen. Let me scent you, at least.’

‘What is that?’

‘It will regulate your nervous system.’

Part of him sorely wants it, senses what she’s offering, but it’s that animal part of him that Riley loathes, so he steps away and denies himself.

‘No.’

‘Riley,’ she says again, voice cracking slightly. ‘I can get you out, make a home for you while we work together to free your brother and the little one too. We just need to make sure she’s safe. We can be a family. We are your family. I know you are afraid. I cannot imagine what you must have gone through for your body to do what it has, but—’

‘I’m sorry to d-disappoint you, but you have my brother and…’ Riley wipes his eyes. ‘I’m sure you’ll be able to do what you need to with him.’

‘I will not leave you here to rot.’

‘It’s my choice.’

‘You are my nephew, you are my sister’s son, you—’

‘I’m nobody’s son,’ he tells her, stepping away. ‘I’m nobody. Forget me.’

Slowly, she withdraws her arm.

‘And what if you could be with your brother?’

Riley thinks of the boy he sees in his dreams.

The confident, tall, beautiful boy whose skin knows sun.

He would probably be repulsed by Riley.

He’d hate him like everyone does.

That would be worse than any pain he’s ever suffered.

‘I just want to be left alone.’

Céliane steps away. ‘We shall see, mon trésor. We shall see.’

✴

Riley is twenty-one.