Page 177 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘You wanna help?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then help keep them safe no matter what,’ Troy tells him, staring hard, ‘because if something goes wrong, if something happens to either of them… that’s on you, Riley. It’ll be your fault. So let’s get down to brass tacks.’

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

‘As Blaire likes to say, blood is the great mess maker,’ Vasily intones quietly, his first words breaking the silence that has been brewing for over a minute.

His voice seems to remind Riley that there are other people here and he looks away, hissing under his breath, wiping his eyes.

‘This is the thing I wanted to tell you the most. I know you won’t believe it—’

Kade’s skull is brewing one motherfucker of a migraine.

‘I do. I believe it.’

Some part of him has always known.

There’s no shock. No disbelief.

Riley is his brother.

It seems… insanely obvious in hindsight.

‘Does the Death Knot only form between blood relations?’

‘Yes,’ Vasily says, drinking his tea. ‘As we read in the journals.’

‘They’re brothers?’ Lachlan asks, seemingly still in disbelief.

‘You never saw Isabel Seravienne, so you cannot know how much Harker resembles her. You would not question if you had.’

‘Did you see her?’

Vasily shrugs. ‘I saw her painting.’

Lachlan gets up. ‘Kade. You OK?’

Kade can’t look anywhere else but at Riley.

Whatever he’s feeling is too big to feel.

It needs time to adjust.

For now, he shakes his head and pulls Riley into his arms.

Riley flinches at first, like he expected violence, but then he quickly embraces Kade, holding him tight.

‘I am so sorry,’ he whispers.

Kade believes him.

Believes it all.

He just can’t figure out how he feels about it.

‘You’re my brother,’ he says, almost to himself.