Flynn shuts the door with his boot. He’s wearing a new tunic, and his auburn hair is combed for once and neatly tied back, showing off the clean lines of his broad cheekbones and freshly shaved jaw. “Old but sharp. He unified most of the southwest before passing the reins to Griffin.”
And Griffin took over Sinta. Not bad. “How have the girls stayed so innocent? Even Egeria, and she’s not exactly young.”
Kato flops across my bed, linking his hands behind his head. The casual position stretches his tunic across his chest and over his biceps. I can’t help noticing. I’m not interested, but I still have eyes. “They’ve been sheltered by all of us,” he says. “Maybe too much.”
His affectionate, brotherly tone sends an immediate spike of envy through me. Gods! I’m the most irrational person ever! “Can they handle being royals?”
Kato’s mouth pulls into a frown. “They expect the best from others. They won’t believe people are out to use them now, or harm them. They think everyone is a potential friend.”
I shake my head. “Not for long.”
Flynn looks stricken. “I hate to see them disillusioned.”
Oddly enough, me too. “Griffin did this. The girls could have been happy, high-ranking tribal daughters, comfortable and secure in a place they understood. Everything is different now.”
“But you’ll help them, won’t you, Cat?” Flynn asks, his brown eyes wide and pleading.
Damn it. I really am the new nursemaid. “What makes you think I can do anything?”
He spreads his hands wide. “You know everything.”
I grin and flip my damp braid over my shoulder. “I do, don’t I?”
Kato’s cobalt eyes flash with humor. “Saucy and bossy.” He chuckles, somehow making two insults sound like a compliment.
I like hearing the deep rumble of their voices, so I don’t kick them out for a while even though I’m exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in a real bed. Eventually alone—and not liking it one bit—I fall into the arms of Morpheus, one God who’s rarely kind to me.
Needles burn deep into my skin, a stabbing pain in the night. Sudden. Searing. I shoot upright, keening into the dark.
Can’t see! Where is he?
My shoulder brushes something. I whirl and hit it.
The impact wakes me up, and I howl, clutching the fist I just drove into the wall. The next thing I know, Kato and Flynn burst through the door along with a flicker of torchlight from the corridor.
Flynn tackles me, pinning me to the bed. “It’s all right. It’s just us.” His voice is a soothing monotone. “You’re not there.”
I gulp down a scream. I can’t breathe. I’m not used to this anymore. It’s even worse when I’m not used to it!
“Shhh.” Kato drops to his knees next to my bed and pats my hair. His hand is so big it covers most of my head.
I try, but I can’t calm down. I keep feeling that final attack, seeing the end I chose. It unfolds over and over again in my head, and the worst part is, even if I could change the outcome now, I don’t think I would.
The second he stops burning me to draw more power from the Ice Plains, I slip the blade from under my pillow and plunge it into his throat. I don’t hesitate. He’s had too many second chances already.
I’m faster, even though he’s bigger and stronger. His eyes shoot wide as he collapses on me, gurgling. I push him back with a muffled scream, instinct making me shove him right off the bed. He crumples, twitching, not quite limp.
Pounding starts on my door. Fighting nausea, I swing my legs around to sit on the edge of the mattress, my blistered fingers digging into the sheets. I don’t feel much pain. I’m numb despite the burns, watching a boy only a little older than I am bleed to death on my bedroom floor.
Our eyes meet, and I consider giving the blade a vicious twist, knowing he would do it to me.
With this, I hesitate. I hesitate so long he dies.
Aching, shaking, I lie back on the bloody bedding, waiting for Thanos to break down the door my brother barred and help me clean up the mess.
Shaking now almost as hard as I did eleven years ago, I glance at my fingers. For a heartbeat, they still look crimson—death on twelve-year-old hands.
As soon as I can take a breath without choking on it, I shove Flynn off me. Not easy, considering he’s huge. “Taking advantage?”
Standing up, Flynn grins. “Not interested.”
The shaky laugh that rattles from me sounds more like a sob. Why didn’t I have brothers like Kato and Flynn? My life would have been so different.