Happy to serve, baby.
Landon narrows his eyes, probably having figured out my plan. But there’s nothing he can do now.
He’ll never,everbe able to get between me and Glyndon if he doesn’t want to be the one who’s hated instead.
One-nil, motherfucker.
29
GLYNDON
Ipace the length of Killian’s room with rigid steps, trying and failing to calm the shaking of my fingers. “Maybe we should get the doctor again so he can make sure he’s really okay.”
“He is.” Gareth leans against the wall, arms and legs crossed. “It’d take more than waterboarding to hurt him.”
“I apologize again on behalf of my brother.” Brandon, who helped me carry and drive Killian to the Heathens’ mansion, runs a hand through his hair. “He’s just…protective.”
“Stop trying to find excuses for him, Bran.” The words sound guttural coming from my lips.
“I know you’re mad at him, and I’m not trying to defend his wrong actions, but he’s still our brother, Glyn. Yes, he’s overprotective and shows it in all the destructive ways, but it’s because he doesn’t want us to be weak or taken advantage of.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to dictate our lives. Don’t even try to stop me when I finally remove his mask in front of Mum and Dad.”
Bran grabs at the hairs on the back of his head, with enough force to make me worry that he’s hurting himself.
It reminds me of something Grandpa said about Bran and how much he’s like his first wife, Uncle Aiden’s mum.
Bran hates conflict so much that he lets his emotions devour him from the inside out. And that part of him makes me sick with worry because Uncle Aiden’s mum had a horrible ending.
It’s just unfair that Lan doesn’t feel and Bran feels too much.
My brother releases his grip on his hair, his voice coming out gentle. “We’ll talk about this when you’re more cooled down. You’ve been on a high of emotions this entire night.”
It’s then I realize that I’ve been rubbing my palm against the side of my shorts back and forth until it’s turned red.
My breathing is deeper, raw, and abnormal. I inhale deeply and let the fight leave my system. I slowly make my way to Killian’s side and flop to a sitting position on the bed where he lies.
When I reached the dorm, Bran called and told me there was an accident near campus caused by multiple cars and that he was sure Landon was behind it.
Sometime later, he screenshotted a text that included a location.
Eli:By the decree of his majesty the king (that’s your brother tonight), join us in defending Glyn’s honor, Middle Ages style.
I was skeptical at first, until Bran mentioned that Lan gave Killian seven days to leave me and today happened to be the deadline.
We didn’t have to waste time finding the location Eli sent because Bran was already familiar with the place.
I don’t even want to think about why he knows of Lan’s torture chamber—or worse, if something happened to him there before.
In the midst of the chaos, I contemplated calling Killian’s friends, but Gareth wouldn’t have cared and Jeremy, and especially Nikolai, would have undoubtedly killed my brother, and that just wasn’t how I wanted this dealt with.
As much as I’m not a fan of Lan sometimes, Bran is right. He’s our brother. Family.
Killian appears peaceful when asleep, his eternally beautiful face caught in a serene expression that I want to sketch and breathe life back into.
When we brought him in earlier, I called Gareth on the way and he was waiting for us at the front gate. He helped Bran carry him upstairs. Then he changed his brother’s clothes to dry ones and called the family doctor.
The latter said he has a fever, prescribed him some meds, and left.