Page 28 of Born for Silk

“I am fine.”

“But it may fest?—”

He stops midsentence when I turn to face him. Him—a random member of my Guard wearing a full mask to help him breathe through the gale. The sand would fill his lungs like an hourglass.

Staring directly at him, I breathe deep, the thin films of skin in my nostrils vibrating, filtering the sand and air. I was designed for this world. “Did you speak?”

“My apologies, Sire. I only wish to serve you.” He salutes me, and ducks away with his rifle clutched to his chest.

Alone again, I take another moment but feel the presence of an old friend quickly approaching.

Odio’s wings flick sand and debris around us, further clouding the atmosphere. His talons hit the red crust, and his left wing touches my thigh. A greeting.

Giant creature.

His beak drips with blood, slithers of flesh dangling, slapping his face in the wind.

“Beautiful,” I say to him.

“You’ll need that seen to, boy.”

Kong.

My brows pinch.

At least my Guardian respects me enough to only call me boy when we are alone, though, I do not care for it under any circumstances. “Did we lose many to these rogues from Ruins H?”

“A few,” Kong answers, staring at my back, his gaze tangible. “They will keep coming. They are starving up there.”

“And I will keep killing them.”

He faces the wind, staring out over the desert face. “I know your father kept his bullets inside, but your father was?—"

“The king,” I utter, but the message is clear.

“Yes.” I hear his frustrated sigh even through the whipping wind and the sound of Odio aggressively plucking at his feathers, cleaning the blood from his majestic onyx coat.

“I care to travel to The Estate alone,” I say, striding back down the rock, not wanting to continue this conversation given the direction I know it is going.

“Before you were born, your father nearly ran out of time!” He spits out, and I anticipated he wasn’t fucking finished. “He waited too long. Focused on the war. Fucked the House Girls. Lost two heirs before you! He eventually stayed in The Estate and focused on his Collective and his legacy. And he made heirs.” He chuckles, but it’s mirthless. “You refuse to wear a protective mask. You refuse a Guard circle. You want to walk around, a great ominous force, and see them tremble and drop, but you don’t have a damn legacy, Rome! Dammit, boy. I am here to help you!”

I spin to face him. “Then help me.”

“Cairo came to me, Rome,” he states, hesitant, and I frown. “He’s tired of waiting, too. I didn’t like it when he came to me, but he’s right.”

Is he tired? Is he here?

Fucking, Cairo.

“Is now really the time?” I sweep my arms wide, the bloodshed surrounding me, the whispers of final breaths still coasting the Redwind. My wind. My shore. The final breaths still plead with my name.

“While you’re bleeding two inches from your heart?” he punches out. “Yes! I’d say now is the time, unless you want Tuscany in danger when you die. You must give your pairing heirs. You will do this for her, and, dammit, you will do this for me, Rome!”

He rarely speaks of my sister so when he does the intent holds weight. I don’t speak of my sister either; she is a wound that never closed. But his affections for her have never been quiet, though never uttered aloud. They need not be. They are in his every motivation. Drive his every action.

I study him. “You speak of the queen out of turn, Kong. She isn’t yours to defend. She is mine.”

What little control he had leaves him in that moment. His face burns with anger. “Who are you punishing now, Rome? Always punishing someone so they hurt as much as you do. I am protecting your legacy! And your sister needs your sons to protect her when your rashness gets you killed. Without them, she will be taken from us. She is fragile. You know this.”

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