Page 40 of King of Ruin

Inside the Murphy mansion, guards loiter at every corner. Each one turns as I enter, their prior conversation long forgotten as they lay their eyes on me. Onyx Embros. The one that should have been slaughtered with her parents, but instead haunts them, killing them off like the vermin they are.

How can they not stop to witness something so delicious? The ghost is caught, shackled in cuffs, barefoot, and wearing the same bloody clothes from the attack on the Embros estate, displaying the evidence of their victory.

They are all soaking in the glory.

I want to feel some way about it, whether it’s disgust, rage, defeat. But I don’t. My mind is drowning in doubt and confusion, unable to latch onto anything except the burn of Kane’s fingertips on my flesh.

Since the realization of who he is, everything has been easy. Straightforward. Kane is the son of Phineas. Given the job of infiltrating my home, my family, and me.

I need Kane to be the enemy.Myenemy. Because without certainty, there is chaos. It’s fraying my edges, and breaking the foundation on which I’ve stood my entire life.

What is reality?

What’s real?

Who’s to say when the lines are blurred and the circumstances are too strong to ignore? He didn’t betray me in the way I thought, and now, I can barely grasp onto the already waning anger.

Dozens of eyes trail Kane and I until we reach the stairs. Phineas’ barked order can be heard as we ascend. “Three outside of the door at all times, two at the stairs.”

Beside me, Kane scoffs, something light playing in his eyes I can’t make out. Then again, I can’t understand half the things he’s doing anymore. Who he is now, completely eludes me.

I’m quiet as we climb, turning at each small landing. After the third floor, the steps become industrial, nothing more than concrete and black iron rails. We come to a stop on the final floor, five stories up, and turn down the long hall. Kane passes two doors on the right before opening the lone one on the left.

Inside, the room is the size of a small studio apartment. Wide floor-to-ceiling windows line the far wall. A large bed covered in white bedding sits on one side, accompanied by a long dresser, riddled with personal belongings and a small library in the corner. Two doors rest on either side of the bed that I assume lead to a closet and bathroom. On the opposite side of his room is a small round table, counter space, and a slender fridge.

Something tugs in my chest as I walk inside. “Much better set up here than at the estate.”

He doesn’t respond and continues to stand in the doorway, watching as I lower myself on a chair at the table. He’s silent for a moment, almost as if he’s waiting for something, and just before I comment on it, guards appear in the hall.

He turns and speaks to them too quietly for me to hear. When he’s done, they disappear and he finally enters, closing and locking the door behind him.

Now it’s my turn to stare as he strides to his dresser and begins taking off his cufflinks and watch. “Can I ask you something?”

I hold up my cuffed wrists. “If you unlock them.”

He smirks, undoing the buttons on his dress shirt. “Not just yet.”

“Then I probably won’t answer.”

Kane peels the shirt from his body annoyingly slow, exposing his taut muscles, and inked skin. It’s only now that I realize I’ve never really looked at the images.

A large tree stretches from his ribs to his collarbone and across the expanse of his chest. The branches are long and twisty, some bare, some sparse, and others abundant with leaves. The bark on the tree has intricate detail, the layers peeling away in some places to show both decay and strength. A script flows up one side.

Believe the impossible is possible, or perish in your doubt.

My eyes flick to his, the air thinner than it was moments ago.

He tilts his head, stepping around his bed and moving toward me. “Would you like to take a shower?”

Though I’d like nothing more than to shower, I long to do something I’ve rejected since the beginning. “Perhaps we should talk.”

His brows lift. “About?”

“Your plan.”

This makes him smirk. “And what plan do you think I have?”

I shake my head. “Don’t insult me, Kane.”

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