Page 48 of Bought to Break
‘Can you not stay for a moment? There was something else.’
He tried to hide his irritation. ‘What is it?’ he ground out.
‘Last night I tasted blood. Was it a dream or did you all do something?’
He nodded at the others and they acceded reluctantly. They’d hoped she wouldn’t remember and they wouldn’t need to say anything, but they had agreed to tell her if she asked outright. Necessary blood magick in the Brothers wasn’t usually discussed, it was just done.
‘No. It wasn’t a dream. It was the end of the ritual we began the other night when we partook of the essence of your life. You were required to taste ours as well, as we all did when we first became a unit. Each of us gave you a drop of our blood, just as each of us took a drop of yours. You’re bound to us now and we to you.’
She leant back in the chair, regarding them not unlike a monarch. The slave of yesterday was rapidly being replaced by a freewoman, and Kane found he liked her newfound fire. ‘And you didn’t think to consult me?’
‘There was nothing to ask. To become our Fourth, to be safe, it had to be done.’ He turned to go, thinking about what he would say to Greygor.
He heard her sigh. ‘I feel different today. Is that why?’
He turned back and gave her his full attention again. ‘How do you feel different?’ he asked pointedly.
‘I feel … stronger – like I could take on the world. I’ve never felt like this before.’
‘Perhaps that was just my lovemaking,’ said Sorin, puffing out his chest.
She smiled and blushed, and Kane found himself wanting to grin. They’d wondered if she’d feel a change. All of them felt an awareness – a subtle and tenuous link between each other that they couldn’t really describe. But they had all woken up with a sense of strength this morning andwhole,as if some piece of them had been missing before.
‘Are there other women in the Dark Brothers?’ she asked quietly, looking him in the eye.
‘There are. They’re uncommon, but there are one or two. You’ll probably meet Maeve at some point. She’s a Fourth, but she grew up in the Camp. It might be useful for you to speak with her about life here.’
Lana nodded. ‘But there’s something else; something about me that’s not usual.’ She sat up straighter, watching him imploringly. ‘Please, no more secrets. If I’m truly a part of you, keeping things from me will hinder, not help.’
Sorin gave her a sharp look. ‘Outside this tent, you are the same as any other member of the Dark Brothers. You never say anything different. Ever. Understand?’
‘No.’
Sorin sank heavily into the chair Kane had just vacated. ‘It would be dangerous if anyone else thought what we think.’
‘You mean what you think,’ Viktor piped up from the other side of the tent. He’d abandoned their discussion and was now slowly sharpening his sword.
Sorin threw his hands up in exasperation. ‘Whether I’m right or wrong, there are Brothers who believe the stories,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘Any one of them could be a problem if they suspected what I do.’
‘What do you suspect? Tell me.’ Lana’s voice held fear, making Kane want to wrap an arm around her once more, an impulse that was becoming all too common. Inwardly, he scoffed at himself. As if she would even accept his comfort.
Outwardly, he chuckled and rolled his eyes. ‘Stop frightening her with the whisperings of old men, Sorin. My part in this ridiculous discussion is over. I have business to attend.’
With that he turned, slipped out into the dewy morn with palpable relief and began to walk the short distance to Greygor’s tent. He frowned. Where were these desires to soothe her and make her happy coming from? He could understand feeling protective. He was the same with Sorin and Viktor to a point, but he didn’t give a fuck if one of them was sorrowful or upset unless it affected his Brother in battle.
Kane shook his head. He had to stop being weak with Lana. Their world was a cruel one. Better she found that out sooner rather than later. The invasion would help with that. By the time the Islands were under their control, she would have seen for herself the brutality of the Brothers; the army of which she was now part. Her innocence of the world would be ripped away very soon. Hardening his heart towards her and pushing away the confusing emotions her presence always elicited, he entered Greygor’s tent quietly. Kane wanted the old man to know he could simply appear in his sanctum with no one the wiser. Unfortunately, the bastard was already awake and sitting behind his desk, so his entrance was marked immediately.
Greygor observed Kane silently for a moment, his face a mask of civility Kane knew he didn’t really feel now that he – and probably everyone else in the camp – knew his second had gone against his orders. He picked up his goblet, draining it nonchalantly. ‘You claimed her, then.’
‘As you saw. Bound her as well,’ Kane drawled.
Greygor’s eyebrow quirked. ‘Yes, I watched. Quite a spectacle. It rivalled even the finest brothel shows in the north.’ The old bastard shifted in his seat. ‘I wouldn’t mind a crack at her myself.’
Kane ruthlessly pushed down the sudden surge of intense anger that enveloped him, with only partial success. ‘She’s ours,’ he rumbled.
Greygor waved a hand in dismissal. ‘She’s a Dark Brother. She can do what she likes with the other Brothers. There are no laws against it. Sorin certainly does whenever he gets the chance.’ Greygor smirked. ‘With whomever orwhateverwill have him, so I hear.’
‘Sorin’s bedmates aren’t my concern,’ Kane said quietly. ‘But Lana is one of us now, and she is ours. She wants no one else.’ Having said all he came to say, Kane turned to leave, not bothering to make his excuses.
