Page 56 of Princes of Sin
“I’m sure you can figure that out yourself,” Alaric tells Alex.
“And if I can’t?” he asks.
Alaric tilts his head in warning and shrugs.
The message is loud and clear: kill him or die.
Alex steps closer to the man, who is thrashing. “Who is he?” he asks.
“A member of Citadel. Theo was able to track him down after the ball earlier this week. He was the one who killed Quinn.”
The room starts to spin, and my eyes widen as I assess the man. He had brown hair, dark eyes that night… the man before us has blond hair and blueish eyes.A disguise,I realize.
I vaguely recall the image of him that we’d studied. His straight nose. His pronounced brow bone. His cleft chin. Those were things we were told to track, because hair and eyes were the easiest things to change.
Of course.
“Quinn. The woman I replaced,” he states.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Very well,” he says, inhaling deeply and muttering something to himself. “Fuck, forgive me father–”
He lunges forward and plunges the knife in the man’s neck. I jump back when the man yells, thrashing wildly. Alex holds him down, pressing the knife deeper into his neck where blood spurts out.
The man slumps forward a few seconds later–
There’ssomuch blood… holyfuck…
Alex lets out a garbled sob as the knife clatters to the ground. He drops to his knees and places his hands over his face as hecries. It’s the most gut-wrenching sound, and my throat clogs as I watch him.
This isn’t right–it isn’tfair.
The four of us all signed up for this, but Alex didn’t.
I walk over to him and drop down next to him, placing a hand on his back. “Hey,” I murmur.
He turns and pulls me into him, and I don’t even care that I scrape my knees on the concrete, or that I know there’s blood in my hair now…
I close my eyes and let Alex cry as he holds me.
“I suggest you take your fellow Prince home. Tomorrow, there will be another kill, but I think that’s enough for tonight,” Sterling says to the five of us.
I look up at him, and something passes over his expression.
Understanding.
Sympathy.
Respect.
I help Alex up, and Lachlan leads us to the door. I realize with a start that before tonight, we were just training. Now, we’re the official Princes of Sin–and that places a clear divide between us and the old Lords.
They stay behind in the barn to clean up, but soon, one of us will have to do that job. One of us–or all of us–will have to track these people down.
Torture, kill, rinse, repeat.
The adrenaline from earlier races through me, but I tamp it down as Alex clings to me. He’s not crying anymore, but as I sit next to him on the short car ride back to the manor, he doesn’t let go of my hand.
