Page 77 of Fangs
“What were you gonna ask?” My voice dropped to a whisper.
“What were you doing in the dungeon with Madame?” he asked in a slightly calmer voice.
“Madame was t-torturin’ people to try and find the leader of the rebellion,” I spoke quickly, trying to get it all out. “She would… hurt them, and I would heal them.” This time, I was relieved as the numbness started to creep over me. “Then she’d torture them again.”
The silence roared in my ears.
“Madame didn’t exactly give her a choice,” Mac said. “And neither did I.”
He stood straight with his arms loose at his sides, his body still between me and my brother like a shield.
“What does that mean?” Wolf growled.
I chewed on my lip, my eyes flicking between the two of them. What was Mac doing?
“Madame made it clear if I didn’t keep Em in line, she’d make me and my crew pay. So I told Em she had tocooperate,”he spit the word out like it tasted sour. “She never once wanted to be there, never once wanted to be a part of what Madame was doin’.” He finally glanced at me, and a corner of his mouth lifted, but his eyes were full of pain and regret. “She cussed me out about it.”
“Mac.”
“I’m just tellin’ him the truth.”
“Why did Madame whip you, Ember?” Wolf crossed his arms.
Maybe it was Mac confessing his part or Raven’s voice echoing in my head, but I lifted my chin and held my brother’s gaze. This was one thing I didn’t feel ashamed about.
“I saved a girl she sentenced to death.”
“No,” Mac cut in, his voice sharp, “forthat, Madame threw her in solitary confinement for six days with no food or water.”
“Mac—” I started, but he kept going.
“Iwas supposed to be whipped, but your sister refused to let that happen and took it on herself.” He stepped toward Wolf, and everyone tensed, but Mac’s gaze remained locked on Wolf. “That day at the cabin? When she shielded you from gunfire with her own body while she healed you? When she healed every single one of us at the expense of her own self?Thatis who your sister is.Thatis what she’s done for this hold again and again. During the sickness, she went out every day and healed until she couldn’t even fuckin’ walk. Not 'cause anybody told her she had to, but ’cause that’s who sheis.”
I had no idea what sort of expression was on my face. I clung to the metal table, my head spinning. I could feel Wolf’s crew staring at me, but I couldn’t look away from Mac and Wolf.
“The Ember you’ve been chasin’ all this time? She doesn’t exist,” Mac continued, his quiet voice commanding more attention than yelling. “I doubt she ever existed ’cause I’ve never met anyone so determined to protect everyone else.”
No one besides Trey had ever remembered me like that—like I wasgood—and a small part of me had worried Trey only saw me that way because he looked for the good in everyone. It was much harder to brush away Mac’s words. They felt heavier. They felt dangerously like truth.
Wolf and Mac studied each other silently for a few breaths before Wolf glanced over and met my eyes.
“Were you Juck’s Angel?” he asked, his voice clipped.
“Yes,” I whispered, and a muscle ticked in his jaw.
“When did you join the Reapers?”
The edge of the metal table pressed painfully into my palms as I gripped it. “Juck found me a week after I was exiled.”
Something flashed in his eyes at the word “exiled,” but he didn’t say anything. The silence built into something painful.
“Were you fucking him?” he abruptly asked, his face carefully expressionless.
I sucked in a desperate breath through my nose. The closer I spiraled to unraveling, the more my brother seemed to retreat behind a blank mask.
“Watch it, Wolf,” Griz growled, but Wolf didn’t look away from me.
“Tell him, Em.”Mac’s voice in my head was furious.“Don’t let him think you were there by choice.”
