Page 77 of Quiver of Cobras
‘Oh, this is priceless!’ Rubus said. ‘Are you actually going to propose? You know she’ll turn you down. You’ll be humiliated in front of everyone again, Morganus.’
Morgan didn’t pay his brother any attention. ‘I can’t imagine a world without you in it,’ he said to me. ‘You know we can be so good together. I’ll help you get past whatever turmoil is going on inside you. I can help you be a better person. We’re so much stronger together than we are apart.’
Rubus snorted. ‘Madrona doesn’t want to be a better person. She knows who she is. She’s already a fabulous person, a fabulous person who is loyal to me.’
I stared into Morgan’s eyes, melting into their green depths. Then I swallowed. ‘Morgan, you’re a great guy,’ I began.
Rubus crowed. He already knew what was coming.
‘But I don’t think we belong together.’
Go me. It was a shame Julie wasn’t still here. If she were, she’d already be declaring her retirement from acting forever in the face of my Oscar-winning performance.
‘It’s not you,’ I said, gesturing helplessly. ‘It’s me.’
Morgan’s body tensed. To anyone looking, it would have been because he was desperately hurt by my rejection. At least, that’s what I hoped.
‘We can still be friends,’ I continued.
‘You can’t,’ Rubus interrupted.
I ignored him. ‘And part of me will always love you, even though I don’t remember you.’ I sighed. ‘The fact is, I’m just not good enough for you.’
‘Now you’re lying,’ Rubus scoffed. ‘You know that the opposite is true.’ He put a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. ‘You’re making a fool of yourself, bro. Give it up and go home.’ He couldn’t disguise the glee in his voice.
Morgan’s head dropped. I bit my lip. He was overdoing the rejected suitor part, I decided; he wasn’t the type to be so publicly devastated. Fortunately, however, it didn’t last long. In one swift movement, he thumbed open the box, twisted round and flung the oath breaker into Rubus’s face.
The blood-red squidgy gloop attached itself to Rubus’s cheek. He yanked himself back, his hand immediately rising upwards. He scrabbled at it, trying desperately to scrape it off. ‘What is this? What have you done?’
Morgan stood up and backed away. ‘Nothing more than you deserve.’
Several Fey ran over, hands flailing in panic. ‘Get this off me!’ Rubus roared at them.
Amellus reached up, clawing at the oath breaker in a desperate bid to remove it. The harder he tried, the more it seemed to embed itself. ‘Where’s Carduus?’ he bellowed.
The oath breaker sank deeper and deeper into Rubus’s skin. I stepped forward, as if I were trying to help, but Morgan shoved me back. ‘What have you done?’ I screeched. ‘You’ve hurt Rubus!’
Morgan’s eyes glittered. ‘Clearly he’s all you care about. You can have him.’ His lip curled. ‘It won’t be for long though.’ He tossed the box to the ground.
‘This was never about me,’ I whispered. ‘This was always about him. You were expecting me to say no.’
‘Because you’ve not changed at all, Madrona. If anything, you’re even worse than you were before. You were a means to an end. That’s all.’ He cast me a disparaging look. With his back turned to the others – and to the still-yelling Rubus – only I could see the flicker of pain in his eyes. He was losing his grip on his role.
‘Fuck off out of here,’ I snapped.
‘Before I do…’ He spun round, curling his fingers into a fist to punch his brother. His hand stopped in mid-air and he emitted a brief, strangled growl of pain. My insides tightened. It wasn’t working yet, then; the damned oath breaker still hadn’t done what it was supposed to.
‘You’ll pay for this, Morganus!’ Rubus shouted as Carduus finally appeared and started to drag him away to relative safety inside. ‘Just you wait and see! You’ll pay!’
I glared at Morgan, hoping that the others were watching me. Then, without a backward glance, I sprinted after Rubus. We’d done it. And no one suspected a thing. Stage one complete.
Chapter Twenty
Several Fey barricaded the front doors as if Morgan were about to storm the building. Carduus half carried, half dragged Rubus through the corridor towards the lab. I followed, hot on their heels. Before I could enter with them, however, Amellus jumped in my path and glowered at me.
‘Only Carduus and Rubus inside.’
‘But he’s hurt!’ I yelled. ‘I want to make sure he’s alright, you lumping zounderkite!’
