Durant looks at me, surprised, and a little sad. “I wasted so much of my life,” he murmurs. “For Aloysius.”
“You can change that now, anytime. You have a place with Alex and me.”
“Sounds like you all have quite thecharmingolder brother,” Cassian scoffs.
“For real,” Lucian says. “The guy is a sociopath through and through.”
“Talking of brothers…“ Marcellus gets up and opens the door. For a couple of minutes, it’s silent, then we can hear footsteps, and Eugene is suddenly standing in front of us. It’s still so weird to see him. He looks exactly like Marcellus, but at the same time, they don’t look similar to me at all. Marcellus has his own aura that pulled me in from the first moment we met. Meanwhile, Eugene is his shitty brother, a literal stranger to me, whose ass I would happily kick.
“Creator, wow,” Alex says. “You really are brothers.”
“Yes, seeing you next to each other is a mind fuck,” Cassian affirms.
“You sound like you have never seen identical twins,” I say shortly.
“I am sorry for barging in here like this,” Eugene says. He ignores the rest of us and just looks at Marcellus. “I want to help,” he says. “Please allow me to help.”
forty-one
Fight for your Life
*NOVA*
The view from the window gives me at least some indication of how many hours have passed. I have now been in this room for a whole day and night already, well aware that we are running out of time. If it’s true that they are testing Maddie, then it will be done soon.
I can’t allow that to happen. Maddie and Benji need to get out of this alive and healthy. I owe that to them. I can’t let them down, and I can’t let my pack and my brother down, or Julianus. I know this creepy vampire lord is Julianus’ personal nemesis, I know of his guilt and of his regrets. One wrong decision made his whole life crumble, and he lost his future beloved, his home, and the safety of his coven.
I want Julianus to feel safe and to be able to move on… with me.
The door to my room opens, and a young guard enters with my breakfast. Good, it’s not Atticus. The latter is too smart and certainly too perceptive, but this guy looks young. I can test my newfound acting talent with him. “Thank you,” I say, jumping up and hurrying towards him.
While doing so, I stumble, almost dropping to the ground, but the knight in his white armor catches me, just like I hoped he would. “Careful,” he chuckles.
“Sorry!” I look like a flustered damsel in distress again while I cling to him. “I am so clumsy.” Good thing Cassian doesn’t see me like this, he would tease me for the rest of my life.
The guard clumsily pats my head before letting go of me. I take a step back, bowing my head submissively. “I am sorry.”
“Don’t mention it,” he hurries to placate me. “Oh, Master Atticus told me you wanted to do the laundry?”
“Yes,” I beam.
“I am supposed to show you around later,” he says. “Honestly, we are really busy right now. Cleaning isn’t exactly our top priority.”
I can’t believe my luck! He is chatty, much more so than any of the other men I’ve seen until now. “What’s going on?” I ask, making sure I sound worried. “Are you okay? I hope you are not overworking yourself!”
“Nah, I am fine. Just that loser in the cells; we have to deal with him at one point, and then that little kid. It’s crying non-stop. None of the guards want to be in a room with her.”
Wait… is he telling me that Maddie is alone? My heart breaks for her; she must be so scared. All alone and with these scary people all around her. But at the same time, this might mean we have a chance to get her out of here.
Also, he just told me that they are still wondering what to do with Benji, so at the moment, he is alright.
“Lord Aloysius will be furious if he knows she is alone,” the guard continues to blab. “Hopefully, he won’t find out.”
“Oh, if he isn’t always here, you should be fine,” I reassure him. “And if you need a woman to take care of that kid, you know where to find me.”
The guard looks at me, surprised. “Right, we have you here! Maybe the little brat needs a female presence.”
“Is it a girl?” I ask.