Page 29 of The Shadow Prince's Ruin
Father crosses his thick arms on his chest, and as he studies me, I’m struck by the realization that at this point it’s like staring into a mirror revealing what I’m going to look like in twenty years.
I’m happy to conclude it won’t be too bad.
“The police were already here, looking for you,” Fox adds, combing his shaggy auburn mane with his fingers.
“You’ll need to go before dawn,” Father mutters.
I nod, disgruntled by how this is going so far. I don’t want Sylvan to see me for the black sheep I am. “Wolf, do you have the steel cutters?” I put my thumb under Sylvan’s collar to show him what needs done.
Fox wraps his arms on his chest and whistles, showing off the big gap between his front teeth. “The plot fuckin’ thickens.”
I sense Sylvan swallow against my finger. “I don’t think it will be possible to cut with regular tools.”
He’s got no idea that he just said the magic words to trigger Wolf’s ambition and can-do attitude. “Doesn’t look that thick to me, I’ll handle it.”
“Since when are they collaring inmates?” Fox asks, and I clear my throat.
“I actually… just met him yesterday. He wanted to go with me.”
Father rolls his eyes, slouches, and spins on his heel, heading for the house. “And now you brought him here! Did you lose what little was left of your brains?”
I swallow when Wolf smirks at me, then pull Sylvan along, not trusting myself to meet his eyes. We came here for a new piece of junk. Is that really so much to ask?
“I didn’t kill the guards—” I say on the way toward the porch.
“Shame,” Father cuts in and walks right into the living room I spent so many evenings in.
“Hawk!” my mother yells and pulls me into a big hug. At least someone’s happy to see me, even though she never visited me in prison either. She’s still in her pajamas and robe, long silver hair scattered over her shoulders. “I’ll make you two some food. Who is this?”
Sylvan makes a little bow with his head and gives a stiff smile. “My name is Sylvan.”
I hate the look my mother exchanges with Dad, but I ignore them and lead Sylvan to the sofa. “Those are my parents. And he is my partner,” I say, because while I’ve known him for about twenty-four hours now, I have no intention of parting from him in the near future. After all, I promised him my shadow, and all that weird shebang.
And he is super-hot.
Wolf grunts and steps right back outside “I don’t want to be around forthatconversation. Lemme get the tools.”
Dad is the first to lose it, and slams his fist against the table so hard Sylvan flinches. “Your ‘partner’? This is exactly why you always get in trouble. You get a lucky shot escape, and you find yourself a new boy to fuck up your life on the same day?”
“Is that why you never visited?” I ask, meeting his gaze while Mom makes some noise in the kitchen, maybe unwilling to listen to this painful and embarrassing conversation.
“So you’re gay. I get it. In a way,” Father says, towering over us as he makes a convoluted gesture, likely meant to express how little he can imagine being attracted to another male. “But I don’t understand why you stupidly threw away your life for a pretty face. He wasn’t even blood. Who does that?”
Sylvan clears his throat and I’m already dreading how my dad will react to anything he might say. “We already share a bond that will soon be deeper than any blood relation can be.”
He looks like a diamond in mud on the beat-up leather sofa. He radiates beauty, and if only I manage to keep him, I will get to bask in that glow.
Fox sits at the table with one foot on another chair and raises his eyebrows. “Oh, so he’s crazy. Now it all makes sense.”
“Fuck you,” I growl and squeeze Sylvan’s hand, because he might not live quite in the same world as everyone else, but there’s logic to his actions, and when we reach Canada, maybe I can find help for him there?
Father shakes his head. “Nothing to say? The boy who put you behind bars is living a cushy life now. Last I heard, he bought a house on Fire Island.”
Free as a fucking bird and likely barely remembers me.
I rub my face. “Are you two done?”
“I will never be done,” Father growls as the soothing scent of cocoa reaches my nose. “You don’t do those things for people who can ditch you. Only family is worthy of sacrifice. And you don’t understand because you won’t have children, and you always wanted to leave us too. I’m surprised you even bothered to come over.”
