“I didn’t kill him. Just drained him enough that he passed out.” I glance at Rhodes’s clothes for the first time, the dark purple academy-like leather that clings to his body, the thick black cloak falling from his shoulders, the heavy boots. There is a gold chain hanging low on his chest, with a symbol of a moon with a star cut into it in the metal. Vian clothes. “If we had taken him with us, someone would have actually killed him. He wouldn’t have been safe.”

  “Oh, and that’s meant to make it better?” I roll my eyes. “What about the rest of Starlight City? What of the children and babies who cried out as my magic killed them? What of them, Rhodes?! You could have stopped it all, and now you have ruined us both. I will never close my eyes and not see the death on my hands. You did this to me. You hurt me so badly that I’m not sure what there is left of me to give anyone. You fucking did this!”

  Tears roll down my cheeks as the air stills as he kneels in front of me. “I’m sorry…I’m so fucking sorry, Gwen.”

  “Get up!” I snap at him, angrily brushing my tears away.

  He looks up at me as he rises. “I did what I could to make sure you lived. How do you think Prince Severi got high enough to grab you? He doesn’t have the power to fly or float. I shot him up there with my telekinesis power. Hollis made sure everybody else was distracted from seeing it was me. Severi took the full blame and claimed to have new powers to protect us, because he knows what is coming. We need each other. All seven of us.”

  “I don’t believe you! I can’t trust you!” I wave my hands out, exasperated and furious. Gods, I’m still crying. “I can’t trust anything that you say ever again. You lied to me. You betrayed me. Do you know the first time that I ever felt safe was with you? Not once with my parents, on the run, at Harry’s house or any other time. Do you remember the first time that you told me that you didn’t fear me, that you would wait for me to tell you everything? It was the first time…” I touch my chest, my rapidly beating heart. “That I felt something in here that wasn’t pure fear. It was the hope of a future that we possibly could have, and then you ripped that away. You took it, and you just—you could have told me the truth from the start about who you really are. Is the story about what you said about your mother true?”

  “Some of it. She was killed by Vian. But it’s complicated,” he admits.

  “I imagine so.” My voice is cold.

  “She wasn’t really my mother in any sense,” he adds. “I didn’t grow up with parents, friends or anything other than Hollis.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He gulps. “I was bred and created along with Hollis, along with many other soldiers that are in the Vian army. I was carried by a woman that I call my mother, but she wasn’t my biological relation in any sense. I have no idea who is. Neither does Hollis. We’re the only ones who have each other. Twins are rare, and it’s even more rare that we have strong powers. The second we were born, the king sensed what we are, and he had us titled as commanders and trained to be ruthless for him. The woman I called mother did it for money, and she kept an eye on us as we were trained growing up. The carriers are seen as sluts in the Vian city. She was killed because she refused another commander when he demanded sex, and he accused her of being a Nexus sympathiser. The punishment for that in the city is being drained. I had to watch, and so did Hollis. After that, I felt no emotions. I was taught emotions were weakness, and I believed it completely. Nothing. Emptiness, stillness. Hundreds of years of not feeling…until I felt you in the world for the first time. Then everything changed. I felt my own heart beating to life.”

  “How heroic of you. I am sorry about your mother, but it changes nothing.” I blow out a breath. “I do not want to be your mate. I was right to reject you in the first place, and I will reject you for every single day of our lives until I am dead. With your so-called help, that will be sooner rather than later. Now I suggest you leave, because my Nexus, she is desperate to take a bite out of you, and it won’t be nice. It won’t be pretty.”

  “Wait.” Rhodes reaches out and grabs my arm, and with my other hand, I punch him hard across the face. He winces, but he doesn’t stumble back, just accepting it. I expect to feel better, to enjoy the blood dripping from his lip, but it just makes me feel sick to see it. Both of us are breathing heavily, staring at each other. “I don’t expect you to believe me, and I definitely deserved that. I’m here for a reason, and I need to tell you something.”

  “I don’t want to hear a word that you say.” I pull my arm from him.

  “How about if it comes from me? I’ve never lied about disliking you.” Hollis walks out in a suit, his hands tucked into his pockets, a thick cloak hanging off his shoulders. The moonlight casts a light around him, making his blond hair so bright it almost looks silver.

  I growl in greeting. Rhodes rubs his sore cheek. “I told you not to follow me this time, brother.”

  “I knew she wouldn’t be smart and listen to you. I’m surprised you’re still standing.” Hollis turns his eyes to me. “Severi is in danger, and he will die by the end of the next day if you don’t come with us. There is a public hanging and burning planned for your prince, and we cannot get him out alone.” Hollis turns his eyes behind me, and I feel Finnegan getting closer.

  Finnegan’s huge bear paws pad over next to me, and he presses into my side. I put my hand on his head to stop him. “Wait. Don’t attack them, Finnegan.”

  He bares his teeth at the twins. Rhodes lowers his head. “Everything I did was to keep her alive, and you don’t know everything yet. Neither of you do. The Gods are playing with us all, and if we aren’t careful, Gwen’s life will be the cost of their games. I did not mean to hurt her.”

  Finnegan’s bear is silent, staring down at Rhodes. I look at Hollis, who smirks at me. Prick. “Why can’t you get Severi out? Why come to me?”

  “Because we’re watched at all times when we’re in the city. The king doesn’t trust us, and even coming here was a risk. But you wouldn’t be noticed. You already had a potion that made you pretty much undetectable. We know how to get in and out of the city, and Rhodes will make sure the path is clear.” Hollis cocks his head to the side. “And why would I save that asshole? I’m only here because I’m getting someone else out of the city tomorrow, and it’s a good opportunity for you to get someone out too. Your powers might be useful.”

  “Why did you come?” I ask Rhodes next.

  His answer makes me wish I didn’t ask. Wish I didn’t hear it. “Because I love you.”

  Alarms start ringing out across the black market, cutting into the moment. I’m almost happy to hear it until I see fires and people rushing into the market. “Vian?”

  I frown, turning across to see the area being flooded with Nexus. I think. I barely recognise them. They wear deep blue uniforms, like academy uniforms, and they are definitely rangers. Rhodes answers after a quick look at Hollis. “No, these are Nexus from Morriganis City. I heard they’re hunting for you, Gwenieve. Someone must have told them you were here. They’re using their army to look for you before the Vian king finds you. I doubt they want you alive. You’re now a weapon to be gotten rid of to them.”

  “I’m not going with you, because I’ll never trust you again. I’m going for Severi.” I made up my mind.

  “I’m well aware.” Rhodes sounds sad, but I ignore his tone. More shouts echo through the air. “We need to leave before they set up a ward to sense us.”

  Finn growls low at them both as we begin to walk away to the back of the market, for an exit that Rhodes and Hollis claim to know. Once I’ve gotten Severi, I never want to see the twins again. My Nexus whispers into my mind, “They will bow as the world falls at our feet and they all bleed. Our time is coming.”

  Chapter

  Four

  The drive with Rhodes, Hollis and Finnegan is tense. No one speaks, and I’m not sure if I should be glad of it or want someone to say something. I watch the countryside as we zoom past it, never pausing to see the villages and towns we pass. Most of the time we spend on the motorway, only stopping once for some food at a garage. Finn hasn’t said a word since he’s shifted back. In fact, it’s been silent in this posh Mercedes, except for the hour when Finnegan began to sharpen his new daggers and already sharp sword as we left Wales, while glaring at Rhodes’s and Hollis’s backs. We sit in the back seats together, his hand linked with mine.

  It’s awkward. Rhodes looks back occasionally as Hollis drives, but I don’t meet his eyes. I don’t look at him because it hurts, and I’m a little worried that my Nexus will slip out and ring his neck before slitting his throat. I know that is exactly what she’s thinking, even if I don’t dare slip into her mind right now. And honestly, he would deserve it. I want them both dead almost as much as the thought of them dead cuts me to pieces. For fuck’s sake, I hate these feelings. I hate myself for not being able to just feel nothing for either of them.

  They deserve nothing. Nothing.

  It doesn’t matter if Rhodes was telling the truth, that Howard is alive. That he helped Severi save me from Georgina and the Vian king. All that matters to me is the fact that he lied, that he’s half Vian and our enemy. He knew what I was. He knew Georgina was my sister and he said nothing. Hollis at least didn’t trick me; he always hated me from the beginning and didn’t bother hiding it. Still…I thought for a moment we had something messy and weird, but something. I thought I could at least trust him to have my back, but I was wrong.

  I shouldn’t speak first, but I’m curious. “Where’s darling Georgina? I’d like a word.” Rhodes and Hollis glance at each other, enough to tell me that they don’t want to answer me. I see red. “Are you protecting her? Are you in love with her too?” I can’t help the jealousy that leaks out of my voice. The tone I can’t quite hold in.

  Rhodes answers me. “No, it’s not that, but we know you, Gwen, and you can be reckless without thinking of the consequences.”

  “Protect her if you want. I’ll find her anyway, and she is dead,” I cooly answer, hating the judgment. How fucking dare Rhodes judge me?

  Hollis sighs in annoyance. “Georgina is almost like a ward to the Vian king but a ward he cares little for and happily punishes for every wrong step. He keeps her close always, and he sees her as a defence against you. You wouldn’t kill her, mate, even if you claim to want to in this moment.”

  “Don’t you dare call her your mate, you little shit.” Finnegan speaks for the first time, and he might as well have punched them both. “She is mine.”

  I touch Finnegan’s arm as Rhodes continues Hollis’s explanation like Finnegan didn’t just threaten his twin. “Since she was a young child, she has been trained to be the one that kills you, Gwen. She was taught only to amplify and cheat and be cruel. She was tortured over and over again when she did anything that wasn’t right. Can you imagine being manipulated every single day of your life? Well, that is how your sister grew up. She didn’t learn love or kindness, or what family is. She was only told that her parents left her, and they had picked her twin sister to raise. They didn’t choose her. The king—Stockholm Syndrome is an extreme version of what happened to your twin sister, and that’s who she is now. I don’t think there’s been a single day in her life she’s done something for herself. It’s hard to understand unless you know the Vian king, but he is manipulative, cold. He takes everything he wants, and he has turned her into someone that probably doesn’t even know who she is.” Rhodes pauses. “I know this because I was raised exactly the same as Georgina, and it took you to snap me out of where Georgina is right now. You don’t have to forgive her, or even want her around you, but the truth is she is a victim and your twin sister. I believe you’d regret killing her.”

  “I don’t want your explanation about Georgina or lessons on what I’d regret. I regret trusting you.” I look away.

  “I want you to know before you kill her without even giving her a chance to actually be your sister. Your parents made a lot of mistakes. Don’t you want to know the reason why they gave her to the Vian?” Rhodes somehow makes me look back at him, feeding me information he knows I’m desperate for.

  I grit my teeth. “Why?”

  “Because it was foreseen: if you two were to grow up together, then anyone would be able to find you, including the Vian king. Your power was too great. The pair of you are like a glowing, bright star in an empty sky when you are together, drawing everybody and anybody in. Screaming for the world to watch. They never would have been able to hide you and give you a normal life. They knew that the only way was for you two to be separated,” Rhodes explains.

  Finnegan is frowning. “Then why didn’t they just foster her to some random family? Why not do anything other than give her to our enemies?”

  Hollis answers, looking directly at me from the mirror. “From what your father said, the prophecy said that Georgina had to be given to the Vian king to save the world. They didn’t have a choice, and I watched them cry as they gave her up. She was nice before…and that hardened her. I thought she loved you enough that she would be a good mother and care for the baby she had left, but I was wrong, from what you have told me.” The water. “And I will forever hate myself for that mistake. I didn’t see how giving up her baby blackened her heart, Gwen.”

  “Stop saying my name and apologising for shit,” I snap. “I don’t want to hear it from either of you. We get Severi and then we are done. I don’t want to see either of you ever again.”

  Hurt flashes across Rhodes’s face, and Hollis looks away before I can see his reaction. Rhodes’s voice is soft and gentle. “Do you have any other questions?”

  Questions about him, he means. Questions that might help him explain the fuck-up he is. “No.”

  “Can I⁠—”

  “She said no. If you say another word to my mate, I’m going to slam your head through that glass screen and smile as the car runs you over,” Finnegan growls.

  Rhodes wisely goes silent. I look up at the stars, shining for now. They will soon fade because daylight’s coming and the sun is cresting in deep oranges and reds. I don’t agree with sneaking into the city in the day, but the twins were certain it is the only way.

  “How do we plan on getting in without being seen,” Finn asks around an hour later, when we have left the M6 and are drifting into the countryside again.

  “It’s complicated,” Hollis grunts. “But I swear on my own life that we have a plan to get Gwen in safely and get her out exactly the same way. You know I like my life.”

  Finn and I glance at each other again. We can’t trust them, and we both know it. He lifts our joined hands, kissing them softly, and I know without any words that he has my back. I have his too. I smile at him before looking right out the window. We stop in the middle of a field about half an hour later, and it’s raining softly as I open the door. Hollis’s words stop me from getting out. “Only you and I are going into the city, Gwen.”

  “I am not leaving her side. Especially in a city of our enemies with a backstabber at her side!” Finnegan shouts.

  “Shut the fuck up, Finnegan. Someone might hear,” Hollis growls at him. “The only way to get in is to say she is mine for the day and that we’re coming into the city for pleasure. There’s an unspoken agreement on the north wall that you can bring women or men in for a day without anyone asking too many questions. We’ll have to kill them on the way out with Severi because they’re not going to let us out with him, but that’s where you can come in. You can hide in the forest, Finn, and watch out when you see Gwenieve and Severi coming. That’s your time. They’re going to need help. The gate is usually guarded by twenty Vian with shielding powers.”

  “One, you’re asking my mate to be a fucking sex slave to get into the city?” Finnegan’s disgust leaks through his voice. “And two, you’re asking me to leave her with you? The pair of you are fucking little betraying shits I wouldn’t even trust to watch my shoes.”

  “Everything I did was to keep her safe. I swear it. To the Gods above and below. I’d rather die than harm our mate,” Rhodes firmly states.

  “But that didn’t work because you shattered her heart, you absolute moron,” Finnegan growls.

  “I know. Like I said, we all make mistakes,” Rhodes answers, and they stare each other down.

  Hollis ends it. “She is our mate, and we had months to take her to the Vian king. He ordered us to watch her and take her at the right time. We said it was never possible. Even when she was taken by Severi, we were working with Severi to get you back. He didn’t have a choice, and he has trusted us since his mating ceremony. When he first knew of you.”

  I shake my head. “Any more lies you want to inform me about?”

  They are both silent. So that’s a yes. Fuck them. “Won’t the guards know who I am?”

  “No, they won’t look twice. They don’t give a shit, and they are lazy fuckers. It’s why they have a crap guard job in the first place.” Hollis shrugs. “Plus, I regularly move people in and out of the city for ‘pleasure.’ It’s not uncommon.”

  “Why do you move people in and out of the city?” I demand.

  “Complicated.” Hollis goes tense and looks at his brother. “I’m the one who moves them, but it’s my brother’s tale to tell you.”

  “Right, okay. More lies.” I roll my eyes at them both and get out of the car. The cold rain is refreshing after the heat of the car, and I slam the door shut behind me as everyone else gets out after me.

  Hollis pops the boot open, pulls out a red cloak. “Put that on and pull the hood up. We don’t have to walk far.”

  I start tying up the cloak, and Finnegan comes up to me, moving my hands away, and he ties it for me. “Be careful,” he softly asks. I nod once as he cups my face, and he kisses me. A deep, smouldering kiss that sends heat burning down my spine, right to my core. He makes me almost forget the world as I taste him, taste the salty rain and feel him press his body against mine.