Dirty Wicked Prince (Court Legacy 1)

“Bru!” I swam up to my waist, whirling around. “Dorian!”

“Sloane!”

Dorian’s voice shot me in his direction, his voice and his voice alone. I couldn’t see him. It was too dark, but a large shadow was coming closer and closer through the dim water.

He was dragging something.

Dorian was on his back, physically dragging another body with him. He labored, pulling his arm through the water while his other one grappled around another. I recognized my brother under his arm.

He wasn’t moving.

My brother was chillingly still, his eyes closed and his limbs simply wading in the water.

“Bruno!” His name shrieked from my lips as I stroked out to meet the pair. At this point, Ryder and Josh caught wind of what was going on, and both boys swam out to assist.

With Dorian’s help, they were able to get my brother onto the shore, but as soon as they laid him down, my brother lay limp. Panicked, neither Josh nor Ryder knew what to do, but Dorian dove in.

“He’s not breathing,” he said, and I almost did throw up then. Dorian cleared the way and out of nowhere, he started performing CPR. H

e began chest compressions, performing mouth to mouth right after. The first set did nothing, and I watched in horror as my kid brother continued not to breathe.

“Bru,” I gasped. My brother was completely ghost white.

“Come on, Bru. Fuck,” Dorian gritted, his blond hair soaked and sopping over his brow. He pressed his big hands to my brother’s chest again, and out of nowhere, my brother gasped and coughed up water.

Oh my God.

“Bru!” I reached for him, but Dorian guided him to his side. My brother spat out more water then, gagging on it.

“Get it out, man,” Dorian called, and I didn’t know what to say.

He’d just saved my brother’s life.

He’d just done that. Right here in front of me. Able to breathe again, my brother looked at me, and I nearly decked him in his face.

“Bruno Sloane, what the fuck were you thinking?” I chose to say to my brother instead, shaking. “Why would you go out there? Why would you do that?”

“I’m sorry,” he panted. His hug was so weak in return. “I was stupid. I’m sorry.”

He needed to do better than that. I pulled back, and Dorian and I helped him sit up. At this point, Dorian was on his knees, but he was shouting.

Ryder and Josh were the victims.

“What was this?” Dorian roared, his face completely red. He shot a hand toward Bru. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is. You know that shit is fucking banned—”

“What shit?”

Dorian whipped around in my direction, his big body panting with heavy breaths. He pulled back his hair. “A haze,” he said, nearly growling at Ryder and Josh. Dorian frowned. “We used to do them a long time ago.”

“Who’s we?”

Dorian’s expression traveled grim. He outlined his lips. “Old members of the Court. Not us, but our fathers and their fathers. It used to be a way they used to initiate new members.”

I faced Bru. “Is that what this was?”

Bru said nothing, rubbing his arm. “Sloane...”

“What is the haze?” I asked Dorian. I raised and dropped a hand. “Go and kill yourself?”