"And Xcor. "
"I'm not sure if I'm ready to give him any credit. "
"Come back with me. See him. Rejoin your family. Much as it might pain you this night, you are as lost without us as we are without you. "
In response, Throe could only stare out over the city, its lights like that of the stars that were eclipsed up above.
"I cannot trust him," he heard himself say.
"He has given you your freedom this night. Surely that means something. "
"We are all facing death sentences if we continue. I saw the Brotherhood - if they were formidable before in the Old Country, that is nothing compared to their resources now. "
"So they live well. "
"They live smart. I couldn't find them even if I wished. And they have extensive facilities - they are a force to be reckoned with. " He glanced over. "Xcor will be disappointed with what I have learned - which is nothing. "
"He said no. "
Throe frowned. "I don't understand. "
"He stated he wishes to know none of it. You shall never get an apology from him directly, but he has given you the key to the binds that entangle you, and he will accept no information from you. "
A brief anger shafted through him. Then what had it all been for?
Except. . . mayhap Xcor hadn't considered that he'd feel the way he did. And Zypher was right; the idea of not being with those males was. . . like a death. After all these years, they were all he had.
"If I come back, I could be a security risk. What if I've made a secret pact with the Brotherhood. What if they are here. " He motioned around. "Or perhaps waiting elsewhere to follow me?"
Zypher shrugged with complete disregard. "We've been trying to meet up with them for months. Such a confluence would be welcome. "
Throe blinked. And then started to laugh. "You people are crazy. "
"Shouldn't that be 'we'?" Abruptly, Zypher shook his head. "You would never betray us. Even if you hated Xcor with your whole being, you would never compromise the rest of us. "
That was true, he thought. As for hating Xcor. . .
He stared down at the box in his arms.
There had been many times over the years when he had wondered at the turns and twists of his fate.
And it appeared tonight he was going to wonder anew at his destiny.
He had been unsure about the course against Wrath, but now that he had seen that Chosen female, he rather liked the idea of o'ertaking the throne and finding her and claiming her for himself.
Bloodthirsty? Yes, indeed - his earlier self would have never thought in such ways. But his newer self had gotten used to taking what he wanted, the cloak of civility having grown threadbare after years without his tending its delicate fibers.
If he could get to Wrath, he could find her again. . . .
Abruptly, he felt his mouth move and heard his own voice in the wind: "He is going to have to allow me to buy cell phones. "
Xcor stayed home all night long.
The problem was the damage to his forearms. He hated the fact that they had yet to heal, but he was smart enough to know that he could barely use them. Indeed, just gripping the spoon to feed himself soup was proving difficult.
A dagger against an enemy would be an impossibility. And then there was the infection risk.
It was the damn blood thing. Again. Mayhap if he had taken the time to feed from that whore back in the. . . fates, had it been in the spring?