Page 27

“No,” Rhyder said.

I remembered him as he looked then, no beard but still big and imposing with that thick head of blonde hair, sitting on the steps below me.

It vaguely bothered me that he was so unconcerned.

Shouldn’the be bothered?

“The Prophet ordered it,” Rhyder said, a line of confusion appearing between his brows.

And that was all Rhyder needed.

Our Prophet had a direct line to the Allfather and that was not to be questioned.

Of course, I had left the keys to my apartment, along with anything that made me a civilized person, back at Craig’s family party.

But it was no problem for Rhyder.

He simply felt up and down the wooden edges with one big hand, then hit the door above the knob, and it swung open.

And when I stepped through the door to my apartment, my brother stalking behind me, my stupid boyfriend Craig was there, rifling through my stuff.

“What are youdoing?” I cried, suddenly teetering on the edge of hysteria.

“Oh— Thérèse, I left some—stuff here. My other earpods, you know. . .”

“Get out of here!” I yelled at him.

“Who is Thérèse?” Rhyder asked, moving protectively beside me as if Craig the coward was going to do anything.

“Me,” I said, and when he stared at me uncomprehendingly, I added, “They made us choose different names. When they—when they took me away.”

My brother’s eyes were darkened with fury.

“They dared to give you adifferentname?” he spat.

I turned away from him. It was too much to look at him, too overwhelming to see the anger in his eyes.

Tears prickled at the corners of mine.

It was suddenly too much, going from being small, shy Thérèse Jones, a forgettable afterthought, to the center of my physically overpowering brother’s fierce, obsessive fixation.

“Take out your weapons,” Rhyder growled to Craig.

“Man, you can have her,” Craig protested, darting his little rodent eyes between us. “I just wanted my airpods. I’m not here to fight for her or anything.”

“You’re not going to fight for her?” Rhyder asked, his voice sharp with shock.

My brother did not realize how absolutelynota hot property I was in the city.

“No, man, you can have her,” Craig said, jamming his earpods in his pocket and backing away, trying to make it all the way around the room to the door without getting too close to Rhyder.

“It was only casual,” he said.

“You’ve touched my sister?” Rhyder asked.

Danger sped up my spine.

Craig’s eyes looked even more maniacal now.