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“That changes nothing.” He glared down at me as Malik rose to his feet. “He’s not innocent in this. He wasn’t manipulated. He made a choice—”

“To protect his kingdom. To protect you. The realms. That is why he made his choice. None of us have to like it or agree with it, but we can understand it.”

“Understand it? Being ready to kill a child? To even consider it?” he exclaimed in disbelief. “To put you in harm’s way. You? My fucking heartmate?”

“He didn’t know that then.” I fisted the front of his shirt.

“Even if I did, I still would’ve done it,” Malik admitted. “I still would’ve—”

“Shut up!” I shouted.

Malik shook his head. “It’s the truth.”

Casteel moved so fast, I didn’t think even Reaver could’ve stopped him—if he had wanted to. He shot across the kitchen, slamming his fist into his brother’s jaw. The punch knocked Malik back into the chair. He had no chance to recover. Casteel took him to the floor, his arm swinging so fast that it was nothing but a blur. The fleshy smack of his fist making contact echoed through the kitchen.

“Casteel!” I yelled.

He grabbed Malik by the shirt, lifting him from the floor as he kept punching his brother.

I whipped toward Kieran. “Are you going to stop him?”

“Nope.” Kieran crossed his arms. “The fucker deserves it.”

Malik had apparently had enough. He caught Casteel’s wrist and flipped him, then sat up, blood running from his nose and mouth. The brief reprieve lasted a whole second as Casteel sprang to his feet and slammed his knee into Malik’s chin, knocking his head back.

And then down they went again, rolling into the legs of the table.

I turned to Reaver—

“Don’t look at me.” Reaver picked up his biscuit. “This is entertaining as fuck.”

My eyes narrowed. “You guys are useless,” I snapped, pivoting toward the brothers. I was this close to beating the snot out of both of them myself. Tapping into the eather, I lifted my hand. A silvery glow sparked across my fingers. “Knock it off,” I said over the grunts. Either they didn’t hear me or chose not to listen. “Oh, for godssake, I should be the furious one, and yet I have to be the rational, calm one.”

In my mind, I willed them apart, and what I willed…well, it joined with the essence, and it worked. Perhaps a little too well since I wasn’t all that worried about not harming either of them in the moment.

One second, they were rolling around like two overgrown toddlers. The next, they were skidding across the floor in opposite directions. Malik slammed into the wall below the window with enough force that it shook the entire house. I winced as Kieran caught Casteel before he took out the wolven’s leg.

Casteel’s head snapped in my direction. Blood smeared his cut lip as he leaned into Kieran’s legs. “What the fuck?”

“Exactly.” I pulled the eather back in.

“Shit.” Malik pitched to the side, coughing as he braced his weight on one arm. “That hurt more than any of his punches did. I think you cracked a few ribs.”

“I’m about to crack your face if you say one more word,” I retorted.

“Crack his face?” Casteel repeated, his brows flying up.

“Yours, too,” I warned.

A slow, bloody grin spread across his lips, and that stupid, godsforsaken dimple appeared. I just knew he was about to say something that would make me want to punch him.

“Uh, I hate to interrupt,” Clariza said from the doorway, having entered without any of us noticing. I turned to her, my cheeks heating. Her eyes were wide. “But there’s a small army of Rise Guards in the street, going from house to house.”

In the time it took my stomach to drop, the shocking discoveries were swept aside. Casteel was on his feet, joining me as he dragged the back of his hand over his mouth. “How close are they?”

“Two homes down,” Blaz answered, ducking past Clariza. He carried several cloaks, handing one to each of us as he went straight to the table, grabbing two daggers. He sheathed one inside his boot.

Malik cursed. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

“I’ll grab our weapons.” Kieran hurried past us, entering the hall.

“You go out the back.” Blaz tossed Clariza a slender dagger, which she slipped under her sleeve. “We’ll keep them occupied for as long as we can.”

Concern for them blossomed. “Can you not come with us?”

Hiding another dagger, Clariza sent me a brief smile. “I’d love nothing more than to see my ancestral home, and I plan to do that one day, but our place is here. There are people who depend on us.”

“Descenters?” Casteel asked as Kieran returned, handing him a sword. I saw that he had my satchel.

Blaz nodded. “Elian can tell you that quite a few people stand in opposition to the Blood Crown. An entire network working from within to usurp the Ascended. You may hasten that when your armies arrive, but until then, we’re needed here.”