Page 104 of Broken Souls

“I said Varius is so desperate to fix things with his girl that he’s forcing his little brother to marry her sister so she can come live with us.”

My mouth falls open. “Wait, what? Lou’s coming here?” Before he can say anything, I give him my best ‘touch her and die’ glare. “Maddox...” I growl.

He holds up his hands. “You want to stop it, you’re going to have to talk to him. Trust me. I’ve tried to get out of it.”

“You little shit.”

He shrugs, not looking embarrassed in the slightest about being caught. “Desperate times call for blatant manipulation of your sister-in-law and all that. So will you talk to him for me? If it helps, I have a side piece I’m in love with. Varius told me to kill her, but honestly, I’ve just been keeping her hidden in a cage in my shadows.”

My eyes widen. “In the Plane of Monsters?”

“Yep. And let me tell you, she is both extremely pleased and extremely pissed to see me every time I pull her out. She fucks me like she wants to kill me. The girl is giving me some really mixed signals.” His eyes widen as he shakes his head slowly.

“You’re crazy, and that does not sound like you are in love.”

His eyes twinkle. “Yeah, I know. But she is sure fun to play with.” He laughs as I just stare at him like the mental nutcase he is.

“But I’m sure I’ll fall hard too if it ever happens for real,” he says with a wink. “I’m too much of a hopeless romantic.”

I snort as I pick at my fries.

“Hey. Wounded.”

I laugh.

He smiles at me.

Dark jealousy jolts through me, and I can feel Varius’ glare. But if he’s mad at me, he isn’t looking at That Bitch, so I deliberately laugh some more.

Maddox leans over, bumping my shoulder with his. “So what do you say? Will you talk to him for me? Save your little baby sister from the cruel fate of being my bride?”

“For her, not you.”

“Of course.”

But he looks way too fucking pleased with himself.

The silent rage I’ve been wrapped in for the past four days is now itching to explode. Varius damn well knows I have been trying to keep my baby sister out of this life. She wants to go to college for an art degree, travel the world, see new things. And she’s shit with any weapon that has ever been invented. Including poison. She once forgot which cup she put it in during training and nearly drank it herself. She is the worst person to pull into this life.

So by the time dinner is over, and I’m in my room, pacing back and forth as I wait for Varius to get here and drag me upstairs – something he has done for the past two nights (the first night, I was dragged from his office), I am ready to go six rounds with him. Bare knuckled. To the knock-out.

But not to the death.

As angry as I am with him, I never want to see him dead. That glossy-eyed look he pinned me with as he lay above me bleeding out… It haunts my fucking dreams. I absolutely hate that I was the one who did that to him. That in my panic and rage andpain, I was capable of killing the man I love. I don’t ever want to be that kind of person, don’t want to turn into someone who is such a slave to their emotions that they can’t control them. And that is one of the main reasons I’ve refused to talk to him these past four days, why I’ve given up trying to fix this. I fear the person he could turn me into. The miserable bitch who just wants to hurt him for the sake of hurting him.

But I don’t have a choice anymore. Not if I want to save my baby sister from marrying Maddox.

As the door to my room opens, I clench my fists as I stand, waiting for him. There is nowhere for me to sit in here. He hasn’t bought any new furniture, and I’ve been too stubborn to ask for more.

“How dare you buy her,” I growl, and he stops just inside the room, shock on his face that I’m talking to him. But then it turns into relief, a small smile in his eyes as he shuts the door, and that just pisses me off.

“If I didn’t, someone else would’ve. And you were upset you didn’t get to see her the last time you were home. So I thought you’d like it if she lived closer.”

I glare at him, hating that he’s noticed how much I have been missing her. “I’d like her to go to fucking college,” I say irritably.

“Maddox went to college.”

“That’s not the same thing.”