Page 164 of Degradation

I can feel Paitlyn react to that, feel her shoulders slump.

“Why? Would it be too hard for you to manage it?” I snap. He was meant to protect her, shit job he did, just like everyone else in her life.

He fixes his gaze on me. “It’s not that, and you know it. You grew up in the shadow of your parents’ misdeeds, you know as well as I that these things don’t just simply go away with time. The Brethren don’t forget, the Brethren don’t forgive, remember?”

“But…” Paitlyn begins, only, I pull on her arm to silence her. If I had my way, we wouldn’t still be here, I’d have gutted him and left him for dead, and we’d be long gone.

But that’s not what she wants. Not what she asked for.

“What if we have something that makes it worth your while?” I reply.

He shifts just a little, and that tells me everything I need to know, that he didn’t come here for Paitlyn, he didn’t come here to help her, he came here to help Magnus.

“You want him to be Chapter Lord,” I continue, “You can’t do that without a certain someone, can you?”

“Titus.” He confirms, like he doesn’t know I have him. Like he and my brother haven’t spent many a dark night whispering about it, trying to figure out where I’m holding him.

“You want him, then you give Paitlyn what she wants.” I declare.

He opens his mouth, but at the same time, we all see the movement at the entrance to the cave. More people areapproaching, and I’d put money on that being my brother’s doing. Does he think I’d be so stupid as to drag Titus here? That I’d use him as a physical bargaining chip?

I let out a laugh, even as Paitlyn reacts, as she steps closer into me.

“You can’t do shit, Antonio.” I state. “You think we’d tell you anything? Paitlyn’s blind, she can’t tell you a thing, and me, by the time you’d got anything of worth from me, the Brethren would have realised what was happening and Magnus would no longer be your prized candidate, and you yourself would be fucked.”

Antonio huffs, glaring at me before he turns his head. “I told you to stay back.” He snaps over his shoulder.

None of the men reply, but I can see them now, I can see all ten of them. They may have guns and body armour, but I know I could still take them in a fight if that’s what this comes down to.

“Antonio, we don’t want to fight.” Paitlyn says so earnestly. “We want to fix this. We want to work with you.”

He bristles, running his eyes over her in a way that makes me want to smash his skull in. When he looks across at me, his expression hardens. “And what do you want, Devin? You’ve destroyed enough of your family’s empire. I doubt you’re suing for peace.”

I hear Paitlyn gasp in shock, and I grin again. Yeah, I have destroyed it, I’ve revelled in fucking up as much as I can for Magnus. He’s always been such an arrogant fuck; it’s been a delight to bring him down a peg or two. Question is, did he put it together about the Turner girl? Did he realise it was me who let Anthony Wallis into his grounds, who ensured he made it past his guards, just so he could fuck with Magnus’s little pet? He thinks I was locked in that asylum all this time, he doesn’t realise I was running the place by the end of it. That all the staff, all thedoctors and nurses were dead by my hand, as were any patients that couldn’t be controlled.

Magnus thought all of it was the Esau, he had no idea his own brother was the one sowing the seeds for his destruction.

But sadly now, that time is over. Paitlyn is right, we cannot live outside the Brethren, and right now, we cannot exist within it, unless we have my brother’s help.

“I’ll play ball.” I growl. “You get me a meeting with my brother, and if he agrees to our demands, then I’ll give you Titus.”

“Alright,” Antonio says, though he doesn’t look convinced. “I’ll speak to Magnus. We’ll find somewhere suitable…”

“No,” I snap, cutting across him. “There’s only one place we’ll agree on, one place I’ll agree on. Oblivion.”

Antonio frowns more, clearly confused. Stupid fuck, he doesn’t know what Oblivion is, he just sees the high walls and the slaves, he doesn’t realise that to me, it’s not a prison, it’s a paradise, it’s my childhood home, my sanctuary. If this thing goes tits up, then I can ensure Paitlyn and I are away before they even know what’s happening.

“Oblivion?” Paitlyn repeats with such a look of horror.

“It’s not the risk you think it is.” I whisper into her ear, “I know that place far better than either of my brothers. I spent my entire childhood learning all the secret passages, hiding away from them.”

She doesn’t look convinced. Not for a second. “What if it’s not the same, what if your brother has changed things? He’s been in charge long enough.” She murmurs.

“He hasn’t.” I say.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I was there, only a few months ago.”