Page 95 of Degradation (The Brethren Lords #3)

Devin

W ater trickles down the wall.

We’re meeting in a cave, as if this couldn’t be anymore clandestine.

Paitlyn’s hand is firmly clasped in mine, and I’ll admit, I get a thrill from the feeling of her fingers digging into my flesh.

Something has changed with her. Something tangible. She no longer flinches when I touch her, she no longer hides herself from me when she thinks I won’t notice.

She is mine. Wholeheartedly mine. I can feel it. She’s not just given in, not just accepted this as some form of submission, but she’s mine, heart, body, fucking soul too. I own her in a way no one has ever had.

I want to shout it from the rooftops. I want to scream it loud enough that all of heaven knows it. I feel like a boy, a child caught in his first throws of love. In truth, I feel free, I feel finally like I know what it is to be alive.

The sound of gravel crunching brings me out of those thoughts. I still, staring at where I’m certain the man will appear and when I see his outline, it’s hard not to snarl.

It’s the same fucker I was going to kill all those years ago, that same fucker Gunther gave a night with his wife to. My head snaps to stare at Paitlyn, not that she can see the pissed off look I have. What the fuck is going on here?

“Antonio.” Paitlyn says warily, like she can sense how close to a bloodbath this could become.

“Jesus,” The man murmurs, stepping close, staring at her in disbelief. “I thought you were dead. I thought this had to be some sick joke, I thought…” He falls silent when he spots me.

I glower back at him. He’s only alive now, by the grace of God himself and we both know it.

“Devin Blake.” He says, realising who I am, not that it was such a great secret.

I grunt back.

Antonio looks between us, at where our hands are clasped together. “You’re with him?” He says.

“Yes.” Paitlyn replies.

“By choice or by force?” He continues.

And that question gets my back up, makes me snarl, makes me take a step forward. I’ll fucking gut him for that.

Paitlyn places her other hand on my arm, “It’s okay.” She whispers, like I’m a wild dog that needs placating. “We’re together.” She says firmly to him. “Devin rescued me, he saved me from Guthrie. He…” She shakes her head slightly and I know it’s the memories, the confusion.

She thinks I’m the one who tried to rescue her, when the reality was, I was going to kill her that day back in Oblivion. Not that she needs to know it. Better in fact, that she doesn’t.

“Guthrie?” Antonio repeats, sounding confused. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

“So my brother didn’t tell you.” I sneer. “He didn’t let you in on the secret deal he made?”

For once the man looks like he’s on the backfoot. “What deal?” He snaps.

“He sold us out. Both of us.” I reply. “He thought I killed Gunther, so he did a deal with Guthrie to cover it up. Guthrie got to keep Paitlyn, had her locked away in Oblivion and had me thrown into an asylum.”

I’ll admit there’s some satisfaction to see the way my words register with him. To see the flash of fury. Whoever the fuck he is, whatever influence he has over my brother, he clearly didn’t realise Magnus was a slippery as he is.

How I’d love for that to put a cat among the pigeons. How I’d love for that to rip the wind right out of my brother’s sails. To destroy all that he’s trying to build.

“Antonio,” Paitlyn murmurs, sounding more pleading than I would like. “You can help us; you can help me.”

“What is it you want?” He asks, his voice sounding suddenly emotionless, suddenly so cold.

“Freedom, restoration.” She states. “You were my Guardian, you know everything that happened, you can speak with Magnus, you can get everything put to rights.”

He was her Guardian? He’s a fucking Guardian? I run my eyes back over him. It explains everything, it explains why she went to him, why Gunther tried to appease him, why he’s so involved in ensuring my brother becomes Chapter Lord.

He shakes his head. “It’s not that simple, Paitlyn. Not now. It’s been too long; it’s gotten too complicated. Everyone thinks you’re dead. You can’t simply pop back up, alive and well, after all this time…”

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 are approaching, 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 the doctors 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.”

“What?”

“I’m the only person capable of getting in and out of Oblivion without getting caught.”

“When you two have quite finished.” Antonio snaps, bringing our attention back to him.

“Oblivion.” I repeat. “Magnus wants a face-to-face, then that’s where it will be.”

Antonio gives a curt nod. “As you wish.” He says, in such a tone I want to punch him.

But instead, I tighten my hold of Paitlyn’s hand and lead her out past all those waiting men. I know they won’t do shit now I’ve played my trump card and there’s a part of me that wants to prove it, wants to rub it in their faces.

Because I have the power here. Me.

We may be negotiating a truce, but it not from a position of weakness.