Page 61 of Eternal

It’s comforting, and it reminds me I’m still in control. So long as I haven’t lost that, nothing else matters.

If one hand is the sword and the other is the tourniquet, I’m the one who decides what survives and what bleeds out.

The door creaks, and I look over to see Kole walking into the basement. He immediately scans the room, and his gaze lands on the unconscious man chained to a chair in the center with a sack over his head.

“I thought we were setting up for a trial?” Kole juts his chin at the man. “Who’s that?”

“Remember when I did you that favor helping you out when Brax took Violet?”

He nods.

“Gonna need one back in a few minutes.”

Kole rarely smiles, but the sick light in his eyes when he realizes what I’m asking of him is the reason we’re friends. Most people aren’t willing to blindly help dismember and bury bodies, but I get the sense Kole enjoys it.

A low moan comes from underneath the sack, and I smirk.

“Playtime.” Crossing the room, I rip the sack off Simon Blackthorn’s head.

Kole stops at my side, taking him in. “Well, this just got interesting. A Sigma House legacy?”

Legacies like Kole and myself are untouchable. The only way to take one down and not suffer at the hands of the Council is to prove you did it to protect the House. Luckily for me, Simon made that easy.

“Where am I?” He blinks his eyes open, and they’re hazy as he looks around, trying to figure out where he is.

Maddox must have injected Simon with a strong dose because it’s taken him a couple of hours to wake up. I shouldn’t be surprised. Maddox has earned his name as the Sigma House chemist for his very specific skill set. He can mix up anything at the drop of a hat, which came in handy with Ben a few nights ago and now with Simon.

Simon blinks a few more times, and now that he’s conscious, he’s fighting the drugs out of his system quickly. He struggles against his restraints, but it won’t do him any good.

“What are you doing?” He looks up at me.

“Bringing you home.” I smirk, crossing my arms over my chest.

Simon looks around at the concrete walls and floor, realizing where he is. To anyone else, this might seem like a mostly empty basement, but Simon came up through Sigma Sin just as I did. He knows what’s hidden in these walls.

Secrets we’d die for.

Implements that haunt us.

Simon tries to move again, but he can’t. His arms and legs are tied to the chair, and a thick leather strap around his neck holds his head in place.

“What is this? When I report you to the Council—”

“There won’t be one left.” I narrow my eyes, feeling Kole watching me.

Kole isn’t blind, and he’s been doing a number of favors for me recently that must have thrown up red flags. I’m sure he’s suspected I’m up to something, but up until this point, I’ve tried to keep him out of the messiest parts of it.

Until I was sure I could turn the tide, I didn’t want anyone in the House going down with me if it came to it. But now that I have enough to finally start making a change, he needs to be involved as my right-hand man.

“What you’re suggesting is blasphemy.”

I click my tongue on the roof of my mouth. “There is no God between these walls, Simon. You know that. And what the Council has been up to is far from sacred.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The House above all, correct?”

Simon grits his teeth, nodding. “Of course.”