Probably.
“Will he kill you?”
“We’ll see.”
“I don’t want to be in this cabin when he arrives. I want to be there with you so I have your back.”
It was one of the things I loved about her and despised about Melanie. Raven was fearless. “I don’t think that will work. You’re not exactly his favorite person.”
“I’m not trying to be,” she whispered. “But I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Sometimes I wondered if I had fallen in love with a soldier instead of a gorgeous woman. “You can’t help me. I don’t need you to help me.”
“But last time—”
“Last time, I accepted my punishment. This time, I do not. This time, I will stand by what I believe. I will look him in the eye and tell him he’s wrong.”
She kept her eyes on me. “I know he loves you. I’ve seen the two of you together. I know you are a weakness for him…”
I nodded. “I warned him I would resist him, so he shouldn’t be surprised. That’ll either help me…or hurt me.”
When it was time for him to arrive at the gate, I left the cabin.
Raven was dressed as if she intended to come with me. She moved to the door like she planned to stand her ground and watch my back when I could only watch my front.
I opened the door and turned around and looked at her. “You can’t help me with this.”
Her eyes were both impassioned and furious, frustrated that she wasn’t getting her way when it was so important to her that she did. “Where you go, I go… Remember?”
“I know. But not this time.” I didn’t want her there anyway. She couldn’t help me, and I would be more worried about protecting her than protecting myself.
“Please…”
I shook my head. “He’ll probably want to talk to me in private. There’s no place for you. I’ll be alright.”
She started to breathe hard, overwhelmed by the frustration that sank her to the bottom of the ocean.
I left the cabin and locked the door behind me so she wouldn’t follow me. Then I walked across the dark grounds and headed to the gate where his horse would approach any moment. Whenever I passed the other guards, they gave me a look of contempt, but they didn’t dare oppose me. They were cowards, only showing their dislike but not actually doing anything about it.
I waited at the gate with the other guards.
It was dark and quiet. A long silence filled the space with only the distant sound of the forest. There were no clouds in the sky, so the stars were bright. It was unfortunate that such terrible things happened in such a beautiful place.
The sound of hooves became audible as the horses approached the perimeter. And then a member of his entourage yelled for us to unlock our side of the gate.
I removed the bolt that slid across the door and pulled the doors inward.
The formation of horses entered the camp, Fender in the lead. His eyes swept over his surroundings as he entered, but he took specific measures not to look at me.
He knew.
He climbed out of the saddle and handed the reins over to one of the guards. His bag was taken from the saddle to be carried to his cabin in the rear.
I approached him.
He looked me square in the eye, his eyebrows furrowed in subtle hostility. His brown eyes were cold and vicious, and the squaring of his shoulders and the tightness of his arms showed all the rage he was suppressing.
I didn’t apologize. I didn’t make excuses. I stood by what I did, and I would do it again and again. If he really wanted me to stop, he would have to kill me.
He spoke, his masculine voice deep and low. “If you want to have children someday, don’t fuck with me.” He turned away and walked to the cabin without asking for a report on the daily progress of our work. He’d just issued a violent threat against his own brother without skipping a beat.
I watched him walk away and couldn’t hold back my retort. “You don’t want to fuck with me either, brother.”
He halted in his tracks, his muscular back rigid and tight. A few breaths made him expand and decrease in size, processing the rage I’d just provoked within him. Just when it seemed like he might turn around and face me, he walked off.
And blended into the darkness.
Fender didn’t speak to me.
I worked the next day without seeing him or crossing his path. He must have been in his cabin the entire time, going over all the reports that Eric took for me and dropped off.
This had never happened before. Whenever Fender was angry with me, he charged me like a bull. He spoke his mind and engaged me directly. This was completely unlike him.
At the end of the working day, I approached the clearing to get Raven and escort her to the cabin, and that was when I noticed the torches.
They were lit.
Adrenaline dumped into my heart, and I jogged across the earth to get closer to the clearing and see what was happening.
There were three nooses set up now.
And the three women had already been chosen.
The girls struggled against the guards as they were yanked below the nooses. They screamed and cried, begging for God to help them. The woman I had spared days before was one of the three.
Raven immediately looked at me once I was visible, and the relief in her eyes showed her faith in me. I would put an end to this and spare their souls.
I marched past the table, with my eyes focused on Alix. “What the fuck are you doing? I made my stance on this perfectly clear.”
Alix turned around and left the woman on the ground. The mask covered the bottom half of his face, but the shine in his eyes showed his hidden smile. “I don’t take orders from you, asshole.”
I pulled my knife from my pocket and held it at the ready. “Let them go, or I’ll cut off your balls, your lips, and your nose.”
Alix wasn’t scared, as if he had a more formidable foe on his side. He looked behind me, like he saw someone standing there.
I already knew who it was.
I slowly turned around and met my brother’s look. He was the only one in jeans and a shirt, never wearing the uniform. His focused stare was full of anger and disappointment. “Because of your foolishness, I will take three lives instead of one. The women can thank you for that.”
We looked so much alike, had so many identical features, but in that moment, we couldn’t look more different. The women and guards stared at us as the torches flickered in the breeze. “You’re better than this.” I dropped my voice, so only he could hear what I said.
“Sorry to disappoint you, brother.” His eyes shifted back and forth as they looked into mine, his anger slowly fading to a subdued state.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Yes, it does.” He looked past me and nodded at Alix, telling him to continue with the butchering.
I turned around and punched Alix so hard in the back of the head that he fell to the ground and didn’t get up again. My knuckles burned at the contact with his hard skull, but there was so much adrenaline in my veins that I was immune to pain. I turned back to my brother and stared him down.
The two other guards with the women didn’t move forward, having seen their enormous comrade collapse on the ground from a single hit.