“You can’t kill me,” said Lux.
“But I can pin you down.”
“None of that, children,” said Walter. “I will return, and when I do, I expect everyone to still be intact.”
He began to walk away, and Ava gave me an apologetic look as she hurried after him. No chance of her lifting the curse now, not with her father so upset. Lux’s eyes watered, and the thought of seeing him cry after all of this stabbed at something inside of me. He was going to lose everything he cared about. The only person in the world he loved—and all because Casey was kind enough to let James and me stay the night.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Wait,” I called, hurrying after Walter and Ava. “Please, you can’t—”
“Do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do,” said Walter without pausing. “Lux knew the risk he was taking. It is out of my hands now.”
“Out of your—are you really that much of a heartless bastard?” I said. At last Walter stopped and faced me, but before he could say a word, I went on. “You know how badly this is going to hurt Lux. You know it’s going to destroy him. You know you’re taking away everything he lives for. But you don’t even care, do you? You don’t even care that you’re going to gut your own son.”
Walter narrowed his eyes. “Do not dare to speak to me like—”
“Like what? Like you’re an ass**le? Because you are.”
Silence. Walter’s face grew stony, while Ava’s drained of all color. Beside me, leaves crunched, and James reached for me. “Kate—”
“Don’t Kate me.” I ripped my hand from his. “All of you—you’re just going to sit by and let this happen because you’re too proud to admit that maybe you were wrong? This is worse than murder. At least there’s an afterlife there. This is mentally and emotionally destroying someone for eternity. You claim to be the good guys, and yet you do something like this over a millennia-old grudge?”
“I never claimed we were the good guys,” said Walter evenly. “Any assumption on your part is yours alone. We do what we must to uphold our laws—”
“Laws can be changed. Laws that dictate hurting someone like this should be changed.”
“That is not for you to decide.” He stared down at me, his blue eyes never wavering from mine. “I understand why you feel so passionately about this, after what you went through with your mother. But it is not the same. Pollux and Castor broke our laws knowing what the consequences would be when this day inevitably came. They eig came. have escaped conviction for thousands of years, and now they must face the consequences.”
“Why? Because you decided it?”
“Yes,” he said. “Because I and the council have ruled it so, and our word is law. If you are to be one of us, Kate, you must accept this sooner rather than later. Your stubbornness got you this far, and your compassion is admirable, but now it is necessary that you acknowledge you are not always right in these matters.”
“Yeah, well, neither are you. You might rule above the surface, but when summer’s over, I’m going to be Queen of the Underworld. And if you think I’m going to let this stand, then you’re in for a rude surprise.”
His eyes glinted. “Is that so? Perhaps you ought to inform Henry of this decision before you hijack his realm and overturn thousands upon thousands of years of his rule.”
“He’ll agree with me,” I snapped, even as doubt wavered inside of me. But if he didn’t—if Henry disagreed and forced Casey and Lux to remain apart—then he’d be in for the fight of his life. Not how I wanted to start our marriage, but I couldn’t walk away from the twins. Not when it would destroy them both so completely.
Walter took a deep breath. “Someday you will understand. Whether or not today is that day, I cannot remain here to argue with you when there will be no compromise. My decision stands, as does Henry’s. Come, Ava.”
He took her hand, and before I could say another word, they disappeared. My heart pounded, and the forest spun around me in a blur of greens and browns, but there was nothing more to say. No matter what title I’d have in six months, without Henry to back me up, I was as powerless as Lux. The only difference between us now was that I’d gotten lucky. I still had my mother.
But he would be alone for eternity, and nothing in the world could convince Walter he’d made the wrong decision. For the first time since I’d met Henry on the banks of the river, I wondered if maybe I had, too.
Henry
It didn’t take Henry long to find his brother. He may not have had James’s talent, but Walter was painfully predictable at the best of times. After an eternity together, Henry knew where to look.
“Do you truly believe this is the best place to search for Castor?” said Henry as he stepped inside the ancient cottage. The odor of rotting rabbit meat saturated the air, and he flared his nostrils.
Walter stood in the middle of the small room, alone now. “It is as good a start as any. Ella has scoured the area and found no sign of him, but he cannot have gone far on his own.”
“He was with James for a time,” said Henry.
“Which means he is very cleverly hidden.” Walter focused on him with a stare that seemed to permeate through the protective layers Henry had developed over countless lifetimes. “Do you know where he is?”
“I do not.” The lie slid off his tongue with such ease that he nearly felt ashamed of himself. But some lies were justifietexed. “I am not certain we should search for him any longer.”
“Oh? And why is that?” said Walter, but judging by the tone of his voice, it was obvious he knew why Henry’s opinion had changed.
He shrugged. “Perhaps they have suffered enough. There is no need to turn a difficult situation into an eternal one.”
The corner of Walter’s lips turned upward, but there was no humor behind it. “I thought I sensed you there. Your wife is quite the handful.”
Henry didn’t return his smile. He hadn’t meant to spy on Kate, but it had hardly been his fault that his brother had run across her while Henry had been tracking him. “She may be right, you know. I am willing to entertain the notion that after searching for such a long time, we have lost all perspective in the matter.”
Walter shrugged. “Perhaps, but it is not her place to say so.”