Tarquin smiled, but it was as bitter and dark as the cavern surrounding them. “And my last, worst mistake was to not close the hells-damned trapdoor.
“I can’t believe how stupid I was. So incredibly stupid. I didn’t actually check to see if everyone was asleep before I came down here. Because Faladir wasn’t. He wasn’t sleeping well, which was another thing I hadn’t thought about. So of course—” Tarquin gritted his teeth again, tightly enough to hurt. “Of course after I’d stopped him from…from killing himself, he went to the chapel for solace. And he saw the open trapdoor…and came after me.”
Tarquin kept his eyes down because he didn’t want to face the sympathy in Five’s expression. He didn’t deserve sympathy for his appalling lack of judgment. “My brother came all the way down the stairs
