-Laelia-
I couldn’t comprehend what they were telling me, even after they repeated it. No, it couldn’t be true, even though I had reached the same conclusion. How else could he walk around so freely? He must have been helping them, but the little sister in me refused to believe that my older brother—our father’s chosen successor, the peacemaker among us siblings—could somehow be on their side.
I glanced over my shoulder at Ashes, who was still sleeping, his mistreated body almost too painful to look at. This wasn’t just hatred. This was something more twisted. Whoever had tortured him had taken pride in it. They had enjoyed it. And the fact that James had let it happen made the anger in me burn hotter.
“I can’t believe he would do this,” I whispered, turning back to my brothers. “Why?”
