SKY
“This is a dead end, Rylan. Why do you hate your brother so much?” I ask. “He’s the rightful heir. Everyone knows that. Why not let it happen?”
Rylan bends down until his face is too close to mine. His breath smells sour and stale as it hits my skin. “You still don’t get it,” he says quietly. “He’s not better than me. He never was. I should be the one on that throne. Not him.”
I keep him talking on purpose. Every word buys me a little more time. Time to look around. Time to think. Time to find a way out. I’m still trying to decide if he’s lying about the wolves in the forest nearby.
He could be bluffing. Sweat runs down his forehead, and the more I look at him, the stranger it feels that he and Damien share blood at all.
“That doesn’t add up,” I say. “You haven’t given me a real
