“King Xander is a disgrace, a ruler who seeks to destroy us, the very citizens who have protected the crown for centuries. He’s not to be trusted,” Phil said in the paranoid voice of a killer. “She has not come out publicly. We have only a treacherous king’s word.”
“Kill me. But I’m not asking her to do it. She’s already consented to our marriage, and the ceremony is already prepared.” To save his life, Shea would declare herself to king and country. But she would be uttering a lie. Rubare Collina customs had been nothing but harsh to her so far, drugging her and kidnapping her against her will. And…she didn’t love him. She needed time, and he’d be damned if he asked her to lie to the people of his country. Everything so far had been unfair to her: raising their child alone, her financial hardship, missing so much of Hayden’s life because she was working to feed them, the drugging, the kidnapping, being held against her will. She’d agreed to marry him, and that would have to be enough. To him, it was a goddamn miracle.
Obviously, the Arcano didn’t deem it sufficient that Xander had announced that Shea was loyal and that she loved Bryan and wanted to marry him. The wedding ceremony taking place was already public.
“You will die,” Phil agreed. “And so will your child and your whore who finally agreed to the marriage, a woman who had your child without marriage or loyalty to Rubare Collina.” He swung the blade restlessly.
He’s fucking insane!
But Phil’s madness meant nothing to Bryan. “She’s a damn angel. And she is not a whore.” Bryan’s fury went just as deep as Phil’s insanity now, as he struggled with every bit of strength he had to escape his bondage. “Lay one finger on either one of them and my brothers will come for you, and you’ll die painfully,” Bryan growled, his face red with rage. “Do you think you’ll be able to hide yourself once you’ve slain me?”
“It doesn’t matter. My duty will be done to Rubare Collina,” Phil replied, his voice deranged and unstable.
“You have no duty. The Arcano are no longer recognized,” Bryan said fiercely. “Times have changed. There’s no need for the Arcano. There hasn’t been for centuries.”
“The Arcano will always be necessary. They’ve saved the royal line from extinction. We are the power behind the crown,” Phil snarled. “The present king refuses to see it, but we will be reinstated. We are needed. Only the Arcano can save this nation.”
Bryan finally got enough slack in the ropes to start slowly moving his fingers along the strands, hoping the bindings were looped with a single knot. He found the area where the rope was tied to the right side and behind him, and his fingers worked furiously to release the tangled bunch of rope.
Stall him. Make him keep talking. Get free and kill the bastard.
He ground his teeth as he said, “Maybe you’re right. Tell me why you think we need the Arcano back again.” It nearly killed him to utter the words because he loathed the Arcano and everything it stood for in his country, but it worked.
Phil started ranting, but while Bryan was forcing himself to look interested in what the man who had betrayed him was saying, he wasn’t listening to the insane chatter. He was working the knot in the rope, finally getting it loose and starting to pull slack to his bindings. The process was too damn slow, requiring him to loosen one strand at a time without drawing Phil’s attention. But his captor was too busy bellowing about the sacrifices the Arcano had made for Rubare Collina to notice that Bryan was slowly freeing himself.
“So that’s why you will die. You will be an example to any who dare to defy or ignore the ancient laws of the Arcano,” Phil finished dramatically, raising the massive blade over his head to render the fatal blow that would sever Bryan’s head from his body.
Had Bryan lifted the loose strands of rope over his head one second later, both his arms and his head would be rolling on the ground. But his timing was impeccable as he lifted the ropes and rolled his entire body into Phil, bringing the man to the ground as he swung. The machete flew from the Arcano member’s hand as it hit the solid rock.
Bryan didn’t give him a moment to recover. He was on his betrayer in a second, a red curtain of rage clouding his brain.
The bastard would have killed me, killed my family without a thought. He would have killed Shea.
Phil was almost a match for Bryan in size and strength, and both of them had rage on their sides. But Bryan was fighting for love; Phil was fighting for an insane, archaic tradition. He punched Bryan, landing several blows to his face, but Bryan was so furious that he didn’t let the landed punches faze him, continuing to pummel the man who would have hurt Shea and possibly his innocent daughter.
“I fucking trusted you, and you betrayed me. You betrayed your country, and your madness continues to cause havoc in my country.” He grasped the man’s hair when Phil put his hands around Bryan’s neck, trying to choke him. Still caught in an adrenaline, near-death-experience frenzy, he started slamming Phil’s head against the ground.
Suddenly, Bryan felt himself being pulled off Phil’s body and propelled through the air, Xander’s voice booming commands.
“Restrain him. Take him to the prison and have him put under guard,” Xander ordered angrily, the guard around him scrambling to obey their king’s orders.
Bryan struggled to get out of Xander’s grip, still determined to kill the bastard who had threatened Shea’s life and the lives of people he cared about. “He was going to kill Shea. I want him dead,” Bryan growled, his face dripping blood, his features contorted with animosity.
“Stop,” Xander ordered from behind Bryan, holding him fast with both of his arms around his shoulders to keep him back. “He’ll be punished, and he’ll never be free again. He might be able to give us more information on the other members of the Arcano. We need him alive…for now.”
“He would have hurt Shea,” Bryan grunted still fighting against his own brother to kill the man the guards were currently taking away.
“He was trying to kill you,” Xander told him calmly.
“His plans were to go after Shea next.” Bryan was panting wildly, his heart thundering in fear over what could have happened to the woman he loved.
“He didn’t,” Xander said calmly, loosening his hold on Bryan slowly as the guards drove away with Phil. “Shea is perfectly safe at the castle. Calm down, Bryan. I understand your anger. But we need to question him, try to get information.”
Bryan shrugged out of Xander’s hold, leaned over and grasped his knees trying to catch his breath. He could see blood dripping to the ground as he sucked air in and out of his lungs, and he knew it was his own. “I wanted him dead. How did you know I’d been betrayed?” His mind was beginning to c
lear, but his anger was still boiling.
“Christopher said the mine site was deserted when he passed by and Shea mentioned you’d been called here. I was afraid it was a trap.” Xander handed Bryan the hand towels that his driver, Albert, had fetched from the vehicle. “You need medical attention.”
Bryan straightened, looking him in the eye, the concern on Xander’s face evident. Albert was standing at Xander’s side, looking anxious. Bryan took several deep breaths, trying to get his raging emotions under control.
“I would have killed the bastard,” Bryan grumbled as he swiped one of the towels carelessly over his face, ignoring the stinging pain of his facial injuries.
Xander shrugged. “I would have let you had I not thought it more important to get information out of him. Come, we need to get back to the palace. Everyone is concerned.” He grabbed Bryan’s upper arm as he walked a little unsteadily to the car.
Xander was right. Phil could provide some information on the Arcano that was desperately needed, but Bryan hadn’t been thinking any further than extinguishing any threat to Shea or the ones he loved. “I might thank you later for stopping me,” Bryan grumbled as he got into the back of Xander’s Bentley.
Albert closed the doors of the vehicle after the brothers had seated themselves in the rear, and got the vehicle in motion toward the castle.
Bryan knew he was in no shape to drive. He’d have his truck fetched for him later.
“I doubt you’ll want to thank me,” Xander mused as he frowned at Bryan’s broken up face. “I wanted to kill him myself when I realized he nearly took your head off.” Xander released a masculine sigh. “But we do what we must for our country.”
“I’m in love with Shea,” Bryan admitted, taking the damp rag that Xander was offering him to clean his face. The Bentley had just about every conceivable convenience.
