Chapter 172

Nicholas

Piper wanted to distance her heart. She felt she was too close to me. She needed space before she could kiss me again, or touch me, or let me please her the way I wanted to.

I understood her feelings. I knew as well as she did that we could never be together. But… to be apart from her like this… I hated it.

I didn’t want her to distance herself. I didn’t want her to put her heart on ice, and withdraw her feelings. It was only because we felt so strongly for one another that our stolen moments together had been so thrilling and so satisfying.

My love for Piper had never dimmed in these years apart. Yes, hurt had festered into something dark when I had thought she left me for another man. But now that I knew the truth, I could admit to myself that the anger and betrayal I had felt stemmed from love.

In fact, my affections for her had only grown since our reunion for this competition.

She wanted to find a way to put her feelings for me on hold. Meanwhile, I didn’t know if such a thing were possible for me. Three years apart hadn’t chilled my heart. I doubted a lifetime away from her would make me care for her less.

I didn’t care that we couldn’t be together. I wanted her as much as I could have her now, so that in my future moments of loneliness, I could look back and remember.

But if she felt differently… I would never push her.

Instead, I would swallow down the loss I felt, grief in my own way, and wait until she would let me bask in the glow of her pleasure once again. Even if it would hurt me, knowing she had tucked her heart away, out of my reach.

Sighing, I pushed a hand through my hair and tried to organize my priorities.

Regardless of Piper’s feelings for me now, or in the future, the time would eventually come when we would be forced to part, and I needed to be ready for that.

I needed to make certain she and Elva would be protected.

I checked the time, then went back into my room for my jacket.

Half an hour later, I met with Julian near the foyer. He had his arms crossed and was leaning against one of the columns near the entryway. He looked up when I came closer but didn’t otherwise move.

“You’re late,” Julian said.

“Only by a few minutes,” I said, though felt guilty. If Piper hadn’t left me, I would have been later still. I’d be wrapped in the bliss of her arms right now, instead of facing down the brother who hated me.

Julian smirked a little, but there was no joy in it. “Piper okay?”

“She’s fine,” I said.

Julian rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

The tension between Julian and I felt palpable, like something that could so easily take physical form. I knew it was my fault. Over the years, I’d blamed Julian for many things – much of which he was responsible for. But perhaps my usual assumption of his guilt was… misguided this time.

“I’m sorry,” I said, though the words were uncomfortable in my mouth. “I should have taken you with me when I spoke to our father about Terry.”

“Damn right you should have.”

I swallowed down my annoyance. I was apologizing. It would do no use to get angry again now.

“If it wasn’t for your help, we would not have been able to take down Terry,” I said.

“And don’t you forget it,” Julian snapped, irking my nerves.

“I am trying to apologize,” I said. “I deserve credit for it.”

“You want credit for everything. I’m allowed to be pissed at you.”

“You can be pissed without causing a scene.”

“A scene for who? It’s just us. Who cares if we argue or not?” Julian kicked off the wall. “You are so stuffy, brother. That infallible nature of yours will be your undoing if you aren’t careful.”

“It’s not a fault to be dependable,” I said.

“It is if it makes you immovable. You have to be more willing to be wrong.”

I closed my mouth and glared at him. As usual, my sharp looks seemed to bounce right off of him without taking hold.

“Come on,” Julian began walking. He didn’t look back, expecting me to fall in line behind him. Damn him, I needed to, for Piper’s sake, so I did. “We can’t keep our dear uncle waiting.”

Together, Julian and I walked out of the palace and toward the guard barracks. In the basement beneath their facility was a type of prison. Julian jokingly called it, ‘the dungeon,’ though that title wasn’t far from the truth.

It had been built long ago and though lighting and plumbing had been added later, it still maintained a certain level of castle dungeon aesthetic: thick stone walls, iron bars, chains on the walls. The interrogation rooms were once torture rooms, though no torture took place now.

At least, none that I was privy to know about. I had suspicions though.

Terry was kept in a special cell at the end of the long, narrow hall. His cell was dimly lit, with only a bulb light on the ceiling in the middle of the stone room. Terry’s hands were bound in shackles. His hair was messed, his beard overgrown.

I blinked, seeing him like this. I’d never seen the man in such a state of disarray.

“How delightful it is that my nephews came to visit me,” Terry said, distain dripping from his voice like poison. “What the hell more could you possibly want from me?”

The shock wore off Julian much faster than me.

“Call off Jane,” Julian said. “Before Piper gets hurt.”

Terry, who was sitting on the floor, dropped his head back against the wall. “Jane went for her head, did she? I imagined she would. It was only my lust for the girl that kept her safe from Jane’s wrath.”

“Call. Her. Off,” I said now, adding an Alpha threat into my voice.

Terry glanced at me incredulously, and then laughed – loud and hard and mocking.

“What the hell is so funny?” Julian asked sharply. He was losing his patience too, it seemed.

“The both of you are, thinking I have any say over what Jane does.” Terry’s laugh ebbed, though the mockery remained in the patronizing lilt of his tone. “She is higher up in the underground organization than I am, you blubbering fools. She was only ever with my by choice.”

I freeze, the words slicing through me. Jane is…? How could that be?

But, looking back, I supposed it made sense. Per the letter welcoming Terry to the underground, his admittance had been rather recent. More recent than Jane, from what Piper had previously indicated.

Jane had fallen in with a wayward crowd at a young age. She’d had more time to rise in their ranks.

“Piper is graver danger than she ever was with me running free,” Terry said with a smile. My distress clearly amused him. His eyes stayed on my face, as a smirk curled his lips. “Jane can be quite the little hellspawn when she wants to be. Fantastic in bed, too. Probably like her sister.”

Julian groaned. “Please, stop.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, ignoring his comments that were only meant to further upset me. “It doesn’t matter. We will chase Jane from the palace, and without your help, she won’t be able to return.”

Terry laughs again. “You are so sure about that!”

“Why the hell wouldn’t we be?” Julian growled.

Terry stifled himself, but only so long to say, “You think I’m the only connection Jane has in the palace?”

Then he laughed and laughed.

As my stomach sunk lower and lower.