Page 28 of Tears of Gold

Things might be different if we could do this in a proper arena. Then it would be a fair contest of strength, but that’s not how Anik plays. Instead, he finds me in dark, secluded spaces where he knows I can’t fight back because then I’m the one attacking the emperor-apparent. I crawl backward as he approaches, sliding away from the furniture. Fresh explosions boom again in the city, but I can’t spare any concentration because Anik isn’t finished with me.

“I lost my favorite toy because of you; she had an ass like a steel trap. Kind of reminds me of you, bitch.” His polished, gold-topped boots echo with every step as he closes the distance between us. “You want to know why I hate you? You're always taking things from me.”

“What did I ever take from you?” My voice pitches high as he slams me flat on the ground.

Anik pins my arm under his knee. He leans on my still-healing chest with one hand, and the other cradles my cheek. His gentle movements are far more terrifying than his aggression, and I tremble violently.

With a smile, he whispers, “Everything.” He sinks qi talons into my soul, and I scream.

His power drags mine through my skin, dissolving my human form. Anik truly means to qi lash me. Saliva froths between my lips as he tears my essence out where it doesn’t belong, and I arch against the agony, my chest wound throbbing from the force.

He may as well be pulling my organs out, whipping them, then putting them back inside. The pale blue cloud of my power collects over my torso, the ethereal mass growing under his attack. As he pulls, forcing my qi free from my physical form, it stings like a thousand angry bees. Cold, fearful sweat pours through my hair and down my collar, as my fingers automatically crust with icicles. I scrabble against the floor, looking for relief, but there is none.

He tugs again, and I sense the entirety of my magic pop free, attached to my elemental soul by the faintest thread. I arch beneath him, a wet scream gushing between my lips. Still, if Anik wastes his anger here, he might not try to pry my mind. Pain is one thing, but my secrets are something I can never let him have again.

Everything within me tells me to beg, but squinting into Anik’s twisted face, I know there's no backing down for him. I clench my fists, cracking the ice coating. The boundaries of sanity fray, and my carefully controlled composure snaps, melting away my pretense to respect him.

“So the g-glorious crown . . . prince has to t-take out his an . . . ger on the injured younger brother, hey?” Every word hurts as I choke through my raw throat and the bloodied froth on my tongue.

He smiles evilly. “Damn right.”

I spit foam onto the floor. “Wouldn't Father love to . . . hear of this?”

“Well, that hasn’t gone too well for you in the past, has it now?”

I flinch as old, long-buried memories surface with searing clarity, bringing a fresh crust of ice to my cheeks.

Anik chuckles evilly. “What was his name, the boy who died the last time you tattled? Darius, Dalton? I can’t even remember.”

Dante. A sob lodges in my throat. My only friend in the palace who had the misfortune of crossing paths with Anik in a temper and didn’t live to talk about it. No, his true misfortune was being friends with me.

Smiling, Anik forms a strand of his pure orange qi and strikes my blue mass of power. White-hot agony hijacks my sanity, and he covers my mouth, muffling my scream. I thrash, trying to escape and draw breath into lungs that refuse to expand. Black motes dance in my vision as every movement brings new waves of agony. My reality fragments into blades that cut me from every direction.

There's only so much resolve can do against such overwhelming pain. Not even dying compares to the sensation of my essence shredding under his lashing.

“The next time you tattle on me, little boy, will be your last.” He strikes again, and my body spasms. My muscles shake uncontrollably, and I'm pretty sure my tears aren't the only wetness on me. He strikes twice more, and my consciousness slips, my vision flaring as my head thumps against the tiles.

Anik laughs, the sound reverberating through my humming ears. “Now, let's take a poke inside that mind of yours. What does a prince get up to when he's all by himself at school?”

My focus snaps back into place. Every part of me screams to give in, to stop the pain, but I cannot give up my lovers. I’ve tried so hard to honor him as the heir, I really have—but now the last of my fidelity dissipates through the gaping fissures in my essence.

“No.”

His eyebrows jump. “Oh?”

My voice cracks, and I can’t see straight. “No. I put up . . . with your petty t-temper. But my mind is . . . my o-own.” I refuse to have anyone else die because of me.

Lips peeling back, he laughs. “Let's see how you defend it then.”

He flips me over and wrestles with my pants while pinning me with the force of his qi, heavy as gravity itself.

Sucking in a deep breath, I mentally draw the shreds of my flayed qi together, forcing myself to ignore the shattered state of my power, let alone the sickening ripping that occurs as I force it to obey my command. I cannot fail my Ava again or let Skye come to more harm.

In the blink of an eye, I summon a mirage of myself, screaming as my qi pain doubles. One part of me kicks Anik full in the temple. His head snaps back, and he flops to the floor, catching himself at the last moment with a shield to soften the fall.

I lurch to my feet as he stares at me, wide-eyed in shock. It's the first time I've laid a hand on my brother since his coronation as heir. And probably the last, judging by the enraged tightening of his face. My mirage flickers and dissolves, the returning qi searing through me even more painfully than when I sent it out. I may still die from this.

Anik stumbles as if dizzy. Blood trickles down his temple, and he touches his fingers to his face. His hand comes away trembling. “You little shit!”