Page 94 of Secrets of the Six

"Severo's office," she mumbles.

"Wait," I hold up a hand. "You were in Severo's office? When?"

"Yesterday." She averts her gaze alerting me to more she's not telling me.

"What else?"

"What do you mean?" She flicks her hand and narrows her eyes, about to launch a preemptive assault to avoid being on the defense. "I told you I was in his office and where everything is laid out. What more do you want – "

"Why were you in his office? What did he want?" I interrupt, infusing a hint of anger into my question. She won't get out of this no matter how hard she dodges me. "Or were you with Rogelio?" Although it would make sense for her to visit her betrothed, the visual of her wrapped in his arms makes me want to punch a hole into the wall.

Her shoulders dip as if she's contemplated the consequences of keeping important information from me and thinks better of it or loses the will to fight me. "I received a lunch invitation from Rogelio to join him at his house, but when I arrived, Rogelio wasn't there. He was out shopping in the Market District."

"So, you just gave yourself a private tour while waiting for him?" Shaw questions, his brow raised in suspicion.

"No, Severo was there," she admits, shifting in her seat. "He was the one who sent me the invitation. Said he wanted to speak with me privately in his office."

"You were alone with him?" Carmen's voice hits an octave I've never heard from her before. "Ines, he's dangerous. What if he tried to …"

When she trails off, Ines reaches for her hand and squeezes. "I knew the risks, but what could I do? I couldn't turn and run; he would know something was wrong."

"Or he would understand how inappropriate being alone with a young, unmarried woman is," I fire back, rage brewing in my stomach. "Did he hurt you?"

She shakes her head, though there's a haunting look in her eyes. Something she's refusing to say. Something terrible.

"Ines, if he touched you – "

"We spoke of my engagement and expectations for marriage." She chuckles, cutting off my threats. "I suppose I owe you an apology, Remus, his dogs are just as frightening as you said they'd be."

"What aren't you telling me?" I ask her point blank and the silence in the room is deafening.

Her eyes water and my heart thunders against my ribcage. If he laid one finger on her, if he intimidated her or said something that frightened her, I'll be paying him a visit and when I'm finished no one will find a trace of him.

"Behind his desk, on the wall, he has…" She takes a deep breath, swiping a tear that slips down her cheek, and forces herself to continue. "He has your father's wings nailed to his wall. I'm so sorry, Remus, I didn't know how to tell you."

Suddenly everything in the apartment stills.

I heard accounts of what horrors my father endured at the end of his life. Orlencian citizens who witnessed his execution spoke of it for weeks. How the Soberano ordered for his wings to be ripped from his body and Severo readily jumped up to do the deed without question. They said my father grit his teeth and refused to scream whilst being tortured. Sweat bubbled around his brow and blood pooled around his knees. It wasn't until Severo took a blade and began carving where the bone and root of his wings met that he finally let his anguish be known. His cries could be heard several streets away as his wings were torn from his back, leaving gaping holes. They didn't even give him a moment to breathe before they shoved his neck over the executioner's block and claimed his head.

I take solace in the fact he was not left to suffer long once his wings were ripped from his back. But remembering what atrocities he endured, learning Severo kept my father's wings as some sick prize, propels me to shove away from Shaw and Carmen's dining table and shoot to my feet.

"Remus," I barely hear Cas' muffled words as I stumble backward. "Remus! Are you alright? Remus?"

My back slams into the wall and I clutch my chest. I haven't allowed myself to think of the gruesome end my father suffered. It's how the nightmares started when I was younger. Even though I didn't see him die, imagining it was just as tormenting. Hot tears slide down my cheeks and there's nothing I can do to stop them. I'm falling apart. I'm supposed to be our general – like my mother and father before me – and here I am breaking down in front of my crew. My breathing is fragmented, my legs wobble, and my resolve to remain strong is fading fast. I don't feel the movement, I just hear the thud of my knees hitting the floor.

It's not until two hands press along my jawline and two thumbs wipe my tears, that I open my eyes and find myself staring into Ines' face. Tears that mirror my own stream down her cheeks and suddenly, I don't feel alone. We might be in a room full of people, but right now, it's just me and her.

Her lips part and at first I don't hear what she says. I have to concentrate. Her voice finally reaches me. "Eyes on me, Remus. Eyes on me."

I take a deep breath, sliding my hand up her jawline and cupping her face. "Eyes on you."

A few minutes or hours pass, I don't know, but finally a sense of calm washes over me and the tears stop.

"They will pay," she whispers, a sudden harshness lines her feminine features. "I swear if it costs me the last breath I have in my body, they will all pay for what they have done."

I nod, determined to fulfill my oath to avenge my dead. Where sorrow blossomed in my chest, rage takes its place. "They will pay," I echo, coming back to myself. "They will pay."

Chapter 34