Page 35 of Dark Night of the Soul

“Say it,” I said.

Decker’s gaze didn’t waver. “He wants you both.”

“Why?”

He lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Because you taught him something dangerous.”

I waited.

“That vows are optional,” he continued. “That you can walk away. Pick something else.” His mouth tightened. “Pick someone else.”

Silence stretched between us.

“So, now you have a choice,” Decker said. “Stay and let her go. Or return and remember the price of freedom.”

“If I stay,” I said evenly, “she dies.”

Decker didn’t deny it. His face remained impassive.

“Then you know my answer.”

“I do.” He nodded once. “I knew you’d make that choice.”

I removed my weapons one by one and placed them on the ground beside the body. A calculated surrender.

“Then let’s go.”

The air folded.

Chapter 13 | Anna

I was deposited into a room that was sterile, old, and smelled ancient. The walls were smooth stone. In the center, one scarred wooden desk that stood alone with a chair. Harsh overhead lights burned brightly. One chair in front of the desk—for interrogation, perhaps. There was no window.

This was a fortress.

And I wondered if this was the same fortress in Hatay, Turkey where I found Kincade after Sebastian took him back the first time.

This… this had to be the same place.

What I knew of the Brotherhood was minimal. Their secret headquarters was in the ruins of Bagras Castle, one of the old Templar fortresses in what was once Antioch. They’d restored the interior of the castle and lived there in secret.

Kincade rarely talked about his time in the Brotherhood, but I knew they’d honed him into a weapon, using him for centuries.

The only other thing I knew about them was they hunted down deserters. Silas had been one of them. Silas had a family once. The Brotherhood killed them in an effort to bring him back into the fold. He’d gotten away and lived in hiding.

And thinking of that now sent a ripple of fear through me. Kincade’s words echoed back to me.

And when they use you to get to me? Because they will.

Was Sebastian going to keep me as a pawn to make Kincade kneel? To make him return to the Brotherhood under this new regime? To turn him into someone I didn’t recognize?

Or was he already that man when he tried to keep me out of their hands? How many lines had he crossed? How many men had he killed?

The door opened. Light slashed in from the hallway, revealing stone walls.

Sebastian Crane stepped inside and closed the door.

We stared at each other a long, silent moment.