The sound of a door opening in the study energized him. Jogging on the balls of his loafers, he scooted back into the ladies’ parlor and reclosed the panels silently behind himself.
He was facing the John Singer Sargent over the fireplace when the butler called his name about two minutes later.
“He will see you now.”
No reason to throw a thank-you out. He just followed in the wake of the doggen’s disapproval—and braced himself for more of the same from his father.
Usually, he hated coming here.
But not tonight. No, tonight, he had a far greater purpose than thwarting what was no doubt going to be yet another of his father’s attempts to shame him into going straight.
Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Trez frowned at the sound. Cracking one eye open, he found his brother standing over his bed, Boo the black cat in the male’s arms, an expression of disapproval narrowing those icy eyes.
His brother’s, not the cat’s.
“Are you spending another night on your ass,” iAm bit out.
Not a question, so why bother throwing out an answer.
Groaning as he sat up, Trez had to brace his arms to keep his torso vertical. Apparently, while he’d been out of it, the world had turned into a hula hoop and the planet was going around and around his neck.
Losing the fight, he flopped back down.
As his brother kept standing there, he knew that this was the siren call back to reality. And he wanted to answer it, he really did. His body, however, was out of gas.#p#分页标题#e#
“When was the last time you fed?” iAm demanded.
He shifted his eyes over and dodged the question. “Since when are you an animal lover?”
“I hate this goddamn cat.”
“I can tell.”
“Answer me.”
The fact that he couldn’t even think of when he’d … nope, total blank.
“I’ll send someone,” iAm muttered. “And then you and I are going to talk.”
“Let’s talk now.”
“Why, so you can pretend you didn’t hear it right later?”
Well, there was a thought. “No.”
“They’re going after our father and mother.”
Trez sat up again, and this time he didn’t need any extra help. Shit. He should have expected this from the s’Hisbe, but …
“How.”
“How do you think?” His brother shifted his gentle scratching from the black cat’s ears to under its chin. “They’re going to start with her.”
He rubbed his face. “Jesus Christ. I didn’t expect the high priest would be so—”
“It wasn’t him. Nah. He was the second person who came to see me last night.”
“What time is it?” Although the fact that he could see out the windows into the night at least partially answered that one. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you got home?”
“I tried. Three times. I was going to send for a crash cart if you didn’t come around on this trip.”
“So what did the high priest say?”
“s’Ex is the one we have to worry about.”
Trez dropped his hands. Staring up at his brother, he knew he must have heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, who?”
“Not the kind of name I need to repeat, is it?”
“Oh, God.” What the hell was the queen’s enforcer doing paying a visit to his brother? Then again … “They’re really upping the ante, aren’t they.”
iAm sat on the edge of the bed, his weight causing the mattress to shift. “We are at the impasse, Trez. No more pretending, no more persuasion. They’ve used the carrot; now they’re going to use the stick.”
As Trez thought of his parents, he could barely picture their faces. The last time he’d seen them had been … well, there was another thing he couldn’t remember. What was crystal clear, though? The quarters they lived in. Marble everything. Gold fixtures. Silk rugs. Servants everywhere. Jewels hanging from lamps to create a sparkle effect.
They hadn’t started out like that—and that was another thing he could picture: He’d been born in a modest two-bedroom flat in the far corner of court—nice enough by normal standards.
Nothing close to what they’d gotten when they’d sold his future.
And after that? While they’d upgraded to the best of the best? He’d been sent to be raised by the queen’s staff, alone in a white room. It hadn’t been until he’d refused to eat or drink for nights upon nights that iAm had been sent to him.
And that was how their dysfunction had started.
Ever since then? Somehow, iAm had become the one responsible for keeping him going.
“Do you remember when we saw them last?” he heard himself say.