He closed his eyes in an attempt to blot it all out, and instead what he saw was his own brother’s face as Drake sneered his contempt for him.
“I don’t have to listen to you. You’re not my father. You barely qualify as my brother. I swear, Lise has more testosterone than you do. You’re just a worthless piece of shit who cowers and grovels every time Arturo gets near you. I refuse to be like you, so pathetic, wasted, and scared that my own guards mock me for it. I will not give up or give in, and I damn sure won’t belly crawl for someone else. So why don’t you go find a cock to suck on, and get out of my face. Let me show you how a man handles things.”
He flinched at Drake’s angry words that’d been hurled at him when he’d tried one last time to stop Drake from confronting Arturo over embezzling part of their inheritance.
Only fifteen, Drake had thought himself man enough to fight.
And after Arturo had almost killed him for his adolescent stupidity and left the boy in intensive care, Darling had made the mistake of going to Ryn.
“You have to help us. Even though you’re illegitimate, you’re a direct blood descendant from the governor. The CDS can make a special accommodation for you to rule until I turn thirty.”
Just like Drake, Ryn had sneered in his face. “Forget it. You’re not dragging me back into that backbiting shithole. I’ve had enough of it. I don’t want your throne or anything else to do with Caronese politics. For the first time in my life, I’m happy and I intend to stay that way.” Ryn had tried to make him leave Ryn’s apartment, but Darling had refused to go.
“He’s going to kill them, Ryn. Don’t you understand? They won’t listen to me at all. Not my mother or Drake. No matter how much I beg or threaten them. Drake’s only getting worse as he gets older. He thinks he can take Arturo head on. And I’m tired of running interference between them. Of deflecting Arturo’s anger to me so he’ll leave them alone. Please? I can’t take it anymore. I can’t. I’m through being their punching bag. I just want to go to sleep one night in my shitty life and feel safe. Is that really too much to ask?”
Darling had gestured to his arm that Arturo had shattered when Darling had stupidly tried to kill him for what he’d done to Drake. “I’m still underage by our laws. And none of the other aristos will do anything to help us. Believe me, I’ve tried. The gerents are all too afraid of Arturo to back me without a stronger man to come in as my guardian. You told me that you’d be here if I needed you. I need you, big brother. We all do. Please, don’t do this to me. I’m begging you for mercy.”
Ryn shook his head in continual denial. “I love you, Darling. I do. But I’m not about to let you or anyone else drag me back to that hellhole. I’m not a politician and I don’t want to be one. Just go home where you belong. They’re your family, not mine. You deal with their psycho asses.”
In that second of panicked desperation, Darling had looked down at the scars on his wrists from when he’d tried to kill himself and, like Drake, he’d let his fury get the better of his tongue. He didn’t want to go back either. It wasn’t fair that Ryn had his freedom while he’d have to wait more than another decade for his. He was tired and frustrated.
Most of all, he was through with being the sole defender while he had an older brother who should have been willing to help them.
Just as Drake had done to him, he’d verbally gone for Ryn’s throat. “So that’s it then? Captain Tavali. Lord Badass. At the end of the day, you’re nothing but a selfish, scared asshole just like all the others in your family. I wonder what your friends would think if they knew what a spineless coward you really are?”
Darling had known exactly the buttons he was pushing and why they stung Ryn so badly. He shouldn’t have done it.
But he’d wanted to hurt Ryn the way Ryn had hurt him by refusing to help. And it was too late to take those words back. Once they were out, they’d been a deadly challenge.
One Ryn had met with a furious snarl. He’d whirled on Darling then and grabbed him. They’d started fighting like two rabid animals. A fight that ended several minutes later when Ryn lifted Darling off his feet and threw him into the glass dining table. Because of his shattered arm that was in a sling and the other that was braced due to a sprain, Darling had been unable to catch himself. As a result, his face had taken the brunt of the fall.
In all the vicious beatings he’d had over the years, never had he seen so much blood. Felt more pain. The glass had torn through his body like a thousand razors. It’d taken the medics over half an hour to extract him from the broken pieces.
The whole time they worked to save him, Darling had prayed he’d finally bleed out and die.
But the gods had never been merciful to him.