Winnie found herself on the balcony, looking out over the banged up and pieced together city. She had taken notice of a woman sitting down, wedged between two different makeshift shops. One for food, which Winnie was sure would give someone some form of food poisoning, and one for wristband repair. She had her head in her hands as her shoulders heaved in sobs like she was the only one around for miles. It was the type of cry you do alone, when no one was around to see so that you could really let it all go.

  Winnie wondered, then, if she was crying because of a bet she made went sour or if she knew one of the killed game-pieces from the game Winnie had seen earlier today. She wanted to believe in maybe, just maybe, this could not be over money. Surely, this woman had to care about one of the game-pieces that were taken today.

  Game-pieces, she tried to shove that word out of her head with a shake. They were people, people with feelings and families somewhere. Maybe one of those family or friends, she hoped, was this girl. They were people that were just trying to survive in a place that feeds off misery and money.

  “You alright?” Eliesa came out to the balcony, causing Winnie to turn back to look at her, eyes heavy. She didn’t know how long she had been there before she said something, but she hoped not too long.

  “Yeah, I’m alright,” Or, at least she believed she would be. She knew, at minimum, she would have to be in order to find both of her brothers.

  “It was just,” Winnie paused, a flash of memory from the day stopping her for a moment. “It was quite the sight to see, I’ve never witnessed someone die before.”

  “The first time is always terrible,” Eliesa tried to soothe, but Winnie didn’t feel very soothed by it. “But what matters is that Charlie made it,” Eliesa walked softly across the small and tight balcony and leaned on the railing next to her, “and I’m sure my mother won’t let him get sent back out.”

  Winnie nodded to her but didn’t say anything in return, she just went back to watching the woman below. She wanted Eliesa to be right in her assumption that Charlie would not see another game, but she couldn’t help but wonder why they went through the trouble of putting the device on him in the first place.She couldn’t help but wonder why Rodgers would be taken to and if he would have the metal strapped on him. Was he taken just to stop him from finding Charlie? Or was he taken for another, much worse reason? These were all questions she just did not have the answers to and she hated that.

  In her overthinking, thoughts of the device, itself, began to swirl around in her head. The way they reflected the light, the way dirt and grime seemed to just roll off of them, and the way it blended so seamlessly into the base of their skulls and down their spines. Like it was alive, living and breathing with them.

  Something was different about it, and yet so familiar at the same time.

  “So his name is Brenner,” Eliesa started and Winnie looked over to her in surprise. She assumed this was to get her mind off of what they saw today, get her to stop overthinking. She was almost grateful for it. Almost.

  “Yes, that’s Brenner,” she nodded and eyed Eliesa warily.

  “He seems very protective of you.” Eliesa concluded, like she was saying something so plain and ordinary and not implying what she was implying.

  “Only because of Charlie. He’s Charlie’s best friend; they met in the academy,” She wanted to shut that down, Brenner was here to do his job and slightly be a plain in her ass. He was always so stiff with her, always had something to say about anything she did.

  She nudged the princess with her side a little, “nothing more?”

  “No, don’t even try it.” Winnie’s entire face dropped into a look that she hoped screamed that she was unamused.

  “Ah. Shame then, I guess. He seems sweet,” Elisa nodded, glancing back to the bathroom door in their room where he had been showering. Once he saw they had a shower in this filthy little hotel room, he insisted he needed one. He said something about the outer ring and locked himself inside.

  “Well, then, what’s his deal? He’s from Fisher?” Eliesa looked back to Winnie.

  “No, he’s from Laven,” Winnie shook her head. “He grew up with his grandparents after his parents passed away while serving in the Lavan military. I met his grandparents and his brother at their graduation. I was the only one that attended for Charlie, so there was less pressure for them to meet just me.”

  “And he climbed his way to New York?” Eliesa sounded impressed and Winnie had guessed that her sister spent so much time in the underworld that there wasn’t much she knew about up here that didn’t involve them directly.

  “They actually wanted him for the head of the Los Angeles department, but he turned it down to follow Charlie to New York.” Winnie clarified, pressing her lips together in a fine line. She was never fully sure why he turned that down, she assumed it was always because he didn’t want to separate from Charlie. They had great working chemistry, it would be hard to find a duo like that just anywhere.

  “This Charlie,” Eliesa thought on it, “he must be pretty special to have you move there for him and have Brenner turn down a big position, as well.”

  “Charlie is someone you can trust, someone that leads without much effort. He’s hard on you, sometimes, but he cares deeply.” She described her brother with a pain in her voice. “But I moved there for his well being, not only because I missed him.”

  Eliesa looked at her, confused, but she didn’t say anything. Winnie could tell she didn’t want to outright ask. The princess let out a breath and decided to say her experience, why her worry ran deeper than him being in trouble, out loud.

  “Around five and a half years ago, Charlie had a mental breakdown while in the field,” She remembered the day she got that call from Brenner well. “It started as a panic attack that just spiraled. Luckily, Brenner had been there to restrain him before he was able to do something stupid to himself or his team. He spent a whole two months in the mental hospital inside the ASA; the first couple of days he was so drugged out he didn’t even remember his own name, let alone mine.”

  “Why?” Eliesa looked concerned. Genuinely concerned, like she almost immediately understood the drive Winnie had to just find him and that did relieve some stress from her shoulders. “Was it his work?”

  “He wouldn’t say,” Winnie shrugged, “Not to me, not to the doctors. He told no one the reason and Brenner said nothing had happened while they were out to really trigger anything. We figured it was some, uh, issues with our father.” She decided not to elaborate on Charlie’s abilities. Not when he couldn’t even use them. “They did what they could; gave him tools to help him cope with whatever was going on with him. They released him home, where I took care of him for another month until he was cleared to enter the office again. Took a lot of screening to get his gun back.”

  “Does he still see someone for it?”

  “No.” Winnie shook her head. “He thinks he doesn’t need therapy, he says that the whole situation would never happen again. It was, in his words, a momentary lapse in judgment, he thinks therapy is a sign of weakness.” Winnie knew it wasn’t entirely true. Charlie thought Therapy was great, just for other people. Not him.

  “That must’ve been hard to watch.”

  “He had spent so much effort looking after me and I love him so much; I just wanted to be there to stop whatever could cause him to go back to that place. Now all this,” she looked from the view to her sister. “I don’t know how he’s doing and that kills me. I don’t know if he’s slipping back to that place, I don’t know what even caused it to begin with. It was a mess when he was arrested but now things just keep getting worse. Keep getting more… serious. I just need to get him home.”

  Eliesa embraced Winnie then, hugging the princess tight; like she could fly away at any moment. Pressing the sides of their heads together, Eliesa let out a soft whisper, like someone could hear them.

  “I’ll get you to him, we’ll get him out of this. I promise.”

  Winnie narrowed her eyes only slightly in the hug as she moved her arms just barely to return it. There was something then, between them, that was different. Different than just a moment ago.

  She didn’t have much time to think about it as the door opened from the bathroom and Brenner came out in just his pants. It caught both their attention and they separated slowly in their hug.

  Now toweling his hair, the two women watched from where they stood; Winnie more intently than Eliesa, who didn’t seem to care much for his physic. He pulled a shirt on and walked towards the balcony. He didn’t step outside, he just stopped and leaned on the doorway slightly.

  “Are you both alright?”

  “Fine,” the two replied in unison.

  “I’m going to go check up on the news,” Eliesa looked to Winnie, “See if they announce who’s playing the later games to make sure Charlie is safe.” She moved to go inside and Brenner stepped out of her way, apologizing under his breath.

  “I was about to go in,” Wnnie watched as Brenner came to stand next to her. He didn’t respond as he leaned against the railing and stared at her. SHe dropped her gaze before she remembered who she was, her status, and she stared up at him with an upturned nose.

  “Why'd you come here?” Brenner spoke to break the tense silence.

  “To save Charlie.”

  “No, I get that much,” Brenner shook his head. He didn’t seem angry, he just seemed concerned. She didn’t want to fall for it, not if it was a trap.“I’m asking why did you come here without telling me? And, not to mention, finding a lost sibling and not telling me either.”

  “Do I have to report everything to you?” She raised one eyebrow to him, begging him to pick a fight with her for real. It had been nice to not be so defensive all the time when it was just her and Eliesa. She missed it.

  “That’s not what I mean,” He shook his head at her answer.

  “Would you have let me come if I told you?”

  “No,” he scoffed, “never in a million years.”

  Winnie tilted her head fully towards him and gave a deadpanned expression. How could he be so dense?

  “Then you have your answer.”

  Brenner tried his best to not let the frustration with her get to him, she could see that much in his face as he took a moment to calm himself down internally. She looked back out across the street, noticing her crying woman was gone, and decided to continue to speak.

  “Besides, I would have never known about this kingdom if I didn’t. How could I be expected to take any throne when I don’t know my neighbors?”

  A sharp breath was sucked in as Brenner stood up straight. He seemed to be losing the battle of staying calm.

  “Sneaking into your neighbors is worse. You’re supposed to come here on a protected and guarded trip and do your visit the right way, for people of your status.”

  “Oh, here you go again with my status,” Winnie rolled her eyes. “I’m starting to think your back-up plan to the ASA was being a princess. How else would you know all about this protocol?” She looked over to him, looked him up and down, then looked back out. “I don’t think a dress would ever work with those hips.”

  “Okay, okay, then fine. Let me ask you this, what have you learned so far on a break-in trip that you wouldn’t have learned on one of those safe trips?” He raised one eyebrow, his voice cracking on and off in anger.

  “If I was even able to come, which seems unlikely, I wouldn’t have been able to see a game, that would’ve been a secret. Now that I have, I have a bad feeling that these games have a lot more to do with Fisher than it’s leading on.” She spoke shortly and sure of herself, deciding, for some reason, to let him in on her hunch. Winnie had many hunches; hunches that Charlie would just call her overly active imagination.

  “Why would you say that?”Brenner looked confused, his anger sputtering off. It’s not what he was expecting her to say, so he gave her a chance to explain before passing judgement.

  “The control device, it looks like a type of surgical ore, not scrap metal. Fisher is the only kingdom with the capacity to mine and create that kind of tech. Plus, it doesn’t help that it gets mined in the region that was once Ramon. A side that was with Zease in the great war.”

  “Don’t, your father would never willingly know about all this. Let alone help. They probably got it from the mainland,” Brenner shook his head. He was not about to get flagged for speaking out against the oldest king in Cloenia.

  “We also thought he’d never have a child outside of the queen, and yet,” Winnie motioned her head to the balcony door, where Eliesa was inside. It wasn’t entirely true. The public would never have guessed that, but those that knew Yandy, knew it wasn’t so far fetched.

  “That’s a huge thing to accuse your father of,” Brenner looked to the door then back to the princess. “The ore and the tech to do all this? That’s some hunch, a hunch that can get you into some serious trouble with him.”

  “Oh, of course my idea is wrong, because you and Charlie are the only ones that can figure things out,” She looked at him with anger behind her eyes. “You and Charlie, Charlie and you, you both are the only ones that just know everything. Smartest guys around.” She pretended to look surprised then, “oh! But, then, not so smart to fall right into a trap you both didn’t see coming.”

  “That’s not very—“

  A finger went to point into Brenner’s face before he could argue back, but she had to really reach as she was much shorter than him. “You two get on my damn nerves sometimes with your high and mighty ‘must-protect’ and smart boys attitude<’ She paused, took a breath, and continued, “mostly, just you.”

  “Winnie, you do not want to get on his bad side. I’ve seen how he treats Charlie. Ou just don’t,” Brenner shook his head, not all that rattled by her anger. Or, at least, he was doing a good job at pretending he wasn’t.

  She glared at him and he stared back at her, awaiting her answer. Only, none came. Winnie left the balcony in a huff and went inside.

  Eliesa stood as she entered so quickly with Brenner not far behind. She looked bewildered, confused as to what could’ve possibly happened between the two outside.

  “Winnie—“ Brenner begged her.

  “Don’t Winnie me,“ she cut him off, turning to face him while seething with anger, “you had every intention of leaving me out of everything having to do with Charlie. Then you, what? Involve the most untrustworthy of us, Rodgers? What the hell is he going to do for you?”

  “A lot, actually,” Brenner didn’t really raise his voice but he was stern. “Rodgers found us documents, documents that can crack everything wide open once we figure out what it means. The less people knew that we had them, the better. If the team got it too early, it would’ve all been taken away and given to internal affairs, who we think got us into this mess in the first place. I was going to tell you, Winnie, I was, when you came to see Charlie, but we were inside the ASA building.”

  “Then you should’ve found the time to come over and let me in on all of this, not just cut me out.”

  “By the time we figured it all out, Charlie was gone. There was no time to get to you and explain everything. We had to move fast.” He tried to get her to understand, but Winnie wasn’t having it. “This goes deep, all I’m trying to do is protect you.”

  Winnie stepped toe to toe with the much larger man, putting her chin up far so that she could pretend like they were eye to eye. She spoke like the last sentence brought her right back to the edge of her anger.

  “I don’t want you to protect me. I never asked for you to protect me.”

  “Well, I want to protect you, whether you like it or not; I will keep protecting you until I breathe my last breath.” Brenner still never raised his voice to her, no matter how badly she wanted him to in all this. No matter how much she egged him on. He stood still as she remained squared up with him.

  “Just because Charlie wants you to, doesn’t mean you should follow it blindly.” She glared up at him but all he did was stare back at her with those soft stupid brown eyes.

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  “I never said I was protecting you for his sake. Just said I was protecting you.”

  Eliesa decided they were getting nowhere with all of this nonsense tension and decided to step in, putting her hands in front of either of their chests to spread them apart.

  “Stop it, the both of you. What’s done is done,” she looked to Brenner, “we’re both here and you can’t stop that.” She looked at Winnie, “he is quite literally just trying to do his job when it comes to you.”

  When neither of the two said anything, Eliesa heaved a heavy and exacerbated breath.

  “Let’s just work together to figure this all out and then we can patch whatever this is up after we get out of Zease. Okay?”

  Winnie said nothing still, she just stared down Brenner to see what he would say but she also was pretending not to be absolutely thrown but what he had said last. I never said I was protecting you for his sake. Why did that feel so frustrating and yet so… Winnie actually didn’t want to go there.

  “Fine,” Brenner agreed before looking down at Eliesa’s hand out in front of him. It was then that he caught a glimpse of a brand on her forearm, one he knew quite well. Within a second, he had grabbed her wrist and held it high up to his face, raising her with it as he tower above the both of them. She squirmed against him as he examined it, Eliesa locking eyes with Winnie in fear as she snapped out of her anger.

  Brenner had been right, the mark on her was Familiar. It was familiar because it was the same crescent moon and cross shape that had come to haunt his nightmares as of recently. Brenner looked from the branding to her fearful eyes.

  “Who is your mother?” Now his voice was slightly raised as he turned them, putting himself between her and Winnie.

  She looked back to Winnie, who was behind Brenner now, and Winnie subtly shook her head no. If Brenner found out, he’d surely separate them, he already sort of was.

  “Don’t look at her, look at me,“ Brenner demanded.

  “A random merchant,” a lie, and not even a good one.

  “The truth. You two didn’t come here by some string of chance.” He rationalized, it wasn’t very hard with a lie like that. “Tell me now.”

  Knowing she had been backed into a corner, she confessed. “Sage Barrar.”

  “Exactly,” Brenner kept his grip on her. “And you expect me to believe you have Winnie’s best interests at heart?”

  “What my mother is doing will hurt a lot of innocent people, not just Fisher. Going to Winnie was my only option to stop her.”

  “You really think she’s not leading you into a trap?” Brenner spoke to Winnie behind him but did not remove his gaze from Eliesa. “They have two Fishers already, she can easily snatch you and then they would have all three. Seems like a perfect plan. Zeken two, her daughter one.”

  “Then why hasn’t she?” Winnie thought back to the hug on the balcony. If that was Eliesa’s original plan, Winnie felt things shift. She felt that change, whatever that change was. “She’s had the opportunity so many times.”

  Brenner hated to admit Winnie had a point. So he didn’t. He just let her keep talking.

  “She can help, she got me here. She knows some of the plan. If there’s ever a chance we are to find Charlie and Rodgers, we are not going to be able to do that without her.”

  Now he really hated that she had a point. He supposed, now that he was here, he could step in if things went south. He could protect Winnie and get the information out of Eliesa at the same time. He could make this work, he just needed to not leave them alone together.

  “One thought out of line and I will take you down. Understood?” Brenner tightened his grip on her wrist slightly before he finally released her..

  “Winnie would take me down before you could. She already has once before.” Eliesa rubbed her wrist softly and took a step away, towards her sister.

  Brenner decided to let that comment go for his own sanity. His head spun with information that he needed to confirm because, while he hated it, Winnie was right. Someone with inside information was in front of him and he would be an idiot if he didn’t use that to his advantage.

  “If you’re so connected to all of this, then you would know the documents Rodgers found in that clinic; don’t you?”

  “I do,” Eliesa answered, “but I’ve never seen more than a couple pages here and there. Heard most of what I know of her plans when I was needed or by eavesdropping.”

  “I have someone you need to speak to over video call. He’s combing through the documents we have trying to make sense of it. If you’re truly on our side, you’d help.” He didn’t know if he was making a mistake or not, but they were staring down a dead end. What choice did he have?

  “Well, I am, so I’m willing to help.”

  “You stay here, talk it through with him, and I’ll scout around.” Brenner concluded.

  “I’m going with you.” Winnie cut in.

  “Fine,” It saved him the embarrassment of asking her to come with him. Also saved him from asking her and Winnie immediately wanting to do the opposite and cause another fight. “But you are to follow my instructions carefully.”

  While she didn’t want to agree to his terms, Winnie did feel accomplished that he agreed to let her come along.

  “Fine, but only because your experience makes you better suited to lead,” She did her best to mock his tone.

  “Whatever makes you not yell at me again,” Brenner grabbed his corduroy jacket and slipped it on.

  Eliesa turned to Winnie as Brenner grabbed a laptop out of his bag and began to open it up.

  “Look by the arena,” Eliesa whispered to her sister, “see if he’s with the other game-pieces. That is the only place I can think of him being if Zeken doesn’t have him close. Maybe he’s trying to hide in plain sight, make it so public you can’t close in on him.”

  “Got it,” Winnie nodded.

  “And if you run into him, Winnie,” She put both hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes. “Run as fast as you can, do not give him a chance to get to you. Run like your life depends on it.”

  This had been the first time she had seen Eliesa so concerned for her well-being, not just focused on trying to get them here and find Charlie. If the intensity said anything, it was that something did indeed change in that hug. But, Winnie also knew that there was just something Eliesa wasn’t saying.

  “Does it?” Winnie whispered.

  Eliesa went to speak, opening her mouth, but Brenner spoke first.

  “Alright, Justin,” Brenner turned and motioned Eliesa over. She gave Winnie a once over before leaving her and coming into view. “This is Eliesa, she’s going to review the documents with you and see what she can make out.”

  “Hey, if she thinks she can piece together what this schematic is, be my guest.” Justin smiled on the camera feed before he noticed Winnie. “Winnie! Oh, it’s a pleasure to see you. Beautiful as always, even in the poor lighting.” The tech specialist didn’t seem to have any reservations about her being in Zease, which made her smile.

  “Hello, Justin.” She gave a small wave from where she stood but Winnie noticed she sounded a bit far away in her mind.

  “Call me if you need anything.” Brenner stood up straight as Eliesa sat down at the rickety hotel desk.

  “Same goes for you,” Justin replied in a more serious tone. “Winnie—” he called to her and she looked up from where she had been staring at the ground, “make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid for me, will you? I need him to approve my timecards. I don’t want a delay in pay.”

  Her heart warmed at that, pride filling her chest even though she knew it was probably a joke. There was something about Justin that just always picked up her spirits.

  “Of course.”

  “Thank you, kindly.”

  Brenner motioned his head to the princess who followed him over to the door. She turned and gave Eliesa one final nervous look, her sister giving her a nod in return.

  “It'll be okay,” Eliesa whispered and Winnie nodded before she lightly closed the door behind her.

  Underground, the twins were sitting with their backs to the bars. They both decided that they would refuse to look at each other after the many small fights that came about in the first few attempts to talk.

  “Why aren’t you, like, reversing the lock with your Kulun abilities?” Rodgers muttered to cut through their on and off again silence.

  “Doesn’t work like that.”

  “Doesn’t work like that, or just straight up doesn’t work?” Rodgers smirked as he looked at the back wall of his cell.

  Charlie sighed. Honestly, he didn’t even try once since being locked up. After what happened with Rat and his powers working without the gloves, he had felt off. There was something in his chest that wasn’t quite right and he didn’t know if something was wrong or if that was just a bundle of emotions he didn’t want to unpack.

  “It doesn’t work.” He spoke sharply, nearly muttering to himself. Charlie had been sitting with his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, and he was glad he was right now. The look on his face was full of shame.

  Silence crept back in for a couple minutes, that’s how it had been going since Rodgers woke back up. Couple sentences here and there, silence, a bit more chatting that included some mean remarks, then back to silence. It was a nice enough routine that kept them from going insane from the noises of constantly dripping water.

  “You were passed out when they brought you in. Zeken watched as they threw you in the cell,” Charlie retold to continue their cycle. It was his turn to make a jab. “He said you were on a brew.”

  Rodgers clenched his jaw. He didn’t want to speak about his mistake that landed him down here. He wanted to go back to them making shallow remarks at each other, he liked that quite a lot.

  “Why the hell would you do that when you know what kind of situation we’re in?” Charlie tried to understand. “I know that Sage wants me, he told me that. If you made it all the way here, you must know that.. Is that not serious enough to keep your brain off that bottle?”

  “This goes deeper than even you know,” Rodgers informed, “Sage is involved, yes. The ASA is corrupted. A horseman was in Manhattan, in Henderson’s. Brenner, Justin, and myself found documents, documents that put together some of this but we couldn’t see the overall plan. It’s connected somehow, but it goes beyond you and revenge from Zeken.”

  “So then why, Rodgers? Why risk drinking one?”

  “Why ask? So that you can throw judgement? You won’t understand and I’m not wasting my breath.”

  “I’m trying to get it. I think I at least deserve a chance to understand.” Charlie begged, “I’ve tried and tried again with you over this. I know it’s a hard thing to kick but you know me and Winnie are here to help.”

  “You don’t know my life, so you don’t know my reasons.” He closed his eyes and could almost hear the gunshot that ruined his life like it was happening in real time right then. He took a breath in and a breath out as he reopened his eyes.

  “You don’t let anyone know you,” Charlie turned from where he sat but Rodgers didn’t budge. “Maybe that’s your problem, Rodgers, is that you don’t know how to do anything but wallow in your own self-pity.”

  “Stop,” Rodgers demanded, but he didn’t turn to face his brother.

  “No, you need to hear this. You’re being a little bitch about everything all the time.” Charlie gripped one of the bars. “You were needed and you failed because you had to have a drink. The hospital visits weren’t enough to make you stop, so how about now? Is this serious enough?”

  Fingers found his ears as Rodgers clogged them to ignore Charlie. “I can’t hear you.”

  “You’re such a child!” Charlie couldn’t believe him and yet completely could at the same time. He looked around before he found a pebble in his dirty cell.

  When the pebble clapped against the back of Rodgers’ head, he turned with a glare before taking his fingers out of his ears.

  “What the hell, man?”

  “Do you even care that if we don’t get out of this, Winnie will have to face the fact that she lost her only siblings?”

  Rodgers just stared at him for a while before turning back and putting his head back against the bars.

  The lack of control in the arena made him want to get everything off his chest. If he went back in there, he couldn’t prevent his death. Even if Rodgers had nothing to say, Charlie did.

  “You really hurt me when you left like that. One day we were fine, and the next morning you were gone. That's a pretty messed up thing to do to your family.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I don’t! That’s what I’m trying to say, Rodgers, is that I don’t understand why you left. If you’re going to tell me nothing else, I at least deserve to know why you drove this wedge between the both of us; before we both die because of your incompetence.”

  “Why don’t you ask your father,” Rodgers scoffed.

  “Was it the pressure on you? Because that’s no reason to just ditch us, Rodgers, because you didn’t want to step up and take the throne. You could have just declined it.”

  Rodgers turned his head just barely, locking eyes with Charlie. If Charlie wanted some end-of-life discussion, then he’d give him it to hopefully shut him up.

  “He tried to kill me in my sleep. He didn’t tell you that, did he? Probably said it was all these things that were on me but the dude is psycho,” Rodgers scoffed, “You have to at least know that, that he’s crazy. I’m sure he latched onto you once I was gone.”

  Charlie turned his whole body towards Rodgers, his eyes looking for any sense that he could be lying to him. The thing was, he didn’t see any of the usual tells on Rodgers even if he wasn’t facing him fully. He could see it, he could see that being something Yandy would do, but he just didn’t want to believe it.

  “That’s not the truth. He’s not a good father but that’s not something he’d do. Not to his firstborn, at least.”

  “Don’t say I left you when I didn’t have a choice,” Rodgers’ voice fell slightly then, like all the teasing and torment was gone and replaced with just an empty shell. “After mom had found him, on top of me, hands around my neck, she got me to safety.” He wanted a brew right about now, all these horrible memories swimming to the front of his brain. First the nightmare, and now Charlie was basically forcing this conversation to happen. At least he didn’t have to speak about Richard with the memories fresh in his brain. “I was told not to return when she handed me off to a stranger at the royal docks in the middle of the night.”

  Charlie stared at the back of his head, hating the fact that he believed him. He didn't want Rodgers to stop letting him in. Charlie, selfishly, wanted to know more.

  “Why? Who was this guy to her?”

  “His name is Reeva Lenos. He was her friend.” His right hand ran along the opposite jean jacket’s cuff. “He raised me from then on, me and a good friend. Took care of us both. Kept us out of trouble as much as he could; which was hard at times.”

  Charlie still didn’t understand and, despite Rodgers sounding torn up, he continued to press him. “Why would Yandy try to kill you?”

  “He promised someone one thing, he decided to not follow through. He used his unborn son as a pawn, but when he had twins, he couldn’t tell which one was part of the deal he made. He waited, watched us, and when I showed signs; he made his move.” Rodgers thought for a moment before he turned the tides away from him. “He’s the reason you got that Kulun magic, yeah?”

  “Do you know that, or is that a guess?” Charlie wanted to be sure how much of his own secrets stayed tucked away.

  “A guess.” Rodgers shrugged.

  “Pretty damn good guess, if you ask me.” Charlie muttered.

  “So that whole development,” He motioned to all of Charlie, “I’m right that it wasn’t natural? I’m right that you believe me, I’m right that you know that he’s crazy?”

  Rodgers told him his, so Charlie chose to tell Rodgers his own. It was only fair. It was an added bonus that if they died in here, he at least got everything off his chest. He would die with a clear mind.

  “He had invited me to dinner, claiming he wanted me and Matthew, the Kulun before me, to help explain how we work together to solve cases. Said he wondered if he could maybe get ideas for the judicial system in Fisher.” Charlie let out a sharp sigh of frustration, like he was angry that he didn’t see what was coming when it looked so obvious to him now. “It was like Yandy was drunk with his own power, the look in his eyes when he did it. He poisoned Matthew and caught the ability within his own, forcing it into me before I could even say anything.”

  Charlie sat back, broad shoulders against the uncomfortable bars. He replayed the events of the night in his head. How he was wary and yet still let Matthew walk right into a trap.

  “It wasn’t the first horrible thing I let him do; he would make me do things for him all the time before that. Execute targets, break into places and gather information, plant monitoring devices, it was like he said yes to the ASA just to turn me into his own little machine. But, after what he did to Matthew, I stopped answering his calls, even if he had the threat of blackmail against me. I stopped doing anything for him, I didn’t understand why he would do such a thing to someone who was supposed to be his equal, and I couldn’t imagine what he would do to me now that I held that secret and so much more.” Charlie thought Yandy would kill him too, which is why he had believed Rodgers. When he first started to ignore him, Charlie was just waiting around for the day to come where he showed up to end him. Charlie supposed he was, in the words of Rodgers, psycho.

  “Yeah, well,” Rodgers shrugged. “It wasn’t your fault or your choice, just as it wasn’t mine to leave that day. You see that, at least. Right?”

  It saddened Charlie that he hated his brother this whole time against false pretenses. While he didn’t agree with his usage of the brews, he started to see the understanding Winnie had for him. The compassion she could feel towards him, because she had been right. They didn’t know if he had his reasons beyond being a coward.

  Charlie’s hand went up to touch the cool device against the base of his neck as he thought back to everything that had happened in the past week. In his view, although he treated him like he was disposable, Rodgers stepped up for him. It wasn’t something Charlie could honestly say he would’ve done for him. Charlie didn’t know why Rodgers’ did, but he did and even if that landed him here, he still risked his life to clear his name and get him home. That meant something.

  “I’m sorry,” Charlie broke the new silence suddenly, “I’m done. I’m done being far apart from you. Since you showed back up, I wanted you to be as you were when you left and that was wrong of me. I held onto this hate for you, for leaving and saddling me with Yandy, that I never stopped and saw that maybe I’m not the only one he had a plan for.”

  Rodgers sat up and turned, clearly confused to hear an apology. He didn’t say anything. He just looked at Charlie and waited for him to say more.

  “If you’re not ready to talk about it, I shouldn’t force you,” Charlie’s voice was calm, but quivering. “But stop, Rodgers. Stop doing this to yourself, at least try. You came back for a reason. You found us. Let me help you in more ways than just picking you up in some random abandoned building in the middle of the night.”

  Charlie turned once again to look at his brother, but Rodgers was already staring back. The shared pain that they had gone through clicked in their brains without needing to even pass another word between them. Had they spent less time yelling at each other, less time blaming each other for things that were Yandy, this whole situation could’ve been avoided.

  “I knew.” Rodgers suddenly croaked out. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked over Charlie. Those cuts and bruises, that shining device, these bars that they were both behind, they were all his fault. He knew that, It was impossible for him to not know that. “I knew that they framed you before they even did it and I never said anything to you. I wasn’t even going to help until Winnie said something to me.”

  “Rodgers,” Charlie spoke softly as he watched his brother crumble.

  “No, just listen to me. I tried to take you out, I tried to give you an alibi instead of just telling you because I didn’t want anything being traced back to me but you bailed and I didn’t even try to explain what was coming your way.” He didn’t let a tear fall, but his voice held all the pain that the last six years had brought him all at once. “I should’ve just told you, I should’ve tried harder. I should’ve put everything aside when I saw that horseman.”

  Charlie looked across the dim dungeon hallway at Rodgers who just desperately hung on to his dignity. He could see he wanted to crack all the way and he knew he probably had beaten himself up over it in private too many times to count. Not just for this, but for everything. He supposed he had two choices; to be mad at him for not saying anything or to forgive him and move on.

  For once, Charlie chose to forgive him. He softened his gaze and gave Rodgers almost a knowing face, one that told him he wasn’t mad before he told him.

  “I understand. It’s hard, doing the right thing,” He knew he had done the wrong thing, himself, just because it was easier so many times before. “We can’t go back and stop it, but we can figure it out.”

  Rodgers’ brows pinched upwards. “Figure it out?”

  “If we are going to make it out of here, we need to pool our knowledge. I’ll tell you how I got here, you tell me how you got here. We go from there, but we leave nothing out.”

  Rodgers nodded before the twins scooted to sit facing each other slowly.

  “We tell each other the whole truth. Understand?”

  “I understand.” Rodgers nodded sharply. He had regained his composure slightly, but he was sure he looked like a mess.

  “The entire truth,” Charlie emphasized and Rodgers echoed it softly.

  “Let’s see how many fights this starts,” Rodgers mumbled before they began.

  I'll do it under an alias, I'm not dumb