Page 139 of The Shadows Between Us
“He’d been serving as a manservant for a week,” Xanthos says. “We were just waiting for the right moment. When there weren’t guards around. When Kallias would let his shadows down.”
“And the letter?” I ask. “The gentleman’s club?”
Xanthos shakes his head. “No, that was Vasco’s doing. I would never agree to such a stupid and convoluted plan. He’s lucky he saw through Kallias’s disguise. Lucky he wasn’t seen at the club.”
A lead weight sinks low in my chest. “I left you on the dais with him at the ball. I told you to look over him!”
“And he would have died if Petros hadn’t seen me touch him. He thought it was an accident, but he ordered me away so Kallias could heal.”
“Xanthos,” Kallias says finally, as though he still can’t quite believe it, as though he didn’t hear any of the conversation we just had. “What happened to you? Why didn’t you tell me it was you? I would have—”
“You would havewhat?” Xanthos snaps. “Stepped down from being king? Given the title over willingly and happily? You and I both know you wouldn’t have. Not after you’d had a taste of the power. Besides, I couldn’t reveal myself until Mother and Father were dead. Until you were dead, so no one could stand with you to contest my claim to the throne.”
“Oh,” I say, as realization dawns. “You didn’t have the ability. The shadows. Your father didn’t want you to become king. You embarrassed him, didn’t you?”
Xanthos raises his sword so the point presses against my throat. “I would stay silent if I were you.”
“Leave her out of this,” Kallias says, tugging me out of reach of the sword. He places his body between me and his older brother. “I don’t understand. Father ordered you beaten?”
Xanthos’s nostrils flare as his face hardens. “He beat me himself. To death, almost. That was surely his intention. He left me by the side of the road, near a carriage he had his men tip over, to make it look like an accident. And then he left, not a shred of guilt to be found.”
“That’s when Vasco found you,” I say.
“When he found out what my father did, he pledged his loyalty to me. The true king. He took care of me. Helped me disguise myself, vowed to help me take back my throne. We hired those men to enter the palace, put the whole place on lockdown. I killed Father before he even knew what was happening. It was much too quick. He should have been beaten first, as I was. But I knew I didn’t have much time.”
Kallias’s breathing has hastened. “And Mother?” he asks, his voice breaking at the end.
“I couldn’t be sure she wasn’t in on it. It was harder to kill her, but I knew I had to. She was already beginning to suspect who I was.”
But that was too much. Kallias launches himself at Xanthos, dodging the sword and tackling him to the ground. The sword goes flying off to the side, and I run to retrieve it. Then I stand back, watching the two men.
Kallias has the fight in hand.
He’s landed atop Xanthos. Straddling him, he unleashes his fists on the fallen man. “She. Was. My. Mother.” He punctuates each word with a slam of his knuckles.
Xanthos surges upward, slamming his forehead into Kallias’s nose. He shoves him to the side, freeing himself from his younger brother’s clutches.
And then he kicks him. Kallias goes down.
“Don’t think you were the only one who loved her,” Xanthos says. He pulls at his cuff links almost without noticing, and I remember that he liked to wear ones shaped like roses. Their mother’s favorite flower. “It nearly killed me to end her, too. But you? You I will enjoy killing.”
Kallias rolls away and manages to find his feet, but a steady drip of blood comes from his nose.
They tangle together again. Dodging and throwing fists. I can’t do anything but watch. What if I slash the wrong man with the sword? Should I run for the guards?
Not if I want to risk Xanthos winning the fight.
“How have you enjoyed my birthright, Kallias? Did you like ruling behind the council? Did you enjoy the king’s suite? Sitting at the head of the dinner table?”
“I did,” Kallias says. “I never would have given it up. Not for a powerless, pathetic, matricidal whelp like you.”
Xanthos screams as he flings himself at Kallias. They roll over each other on the floor, until Xanthos comes up on top this time.
Kallias takes a fist to his lips, to his left eye, to his throat.
Xanthos will kill him, I’m sure of it.
I step forward with the sword, place it under his throat. “Off. Now.”
