He didn’t look so great.
I was torn in two.
A part of me had loyalty only to Kas. I would fight with everything I had if Jareth decided to pay Kas back for his attack. But the other part of me filled with hope.
When Kas had launched himself at Jareth, he’d been different.
He’d been...alive.
Something had sparked awake inside him, shoving past his pain, his stubbornness, and all the other mess he swam in.
He’d been real—more real and vibrant than I’d seen since arriving in this godforsaken valley. Something had clicked into place inside him as he’d let loose and given in to his rage.
Yes, he’d been hell-bent on killing Jareth. And yes, he’d been absolutely terrifying, but he’d seemed sane. Honest with who he was and what he was capable of.
As he’d swung punch after punch, using his entire body as a weapon against his enemy, it’d seemed as if he’d found a piece of himself that he’d lost. A piece he’d stopped running from and embraced wholeheartedly.
He’d been so fast. So strong. So vicious.
But it’d been more than that.
For the first time since I’d met Kas, he’d looked...whole.
And it was the best thing I’d ever seen. His eyes had been clear of ghosts. His determination had been true, even if it’d been murderous.
He’d seemed free.
“Is he breathing?” Jareth croaked, spitting a wad of blood onto a bush beside him.
I ran my hand over Kas’s cheek, checking his vitals. “Yes. He’s just passed out.”
“Well, wake him up. We need to talk.”
I looked up, my hackles still raised thanks to this stranger with soulless eyes, even if he and Kas thought of each other as brothers. How much should I tell him about Kas’s ongoing issues? What would be beneficial, and what would be a betrayal of Kas’s trust?
Jareth saved me from making a choice by muttering, “He’s different.”
I stiffened. “What do you expect after a decade? Everyone becomes different with time.”
He narrowed his eyes, the left side of his face rivered with blood from a cut on his temple. “We both know that’s not what I meant.” Digging his hands into the dirt, he sucked in a pained breath as he slowly, gingerly pushed to his feet. He wobbled a little, hopping on his right leg, unwilling to put too much weight on his left.
Had Kas broken anything?
Seemed I had two patients in this valley now, instead of just one.
“Does he do that often?” Jareth cocked his head at Kas unconscious on my lap.
I bit the inside of my cheek, still unsure of how much to share. “He...hasn’t been well. He fell a few weeks ago and...has had a bad concussion ever since.”
Jareth spat another mouthful of blood on the grass. Unzipping his jacket, he grabbed the hem of his T-shirt underneath and wiped his face, trying to avoid getting more blood in his eyes as multiple cuts kept oozing. Black shadowing already framed his blue eye, and bruising had begun to gather along his jaw. Kas had been ruthless.
Only once Jareth had tended to his facial injuries—finding yet another cut on his chin and swelling on his cheekbone—did he make eye contact again. “It’s not just the concussion causing him to pass out.”
I sat taller. “Are you a doctor?”
He snorted, his laugh derisive and almost uncaring. “Do I look like a doctor?”
“You could have studied anything since you left here. A decade is a long time.”
He shuddered as moonlight speared through a cloud, painting him in a pewter glow. He couldn’t quite hide his scorn or his pain. “That wasn’t the sort of education I received when I left here.”
I cocked my head, hearing a wealth of history and truth in that sentence. “What sort of education did you receive?”
He turned his head left and right, cracking something in his neck. Stretching out the bruises in his body, he gave me a thin smile. “Not the kind you want to hear about.” His strange stare fell on Kas again as he jerked on my lap. “Coming to?”
I ran my hand over Kas’s forehead. His eyes tightened and mouth bracketed as he flinched away from my touch. A usual reaction. One that was understandable but still hurt my heart. I hated that he would rather be alone than find comfort in my touch after being so conditioned to expect only agony.
“Why are you here?” I asked suddenly, pinning Jareth to the spot as Kas sucked in a breath. Only a few seconds were left before he’d wake. And I needed to know. Needed to understand, why now? Why had Jareth appeared now? Where had he come from? What did he hope to achieve?
Jareth stilled, his cloak of aggression and threats settling back on his shoulders. “I was going to ask you the same question. Just because I’m allowing you to hold my brother doesn’t mean I trust you. Doesn’t mean I accept whatever the hell is going on between you two.”