It seems that there’s nothing else to do here. If they insist they consented to this, then stepping in isn’t going to do anything but cause some bullshit for no reason. I straighten. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.”

“About damn time,” Beatrix mutters.

“Bea.” Jasper gives me a winning smile that’s only slightly dampened by the fact he’s wearing black briefs and covered in scratches and bruises. “I would like to see my niece. Soon.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” I turn around and stride out of the room.

Ezekiel is waiting in the hallway, leaning against the wall and glaring. “Well?”

“You know I had to check.”

“Did you? Because they’re the enemy.”

This is the reminder I wanted, the reason I sought him out to begin with, but… “We don’t torture people.”

“Don’t we?” He laughs roughly. “Maybe you don’t. When Abel needs someone to get their hands dirty, Cohen and I don’t get precious about it.”

“Zeke—” I don’t know how to fix this, how to fix him. Like me, he’s unraveled in his own way since coming back to Sabine Valley. Fuck, I can’t even fix my own head; how am I supposed to give my little brother advice? “If you want to talk—”

“I don’t.” He looks away. “Did you need something else or did you just show up to check on us?”

I bite back my questions. Ultimately, we’ve all made our own choices about how we’re going to go forward and survive. Survival is all that matters. It’s all that’s ever mattered. “Why did you let Beatrix stay? She’s not your Bride; Jasper is.”

“I picked him to punish them both.” He shrugs. “Having her here just makes it easier to deal out that punishment.”

I knew the answer before I asked the question, didn’t I? “Are they sorry?”

Ezekiel finally looks at me. “Who the fuck cares if they’re sorry? An apology doesn’t change what happened, Broderick. Forty people drugged by shit acquired by the Mystics, dead in a fire that was helped set by the Amazons. Forty people who depended on us for safety and got killed for their loyalty. Someone saying sorry isn’t going to bring any of them back.”

I’ve thought the same thing over and over again. So why am I standing here, fighting with an urge to argue with him? I came here for reassurance, not to tell him he’s going too far. Fuck, I really hope he’s not going too far. “Neither Jasper nor Beatrix had anything to do with that.”