“No, Zeke. I’m going to fucking worry about it.” Cohen’s still speaking softly. On anyone else, that would be reassuring. With Cohen, it means he’s a breath away from violence. “We cannot let anything jeopardize this peace until we’re ready for it to end. You’re setting us up to repeat history with both the Amazon and Mystic factions coming for our heads.”

Maddox curses. “I knew it was a mistake to give you Jasper as your Bride. You have too much history together.”

“Mind your own fucking business.” Ezekiel says it mildly, but his hand drifts to his hip.

Best guess, he has some kind of weapon stashed there. If he attacks Maddox, Cohen will beat the shit out of him. If it were any of the other Paine brothers, I’d keep my mouth shut, but Cohen is unpredictable. Especially where Maddox is concerned. I don’t believe for a second he’d kill Ezekiel, but I also don’t know if he’d stop before his brother is a bloody pulp, and that’s a mess I have no interest in cleaning up.

I cross my legs, drawing their attention. “Beatrix came here of her own choice.”

Cohen stares. “And?”

She’s a fool, but no one in this room will thank me for pointing it out. I can’t imagine facing the choice she did, where her partner was taken from her by a man who used to be their best friend. Beatrix and Jasper aren’t married, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they were. A Bridal handfasting supersedes all previous relationships and completely nullifies them. Theoretically, the Bride could go back to their spouse after the year is over, but it’s a tangled situation no matter which way you look at it.

I can’t say I’d make a different choice in her situation, but that doesn’t change the fact that she made a shitty one. She should have stayed free instead of offering herself up as yet another hostage and effectively putting the safety of the entire Paine faction in Ezekiel’s unhinged hands.

He wasn’t always like this. I joined up with the Paine brothers in the first year after they were driven out of Sabine Valley. Back then, Ezekiel was sweet. A kind man who went through a traumatic event. But, as the years passed and information from Sabine Valley came in bits and pieces, I watched him cut off those soft parts of himself and offer them up on the altar of vengeance. When he heard that Jasper and Beatrix had made their relationship official?

He went cold, and he’s never come back.

Still, even Ezekiel has lines left.

I hope.

I steel my spine and hold his gaze. “Are you torturing them?”