He pressed his lips together, then with one judging look at me, stormed off down the hallway. I hoped I was right about James, and if I wasn’t, oh well, I was okay with that too.

***

AS I WAS LYING ON THE bed in my room and staring at the ceiling, my phone vibrated. I picked it up from the nightstand and checked the text I’d gotten. It was Petra, our doctor, telling me that James had passed all the tests and that he was clean of any diseases and in good health. That meant the guards would bring him here soon, so I sat up and ran my hand through my long hair. There was still time for me to change my mind about having James here. Although, I somehow didn’t care either way.

A few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door.

“Enter,” I said, and the guards came inside, dragging James with them. James’ jaw was clenched, and I realized the guards were painfully gripping his arms. Yeah, if I wanted James to survive in this place, I’d have to keep him with me for now. At least until everyone forgot that he was an Ezzati, which I wasn’t sure would ever happen, but we’d see.

“Leave us,” I said to the guards, and they hesitated to let go of James, but they finally did as asked and closed the door behind them. James’ gaze flitted over my spacious room, my king-size bed, my dark brown closets, dressing table, nightstands, my TV screen embedded in the wall, and the door that led to my bathroom.

I studied him for a moment. His eyes had lost some of their fire and were now full of resignation. God, it was like staring in a mirror, because mine usually held the same emotion. He wasn’t happy to be here and that his family had been taken away, and I wondered if he was mourning his father and his half-brothers. I couldn’t see any sadness in his eyes, though, so maybe not.

I didn’t know anything about James’ relationship with his father, but keeping in mind what kind of man Desmond had been, I couldn’t imagine it had been peachy. Petra had given him new clothes, and he was now wearing a black t-shirt that tightly fit his muscular chest and black pants. There were red marks on his arms where the guards had been holding him, along with a few bruises he’d gotten earlier today, but he didn’t seem to care too much about that. Then again, he’d just escaped death.

“You’ll be staying here with me,” I said, getting to my feet. “You’re not allowed to leave this room.”

“Are you going to give me a list of rules while you’re at it?” He started toward the bed, giving me a disdainful look.