“I want to take her with me.”

Slowly, my features tightened and changed, because I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. Eyebrows furrowed in anger. Nostrils flared even though I hadn’t taken a breath. When my words came out, they were loud, maniacal. There was no chance that Melanie didn’t hear me scream. “What the fuck is it with this cunt?”

“I’m not asking for her freedom. I’m asking for her to be bound to me—the way Melanie is bound to you.”

Once he mentioned the woman who’d claimed my heart, my anger simmered down.

“When I leave, she comes with me. When I return, she’s back to work with the other prisoners. I want her to be mine. That’s all.”

I stared at my brother for a long time, unable to believe that his dick had such bad taste. This woman had haunted us both in different ways. She was like a fucking witch in the woods. “I don’t understand your fascination. What about Stasia? She’s far more beautiful. What about all the women in Paris? You can have any woman you want, and this is who you choose?” Melanie was the only woman who’d earned my fidelity because she deserved it. Her beauty was unparalleled, a work of art. A taste of her had made every other woman undesirable. But Raven…looked like a fucking car wreck.

“Yes.”

I shook my head slightly.

“But it’s not monogamous. It’s not affectionate. She betrayed me, so I want her at my beck and call whenever I wish. She’s mine to use. She will make up for what she did to me. That’s all.”

My anger slipped further away when I began to understand. This was a form of revenge because working at the camp just wasn’t enough. His affection died with her betrayal, and now he just wanted to fuck her like a whore. “She’s your plaything?”

He nodded.

I bowed my head slightly as I considered the request, eyes on the glass on the table.

Magnus was silent.

As always, I wanted to grant any request my brother made. I was like a parent who couldn’t resist giving their child the toy they really wanted in the store. But I could only grant it with a set of hard restrictions. “If she escapes…I’ll cut off the rest of you and watch you bleed out.”

His expression didn’t change as he stared at me, as if he’d expected those kinds of terms. “I understand.”

“It doesn’t matter if you let her go, or she betrays you. If she’s out, it’s your head.” If it happened, I would have no choice but to kill him. Surely he would see that she wasn’t worth that risk.

But he nodded. “I know.”