The Broken Ones (The Malediction Trilogy 0.6)(72)

“That’s not the truth.”

“I know,” I said. “But I want you to believe it anyway.”

The hurt painted across his face faded away.

“Our revolution needs you,” I said, then stopped. Because that wasn’t the real reason why I was doing this. “I need you. You’re my cousin and my best friend. The only person in all the world that I trust, and you… you make me want to be better than I am. And I’m afraid of what it will mean for me to carry on without you. I need you to live.”

He stared at me, then shook his head.

Clenching my teeth, I took a deep breath. There could be no other way.

“Marcanthysurum, I want you to give me your word that you’ll live. That you will not undertake any action for the purpose of ending your life.”

His shoulders tensed, the muscles in his face standing out in stark relief as he tried to refuse my command. Seconds passed, then minutes, and terror clawed my insides that somehow – impossibly – his will was greater than the power of his true name. Before my eyes, he waged an internal war, the paper on the walls blackening and catching flame from the intensity of the struggle. But in the end, the name won out.

He gave his promise.

I released my hold on him.

And the madness set in.