Free Healing Eden by Rhenna Morgan

escaped. Had Maxis ever known love? Would it make a difference?
    “Half brother.”
    Galena’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “What?”
    “He’s your half brother,” she repeated, glaring at Eryx. “It’s not a crime, it’s genetics.”
    Eryx kept his expression blank, the only tell a slight tilt to his head. “That’s what you wouldn’t share with Ramsay. You were afraid of what we’d think.”
    A full, pent up breath huffed out, and the fear and doubt he’d held captive burst free with it. He slumped against the crystal wall, exhausted. “You. Ramsay. The other warriors. If I’d shared it, no one would have trusted me. How could anyone believe Maxis’ brother would have their back in battle? Or believe I wasn’t there to feed information to the rebellion? If I wanted to serve, I didn’t have a choice.”
    “We always have a choice.” No sympathy from Eryx, just conviction. “Some are more difficult to carry than others. It sounds like your mother understood that.”
    Reese straightened. That was it. The different path the spiritu had told him to find. “I need to ask you for something.”
    Eryx huffed an incredulous laugh. “You think you’re in a position to barter?”
    “No.” He needed to watch what he said. It was one thing to drop his history for the malran, but another thing entirely to expect him to buy a mission from some unknown being. “My choices were wrong. I knew it the day I blocked Ramsay. I knew it watching rebellion men die for a cause I wanted nothing to do with. I’ll pay the price. Willingly. All I want is a chance to make things right before I do.”
    Eryx sat up taller in his chair, eyes narrowed and wary. “How so?”
    “Let me lead you through the tunnels to Maxis, maybe act as a distraction while you look for the prisoner you’re after.”
    “You realize that sounds more like a trap for me and my men veiled as a shot at redemption.” Eryx smirked. “I might not be ready to rip your head off like Ramsay is, but that doesn’t make me an idiot.”
    “That’s not what this is about,” he said.
    Galena studied him, a wary uncertainty coloring her expression. If he wasn’t reaching her, then he’d never win Eryx’s approval.
    Fuck. What the hell could he say that wouldn’t sound insane?
    “The truth.” A swift answer, wind chimes and laughter behind it.
    Clio.
    Okay. The truth. He focused on Eryx. “It killed my mom that she left Maxis behind. She saw what Evanora’s hatred was doing to him. There was no way to get Maxis out without the whole lot of them following, but she could keep at least one child safe. I want the chance to let Maxis know our mother regretted leaving him. To see if it might make him let go of , or at least revisit , his need for vengeance.”
    Eryx’s laugh ricocheted through the cell. “You know that’s got a snowball’s chance in histus of happening, right?”
    “I do. But if it takes him off his current path, then it’s worth trying. If Maxis balks, I’ll kill him myself.If not for my race, then for what he did to Phybe.”
    The two stared at him, Eryx tight-lipped and Galena openly stunned.
    “I wanted to serve you and Ramsay because I wanted to balance the scales for my mother,” he said. “For her to die knowing at least one of her sons stayed to the good. I screwed up with my choices. Let me try to make it right.”
    “Eryx—”
    Eryx glowered at Galena.
    She clamped her lips tight and ducked her head.
    The silence scratched and grated.
    The musty dankness filled Reese’s lungs until he thought he’d choke. “He killed Phybe on purpose.”
    “As a distraction,” Eryx said.
    “No, as a message. To me. Maxis blackmailed me into forming a link with him, threatening to share our relationship with others if I didn’t. When he found Phybe at his house with you and the rest of your men, he realized I’d helped her, which brought you straight to his door. Killing her was his way of saying I’m next.”
    “Then