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"Sad to say, it was nothing special She didn’t give ot ? And I knoasn’t because I took her maidenhead You took care of that, didn’t you?"

"You sick piece of--"

"I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish I was drunk and she wasn’t doing much for me, with all her tears But then she said your name, and I knew I had to To show you that you couldn’t take asI want Anyone She kept crying afterward so I kicked her out I was kind of eot over it" He leered at Gavin, sa aghast he was "She never mentioned it, huh?"

Gavin couldn’t speak

"You never utted He’d told his brother a hundred lies about his happy little life and his happy little wife "No"

The prisoner’s face contorted His eyes darted to the side, then back to his gaoler "Sixteen years of lies, cru, huh? You’re probably better off without her anyway You think while she wasthe rounds of the Guiles she slept with father, too?"

Begging his brother to stop or co about Karris would be equally ineffectual "I thought… I always thought you were the good brother," Gavin said

"Good brother?" the prisoner barked "Like we’re the good twin and the bad twin? We’re not twins, Gavin, and neither one of us is good"

"Have you always been like this, or have you gone mad down here?" Gavin asked

"You made me, little brother, just like I made you" Dazen tossed the shattered pieces of the lux torch away "Nohy don’t we end this farce? Open the door Release ainst the , intent on Gavin

Gavin could see blood trickling down his brother’s chest from a thickly scarred wound, torn open in his fall He could see another trickle of fresh blood froed to take away all of Dazen’s luxin when he fell into yellow

Dazen was thin, ragged, unhealthy He was furious, as he had every right to be Doubtless he was lying about Karris to hurt Gavin Or exaggerating at the least But though Karris had neverto him, their mother should have

I was mother’s favorite? Of course I was Maybe first she’d lavished more attention on me because she sa much father’s abandonment hurt me, how much I needed a parent But ere kindred souls She’d probably felt guilty that she loved me more She’d certainly felt relieved when she learned Gavin was actually Dazen He’d seen that in her face, sixteen years ago, and tried to deny it since

I’e in the fable I see another dog passing beneatha bone, and I snap to take his bone--and drop my own into the water, intoat one wall of his cell repeatedly, as if in conversation It ht well have been Gavin’s fault that his brother was ed, alone, for sixteen years But it wasn’t the kind of transgression he could fix