Page 59 of I Am the Storm

"You're not Adam, are you…. Cole?"

Adam sighs and a black mist floats over him. When it clears, Cole stands in his place. "I'm impressed you figured it out. Most people only see what they want to see."

"I never wanted to see my brother turn into murderer," I say, spitting out the words. "How could you lie to me like that, then sleep with me?"

"I never wanted to hurt you," he says. "You are collateral damage in a much larger war."

"That's all I am? Collateral damage? All in an effort to punish your brothers? To punish Liam?" I feel crushed inside, but I can't give into my despair just yet. There's still the egg, and the Enforcers. "Don't you understand that Liam's been punishing himself for years? He's the one who wanted to make amends. He's a father now. He has a little girl who needs him."

Cole's face twists into an ugly smile. "They will be here at any moment," he says. "They'll arrest Liam. Hell, they'll probably arrest all of my brothers. You should leave with me now, Eve, so you don't get caught up in this mess. I still mean what I said. I need you. We are stronger together."

"The memory you showed me… did you kill Mary and the baby looking like my brother?" My only comfort in this moment is that my brother is still the man I carry in my memories. The man who couldn't hurt a fly, who was too gentle and kind for his own good. Cole nearly took that away from me.

"No," he says. "I didn't kill them. That memory was fake, created by shadow magic." He steps forward. "You could do so much with your power, Eve. I can show you. You have no idea what you're capable of with all the elements in you."

I still feel drawn to him, despite everything that he's done, and it kills me to pull away, to deny my feelings, to go against this pull that has entranced me since I first saw him at the festival.

"How did you know how to be Adam so perfectly?"

"Your dreams," Cole says. "He lives in your dreams and I can dream walk."

"What about the guard? The basilisk?" I ask. "You killed her. She was your partner and you killed her."

He shakes his head. "No. Ethne was supposed to live. She injured herself to look innocent and was meant to keep her cover. My guess is one of the dragons killed her for failing to protect the egg."

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?" I ask.

"Look at your ring," he says.

Confused, I look at my finger. The onyx is glowing, and it occurs to me Adam didn't give me this. Cole did.

Shit.

I'm going to have to go back and re-remember every damn conversation I had with who I thought was my brother and replace that face with Cole's.

"That ring has a part of me—a part of my magic—in it. And a part of you," he says. "You can use it to tell if someone lies to you."

"How?" I ask.

He cocks his head. "Eve, I hate you."

His words are a punch to the gut, but when I look down at the ring, it's pulsing.

"Eve," he says, softly. "I love you."

The ring goes back to glowing.

"That's how," he says.

And my heart is ripped into pieces once again.

"Cole?" Derek's voice is hallow and weak, and I turn to see him sitting up. "It was you this whole time?" A tear slides down Derek's face. "We deserve this. But I deserve it the most. I may not have been the one to land the whip on you, but…I'm the one who turned you in after I found out what you did. If it weren't for me, none of this would be happening. If you must punish anyone, take me. Leave the rest of them out of it. Please. I'm so sorry, brother."

Cole scowls. "You will need to pay for that," he says. "But that doesn't exonerate the rest of them. You all played your part in my torture and imprisonment. And you will all suffer the consequences of your actions. You believe in justice? This is justice."

A black swirl appears around Cole, and I can tell he's about use his shadow powers to escape. I can't let him.

I plunge into my powers and break the wall I'd been keeping around my darkness, dipping into the inky magic that lives in my deepest depths, and I pull it up, letting it wrap around me, then I use a strand of it to tug at Cole.