Page 103 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

She said she didn’t get jealous, yet I didn’t have a better word for the desperate energy radiating off her in waves. Like she wanted to be close to me, so inseparable that we becameone.

“Let go,” I hissed with a glare.

Juliette pouted dramatically. “You’re on a dark path, Evie. Come back to Lillian’s light. Lillian may be scary, but she’s also forgiving. All you need to do is repent.”

I gave Juliette a warning burst of heat, and her eyes fluttered as if with pleasure. She let go of my hand.

For a moment, I debated killing her. It was hard not to when Juliette was channeling the words of my abusive mother.

I calculated how many born were in the room.

Killing her would be easy, so long as she didn’t expect it. A shadow straight through the heart, the neck, or the head. Escaping the born would be harder, but not impossible, assuming I could command enough shadow with enough precision before anyone used their super speed to subdue me.

But then I’d kick off the war. Before the new recruits had been turned. Before the Serpent Clan could join us. Before Kylo’s pieces were perfectly in place. The clan was already disadvantaged, and I’d be making everything much harder.

I wasn’t an idiot—I hadn’t been swayed so easily by the borns’ so-calledwarnings.Yet they were ripe in my mind, nonetheless.

The unflinching confidence that they would prevail.

And worse, the guarantee that we’d be sentencing thousands of mortals to death by daring to fight back against their oppressive systems.

Juliette smiled, like she knew exactly what I was thinking. “It’s not playtime yet, sister.”

I envisioned it. My hands around her throat. Her mouth filled with blood.

The way Princeton hung there from the wall, motionless and desecrated.

“This was why I recommended a slow introduction,” Conrad said, breaking the spell between me and my doppelgänger.

Aster sighed. “Evie, the use of magick is not permitted. To do so would be to forfeit my promised terms.”

In other words, it would give him an excuse to detain me.

I noticed the small shadow that was curling around my feet, and I instantly absorbed it back inside me. But not before catching Juliette’s delighted eyes.

Covetouseyes.

Aster nodded at Conrad, who pulled Juliette away from me and to the other side of the vast space. Juliette whined and protested, but she didn’t fight him. Aster took my untouched flute of elixir. Many born in the room were staring at us, assessing, even as the dancers continued their performance.

If anything, the room merely appeared amused.

As if we were quarreling house pets.

“I have a gift for you,” Aster said. “Come with me.”

He reached for me, swallowed, and thought better of it. His hand fell back to his side.

“It’ll only be a moment. Then we will enjoy a beautiful dinner, and you can head back to yourfriends.”

I considered my options. Stay in the room with a couple dozen predators or follow one of them into an undisclosed location.

Remember what you came here to do,a voice broke through the noise, a comforting, maternal reminder of my purpose.

I followed Aster.

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EVIE