Page 13

She was so pale.

I lifted her against my chest and walked out of the bathroom and back toward her bed.

She moaned weakly and struggled against my grip, but I could ignore her movements with ease—as if she were made of feathers.

Despite her mumbled protests, I placed her gently on the bed and she moaned as she sank into the softness of the coverlet.

Bastian leaned against the bathroom door. His face was twisted, but this time not with sarcasm. “What the fuck— it looks like a crime scene in there—”

“We weren’t gone that long—” Valen said . “We left her at the garage—”

Bastian shook his head and stepped away from the door. He snuffed the candles with a wave of his hand and the smoke curled in the air and stung my nostrils.

I fixed Valen with a glare. “You shouldn’t have left her.”

“We had to. Lucian wanted us.”

Valen looked surprised that Bastian had come to his defense.

The Bloodstone Grimoire was on her vanity.

The cursed book was closed.

Innocent.

“She cut the shit out of herself,” Valen growled. “This is your fault—”

“My fault?” I shot back. “Don’t be stupid—”

“You’re the one who was teaching her—you can’t trust that book!”

“Both of you shut up,” Bastian snapped. “Let’s patch her up and get out of here. Lucian will be looking for us. I don’t like this any more than either of you do.”

I didn’t answer, my eyes on her. She lay curled against the pillow, breath shallow and ragged. The sight of her like this—I wasn’t ready for the emotion that accompanied it.

What if Valen was right? What if this was my fault?

“Avril,” I murmured. Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn’t respond.

Part of me wanted to shake her, force her to tell me what the hell she thought she was doing with that cursed thing. But another part wanted to pull her close until I could feel her pulse steady against mine.

Valen knelt beside the bed and his expression was dark with something that might have been guilt… or anger. Maybe both. “Avril,” he said, more insistently.

She stirred, and a pained little whimper escaped her lips.

“She’s going to heal,” Bastian said. “You don’t have to be such a pussy about it.” His callous words earned him a sharp glare from Valen, but I could see concern in my younger brother’s pale eyes, too.

Valen reached for Avril’s hand and brushed his fingers over her palm where the wounds were already knitting themselves back together. “You’re an idiot,” he murmured.

The pale blue smoke of his magic twisted between his fingers and wrapped itself around Avril’s slender arm, helping her magic to repair her wounds.

She would be weak—probably for days.

“Sleep now,” Valen murmured.

Avril’s eyelashes fluttered against her ghostly cheeks, and then she was still.

I felt a strange tug inside my chest. An unfamiliar ache. I convinced myself it was only frustration.

Bastian was already moving toward the door. “Let’s go,” he said.

Valen rose reluctantly from Avril’s side and his magic dissipated into the air like soft blue ash. I let them go ahead, and my eyes lingered on the figure curled beneath the coverlet.

This wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.

The house was quiet except for the muted voices of my brothers as they drifted up from the stairwell.

As I caught up with them, Valen’s voice seemed sharp in the silence.

“What do you think Lucian’s going to do?” he asked.

“Depends on if what Bastian told him is true,” I replied as I caught up to them. “He shouldn’t have run his mouth without proof.”

Bastian smirked, but it lacked its usual arrogance. “Get off my ass. I’m the only one who brought anything to him. What the fuck have you been doing?”

He paused at the base of the stairs and turned to face me with a gleam in his eye that reminded me of Lucian at his most manipulative. “Well?”

“You brought him a story about a meeting that might not even take place,” I shot back as I pushed past him. Bastian didn’t move and my shoulder struck his hard enough to send him staggering back a few steps. “If it doesn’t happen, Lucian’s not going to think twice about putting your head on a spike in the garden.”

“It’s true .” Bastian’s voice held a dangerous edge, but I couldn’t be bothered to turn around and look at him.

Lucian had us scrambling all over Messana to find the traitors he was convinced were operating in the darker shadows of the city.

Bastian had been the only one to bring information we hadn’t heard before.

And he’d been infuriatingly smug about it.

“It’s happening soon,” Bastian said.

Of course it was. “And what else did your little rat tell you?” I asked.

“I’m not going to tell you if you’re going to be an asshole about it,” Bastian snarled. “Besides, I have more information to give Lucian. He’s not going to like it, but I’m not going to waste it on you .”

I turned and grabbed hold of Bastian’s shirt.

It was only at that moment that I noticed it was smudged with blood and the material of his sleeves was scorched.

“Hey—”

“You’d better not be planning anything stupid,” I said through gritted teeth.

Bastian’s pale eyes narrowed. “Define stupid…”

Until that moment, the chance that Bastian could use our father’s paranoia to set his own plans in motion had only been a shadow of a threat in the back of my mind.

But now.

He was capable of anything.

And he was powerful enough to be a challenge.

“Calm down, big brother,” Bastian said with a laugh that had more than a hint of an edge to it. “I want the same thing you do.”

I didn’t trust him.

“Do you?”

“Of course,” he replied. “We’re in this together—” He glanced at Valen. “Even him.”

The little bastard was dangerous and I couldn’t underestimate him

Especially now.

But at least his schemes seemed to be working in my favor.

For now.

“And what exactly is it you think I want?”

Bastian met my gaze, and the smirk on his lips was almost savage.

“You really think I’m dumb enough to say it out loud?” He paused and drew in a dramatic breath, as though he were about to shout at the top of his lungs.

“You’re a fucking comedian,” Valen muttered.

I released my grip on Bastian’s shirt, and he didn’t bother to hold back his laughter as I strode down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Bastian called out.

“The library,” I snapped.

“You’re going to miss all the fun,” Bastian said. “I’m going to tell Lucian everything I know about this meeting… Are you sure you don’t want to come along? You know he’ll expect you to know everything…”

A small, treacherous part of me hoped Bastian would say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and Lucian would take care of him for me.

“Fine,” I ground out.

The shadows bent as we passed, darkening and stretching like long arms reaching for us. When I’d been a child, this place had been frightening—but those days were long gone.

Now the only thing that frightened me was the image of Avril—pale and haunted—barely breathing.

I tried to tell myself that I was only worried about her because of the blood bond—if anything happened to her, what would happen to us?

That was what I needed to know.

But I wasn’t sure that any of the books in my library would hold information like that.

That spell had come from the depths of the grimoire.

Not some classroom at Messana Academy.

This place had changed her.

We’d changed her.

As we neared our father’s study, the air grew colder, biting at my skin. I pushed open the heavy wooden door without knocking and let it swing wide for my brothers to follow me in.

Lucian sat behind his desk, his fingers steepled under his chin and a cold smile playing on his lips as he regarded us with a look that could make anyone feel like an insect pinned to cardboard.

He watched us in silence as we entered.

The glowing red orb that hovered just above his desk pulsed with a steady rhythm, and the delicate tendrils of smoke that swirled around it spilled down over his desk.

“What news do you have?”

His tone was sharp and Valen’s chin lifted slightly.

“Nothing new?” He looked at each of us with a cold appraisal. “ Where are my answers?”

“Only rumors,” Valen said. “Nothing we haven’t heard before. Old grievances are coming to the surface again, but nothing that you should worry about—”

“Nothing?” Lucian mused.

The room was silent for a moment, and I resisted the urge to glare at Valen. That was precisely what I wanted to avoid.

Lucian’s paranoia required proof.

He stood quickly and the scrape of the chair across the uneven flagstones grated in my ears and echoed through the room.

“Nothing?” he shouted as he swept around the desk and approached us with long strides.

He stopped in front of Valen and took hold of his middle son’s jacket. Valen didn’t move, and he kept his eyes fixed on the window at the back of the room.

Smart.

Lucian’s knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip and jerked Valen off balance. He stumbled, but didn’t fall and Lucian released his hold as he turned his attention to me. “I send you out—snakes in the garden—to hunt down the rats that would seek to overrun my kingdom.”

He approached slowly, and his pale eyes burned with anger.

“And what do you bring me?” he said in a low voice. “Rumors... Whispers....” He paused briefly, and the red orb that hovered above his desk glowed brightly with the force of his rage. “Nothing!”

Lucian’s shout reverberated off the walls.

“You have to be patient,” I began.

“Patience?” he cried. “What has patience ever done? Hm? It has given my enemies time to find my weaknesses. Time to organize—”

He laughed, but the sound was devoid of warmth or humor. “My sons… to think that I trusted you to protect this family. Our name. Our… legacy…”

Lucian gestured vaguely with one hand, and the orb floated closer. The mist that surrounded it thickened and darkened. Deep red smoke spiraled outward and spilled over the floor. Three distinct tentacles of magic that encircled each of us and crawled up our legs.

“Father—” Valen croaked and then he let out a grunt as the smoke tightened around his thigh.

I stood still, unwilling to show any weakness, as my father’s magic crept up my leg and twined around my waist and torso. He was trying to demean us—threaten us—but it wouldn’t work.

I knew my brothers better than that.

Still…

He’d never been so overt in his threats before.

Bastian, too, was silent as the red tendril snaked up his leg. The smoke wrapped around his chest and neck, then rose to his mouth and slipped between his lips. He gagged slightly and tried to jerk his head away, but Lucian’s magic held it firmly in place.

“Do you have something to say?” Lucian asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Or have you forgotten how to speak?”

Bastian writhed against the dark coil and made an indecipherable noise that sounded faintly like a curse.

Lucian’s grin was savage, and he flicked his wrist, releasing Bastian’s mouth, but leaving the rest of us tightly bound with smoke that bit at our skin like nettles.

Valen let out a choked cry as he was lifted off the ground.

“Well?” Lucian asked as Bastian caught his breath.

“My rat has found a nest,” my youngest brother managed to say between gasps for air.

Lucian’s interest piqued visibly, but he didn’t release us. Red smoke crept up Valen’s neck and wrapped around it like a noose.

“A nest,” he repeated. “And what else?”

“The meeting,” Bastian said. “It’s happening…. soon.”

“ Where are they meeting?” Lucian’s voice was a whisper, but it cut through the room like the blackened silver dagger in the grimoire's spine.

Bastian winced as the smoke looped around his neck. “The first location—it was a lie. We… We’re following a new lead.”

The smoke constricted, and it grew colder as it tightened around me.

The bastard.

“Tell me,” Lucian said.

My father’s pale eyes burned in the half light and I knew that this was too much fun for him to stop. I had to be quick.

“There’s a new group forming—they’re trying to gather support. We didn’t want to alert them by moving too soon.”

The shadows lengthened behind Lucian as he took in my words, and then, finally; the smoke loosened.

I drew in a sharp breath.

Valen crashed to the floor and didn’t try to bite back a groan of pain as he struggled to his feet, but Bastian only glared at me with murder in his eyes.

“Intriguing,” Lucian said thoughtfully.

He flicked his fingers and the crimson smoke dissipated entirely. The red orb’s pulses slowed, and the mist that surrounded it thinned as it floated across the room toward Lucian’s desk.

“A false meeting location, a new faction rising from within the Black Council… The Sages are playing a dangerous game, are they not?”

His gaze swept over us and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he considered what we’d said. He strode back to his desk and sank down into the high-backed leather chair. “I need more,” he said sharply. “Names. The location of the meeting. Who is leading this new faction?”

“You’ll have your answers,” I said, my voice rough from the pressure of his magic.

“Do not fail me,” he barked.

Dismissed.

Bastian turned on his heel and walked toward the door without uttering another word—I couldn’t tell if he was angry that I’d used the rumors he’d brought me or relieved that he’d escaped our father’s wrath.

Valen’s face was pale as he turned to follow Bastian.

As I turned to leave, Lucian called out to me.

“Wait—”

I didn’t want to turn around, but I couldn’t ignore him. He was unpredictable.

I wondered if he knew what was going on under his own roof.

“What do you think?”

Fuck.

“It’s possible,” I said through gritted teeth. “But we can’t be sure.”

“What are they planning?” His voice was low but crackled with anger—and something darker.

“I don’t know—”

“Then find out.” Lucian’s voice thundered through the room. He paused. “Or I’ll find someone who can.”

The threat was barely veiled.

My jaw ached as I turned away, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of seeing my frustration.

“I will,” I said and left before he could demand more.

Bastian and Valen were already halfway down the hall when I caught up to them. Valen pressed a hand against his ribs, and Bastian’s expression was unreadable as ever.

“Cowards,” I said.

“Bastard,” Bastian shot back without turning.

Valen glanced at me from the corner of his eye. His tattoos writhed beneath the fabric of his shirt, like they shared some unnameable pain.

“Next time you keep your lies to yourself,” Bastian snapped.

“I saved your skin, didn’t I?”

“You made it worse,” he retorted. “I have to find that scumbag again—if he’s left the city or if something’s happened to him, I’m blaming you.”

“Fine,” I said. “But you’d better be quick about it. If that meeting is supposed to be taking place—”

“It is ,” Bastian snarled.

“Then bring back some results,” I shot back.

Bastian’s steps slowed, and he turned with a wild look in his eyes. For a moment, I thought he’d lash out physically, something he hadn’t done since we were children. Then he smirked instead.

“Maybe,” he said, “I’d like to see what happens.” He bolted down the stairs before I could respond.

“And you?” I asked as Valen stayed beside me.

He shook his head and looked away. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m going with him. But it’s not me you should be worried about.”

“Then what—”

But he was already gone, chasing after Bastian.

I stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, and my mind raced as I tried to anticipate Lucian’s next moves and what Valen had meant.

Lucian’s power was growing, and in his paranoia, he was even more dangerous than I’d expected.

If he suspected anything…

I pushed the thought away and took a sharp breath. That left me one option—find out who was behind this new faction before anyone else did.

I glanced up the stairs to Avril’s closed bedroom door.

That was another problem that needed solving—she was desperate, and a danger to herself.

I’d offered to help her unlock more of the grimoire’s power, but if she was going to run headlong into it without being prepared—and without my guidance—she was going to get hurt.

And that possibility haunted me more than I was willing to admit.