Page 4 of Broken Shadows

Godsfuckingdammit. I stare at my brother. “Evangeline must be doing all of this for revenge. She could never accept that I didn’t love her,” I growl, my claws sinking into my knees. “But that still doesn’t explain everything. Why didn’t you verify with our father that it was all his orders?”

“Samuel was very convincing,” Ezra expounds, then shrugs. “I thought you were a threat to our dad and I just… I didn’t think.”

The breath whooshes past my lips as I huff, stabbing a hand through my hair. “You’ve always been a fucking daddy’s boy.”

“And damn proud of it.” Ezra grins so widely the chandelier above glints off his teeth. “Now, tell me more about this unlocked memory.”

I sigh. Damn him to Hell’s torture fields. “I never had a relationship with Evangeline. She forced me into one through magic. I befriended her. That was it.” The memories rush back one by one, and I grip the sides of my head until they subside. “I manipulated her,” I admit. “Through friendship. She was an outcast, and I made her feel seen. She was so powerful, Brother, and I wanted to ensure you and Lazarus and Samuel wouldn’t hurt me again. I never thought she’d go all crazy on my ass and trap me in the Shadow Realm.”

Ezra’s face flows through a series of emotions; it would be comical if I wasn’t ripping my fucking heart open and bearing its bleeding core.

“I just find it unbelievable that she somehow controlled you. You’re, well, you. King of Demons, Lucifer’s eldest son and all that shit. A witch cannot fuck the memories of royal demons, no matter how powerful.”

I rub my temples. “Oh, but she can. We both know she was the most powerful witch in existence. She always had her nose in a spell book and dedicated her life to her craft, more so than the rest of her family. Eva was practicing the most complex rituals since she was a kid. That entire family was powerful on their own, but practiced? That’s why I knew Evie could get me out. With her family dead, she holds the power of her entire coven. She’s stronger than even Evangeline. If she ever embraces her magic, that is.”

Shadows wrap around my legs and spread across the floor like obsidian fog. Ezra’s shadows join mine, swirling together in a chaotic dance as he penetrates my mind for the truth.

“Fuck. You really are telling the truth,” Ezra affirms, his jaw falling open.

“Yes, imbecile. Close your fucking mouth or I’ll shove my boot down your throat.”

Ezra laughs. “Just like the good old days, eh?” His feet clomp against the floor as he stands and bounces on the balls of his feet.

My back cracks as I lean against the carved back of the chair. “So, are we going to work together to get out of here and stop the bitch? Or would you like to continue to taunt me instead?”

Ezra nods, a smile spreading across his face, then thrusts his hand toward me. “Both.”

“Evie is off limits.”

Finally, he smiles. “After what you just told me, I doubt I’d survive her, anyway. So, truce?”

Everything within me recoils, reluctant to trust anyone but myself and my little witch, even if she’s the weapon my brothers and The Order plan to use against me.

“Fuck.” I grasp his tattooed hand with mine and squeeze his knuckles harder than necessary. “Truce.”

CHAPTER TWO

Evie

I should have stayed with my demon. The thought trickles into my mind unbidden. The grimoire, the truth of his history with my family, suddenly seems insignificant compared to the evil I face now. Memories of my final days in the Shadow Realm offer some comfort as I lay strapped to the hospital bed in the basement at The Order’s Headquarters.

I close my eyes and my stomach flutters when I recall how Lorcan’s arms tightened around me when we’d danced in the library. He’d removed his mask that night, unveiling his true name inked into the skin blow his right eye.. I’d never seen him so vulnerable, laid bare for me in the physical and mental sense. Until that moment, any intimacy was fleeting between us, lost somewhere between hate and lust.

The moment plays repeatedly in my mind as the soundtrack toBlossom in the Darkplays like an eerie backtrack, Lorcan’s voice deep and smooth, as if he were still singing the lyrics in my ear. My lips curve when I recall how his dimples deepened when I giggled as he spun me around.

It was the first time things felt easy between us, and it was cut so damned short. I didn’t even get a chance to kiss him without his mask before he found the grimoire pages and then Ezra came, punctuating our time together.

I knew it had to end. He loved my great aunt. I shudder as thoughts of them together make me cringe. I shouldn’t care. I’d left him behind and now it was over. Everything Lorcan said was a lie. He never cared for me. It was pretend. So why can’t I stop thinking about him?

The wooden steps creak, disrupting my mental torture. Edward’s loud footsteps protrude into the basement of the church.

Thinking about all the depraved things I plan on doing to my father once I get free keeps me from succumbing to the relief that death promises.

Tears line my lashes as the wordfatherechoes along my brainwaves. Rosa never understood why I continue to call Edward that, but only a parent can inflict the brand of pain that burrows deep in my bones.

Despite the hatred fueling my desire to stay awake and not give them the satisfaction of knowing they’ve broken me, I continue to toe the line of sanity. At times I stumble, pinwheeling my arms to regain balance as I fight the dangerously weak hold on my lucidity.

Exhaustion coats my entire body with unbearable heaviness. I inflate my lungs with an inhale, the abhorrent scent of ammonia and ethanol lingering inside my nose.

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