Page 54 of Broken Shadows

“Anymore,” Ezra scoffs.

An image of the cage slices across my mind’s eye and my throat constricts. I shake my head, scattering the thoughts and twist to the doorway as Rosa crosses the threshold into the library. “I got the cinnamon and basil,” Rosa announces. “I brought a bowl too.”

“Perfect.” Evie accepts the supplies and places them on the top of the bar beneath the concealed stereo system along with the spellbook. A beat of awkward silence reigns before I return my focus to Gideon with a raised brow.

“Two, you allow me to retrieve and carry my sword,” Gideon continues, dismissing Ezra and my opinions entirely.

Rosa snorts and rolls her eyes. “Yes, because that sounds like a great idea. Let's arm the enemy demon with a sword while we take him on a grand adventure.”

Ezra cloaks himself, reappearing behind Rosa, then whispers close to her ear., “Fuck. I wanna lick your mind, Sugar.”

Rosa shivers, gasps, and recoils. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“Wouldn't you like to find out,” Ezra teases then trips over his own feet as Gideon yanks him backward by his elbow.

“I may be your captive, Wrath, but I won't stand by and allow you to continually pester the woman. She obviously abhors your attentions.”

Ezra jerks his arm away from Gideon. “Fuck off. That’s none of your business.”

Rosa turns a brilliant smile on the twins. “Thank you, Gideon,” she says, her words sickly sweet.

I laugh. Ezra's upper lip pulls back from his teeth and his skin ripples like it's begging to shift into something horrific.

When Rosa turns, her attentions shifting onto Gomez, Ezra twists and whispers, “Watch it. Twin or not, I'll fucking gut you Gideon.”

Gideon snorts. “You could try.”

Ezra squares his chest. “I already beat you once, remember? Or did you forget as you bled out in the living room?”

Gideon’s stare hardens. “You won because I allowed you to win. How have you not put two and two together when I literally told the lot of you that Iwantedyou to catch me?”

Ezra crosses his arms over his chest and nods, then lowers his gaze to the ground. “Yeah, you know what? Excuse the shit out of me. Youdidmention that. But I don't recall you explaining the reason behind it.”

Gideon's lips twitch like he’s holding back a smug smile but says nothing. A growl emanates from Ezra and I sidestep closer to Evie. I cannot stand the two of them together.

“For fuck’s sake, enough,” I command, intoning every word with my growl. I walk forward and shove them both in their chests. “If you two cannot at least tolerate one another, stay away from each other. Have you learned nothing in the centuries you've been alive?”

Gideon swallows, then walks to the other side of the room, his middle finger tapping against the side of his leg. Gideon is a master at disguising his emotions behind a serious, yet bored and indifferent expression. He’s skilled, but I’m better. I spent countless hours analyzing my brothers’ faces, marking their ticks and micro expressions in my long-term memory. These small, seemingly innocuous habits betrayed them, informing me exactly when they intended to strike, or when I would have the opportunity to do the same to them. Gideon's gaze is cold and hard, but the barely visible narrowing at the inner corners or his eyes tells me Ezra's comment about killing him broke something deep within him. Ezra always said idiotic, sometimes cruel shit, but he’s never gone as far as this before.

Perhaps the looming threat of The Order and my brothers coil the tension within him to his breaking point, like a needle continuously pricking his awareness and fight or flight instincts. The same worries plague my thoughts as well, but I’ll never speak the words aloud. Unfortunately, something within me urges to soothe their tension and anxiety, as if an instinct as the eldest sibling grows like a weed. I fucking hate them all. I don’t need any of them. All I need is Evie. She’s my family now.

“Fine. If it means that damn much to you, you can shadow walk Aiden to Hellam and keep the sword on your person. But, if anything happens to him, or anyone else in this group, I hold you directly responsible,” I growl.

“You really do like me,” Aiden whispers towards me, the awe in his voice audible to the group.

I cringe but don’t acknowledge his comment. He’s right. The fucker has somehow grown on me like a godsdamn mouth sore. The skin so raw and inflamed that one cannot help but chew on the spot, spreading the infection.

“Noted,” Gideon acknowledges.

“Gideon, your wrists?” Evie asks and Gideon complies without complaint. Interesting. Evie accepts a tiny silver key from Rosa, then utilizes it to unlock and remove the fuzzy pink handcuffs. “Lorcan, break the chain off both cuffs.”

“Gladly,” I purr, then snap the thin link of chain where it’s connected at the two ends and bring my darkening gaze to meet Evie’s. She sinks her teeth into her lower lip, then shakes her head as if she wishes to clear it and faces the bar once more. Although the handcuffs broke easily between my hands, Gideon, despite his immeasurable power from his royal demon blood, could not remove them with the secure binding spell counteracting them.

“All of you back up. Give my witch room to work,” I order, pushing a wall of shadows against Ezra, Rosa, and Aiden’s shins, then nod at Evie. Her chest rises as she inhales deeply, her pulse fluttering rapidly at her neck and in my ears. My arm lifts toward Evie, the desire to curl around her back while she works chipping away at me. I snatch my hand back, clenching it into a fist.

“Shit, I forgot a knife,” Evie says and looks over at me.

“Not a problem, Baby Girl,” I purr, but it quickly transitions into a growl as Gideon’s claws lengthen as he holds his hand over the bowl.

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