Page 101 of Illusory

“Better than waiting around here like a bunch of fuckingducks,” argued Trace as he jumped up to his feet and faced Dominic, like he needed to make himself taller to continue the conversation. “We need to get them before they make their move, or it’ll be open season on all of us.”

“Your attempt to punch above your weight is nothing if not commendable, but it’s a suicide mission at best.”

“And doingnothingisn’t?”

“We aren’t doingnothing,” retorted Dominic, mocking Trace’s tone. “We’re biding our time.”

“That’s the same fucking thing,” barked Trace.

“Except that it isn’t. One is the absence of action whilst the other is calculated preparation.”

“Dominic’s right,” agreed Gabriel as he rubbed his jaw pensively. “We’re safer here so long as the house stays warded. Besides, you’ve only just Turned and Jemma still isn’t in full control of her abilities. Forcing a fight at this point in time would be disastrous.”

Trace ran his hand through his hair, considering it as Dominic’s haughty smirk turned vicious.

“Fret not, Romeo,” he said and then took a sip of his drink. “What you lack in insight, you certainly make up for in effort,” he tacked on sweetly as though he were giving him a compliment when it was clearly anything but.

Trace’s eyes flooded to black as the vibe in the room abruptly shifted. “I told you to stop fucking calling me that,” he said, grinding his words out through a clamped jaw.

Dominic’s smile dug deeper into his cheeks as I pinched my eyes shut. “Then what, pray tell, should I call you?”

“How about my name, asshole?”

“Very well,asshole, but my point still remains—”

“You got a death wish or something, deadboy?”

“Deadboy?” Dominic chuckled. “Well, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle dead.”

“Enough!” shouted Gabriel, his booming voice startling my eyes back open as he sprang up from the couch like it had scorched his ass. “I’ve had it with both of you and your back-and-forth nonsense! Either you figure out a way to coexist or so help me God, I will chain youbothin thatfuckingdungeon myself.”

My eyes widened at Gabriel’s shockingly liberal use of curse words. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him speak like that before—like ever. Apparently, it had worked, though, because neither Trace nor Dominic said another word. At least not to each other.

“Goodness, Saint Gabriel. I didn’t think you had it in you, brother,” said Dominic, smiling as though he were somehow proud of Gabriel while Trace rolled a kink from his neck and stalked over to the fireplace to collect himself.

“For once in your life, just shut the hell up, Dominic,” snapped Gabriel as he squeezed the bridge of his nose like we were all giving him the migraine of the century. “If this is how every conversation is going to go then you both might as well do Jemma a favor andleaveright now because neither one of you are helping her. As a matter of fact, you’re doing the exact opposite of that.”

Trace and Dominic’s anxious gazes veered to me as a hot piece of coal settled in my stomach. Neither one said a word, but I could see that they felt bad—forme—like they’d done something wrongto me, and it only made me loathe myself more. They weren’t responsible for this mess. I was.

“If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me Gabriel. This isn’t their fault,” I said, my voice sounding like a mouse squeak as I tried to speak up in their defense. “None of this would have happened if I—”

“I don’t give a damn whose fault it is. That isn’t the goddamn point,” cut in Gabriel and I instantly shrank awayfrom the annoyed look on his face. “This nonsense has gone on long enough and I’ve had it. Your mind is not where it needs to be, Jemma, and it’s going to get you killed. Don’t you understand that? Don’t you get that your enemies are not going to give a single damn that you’re going through a hard time, or that your father is dead, or that yourlittleSlayer heart is broken?”

I flinched back from his harsh words, trying not to wince.

“That is quite enough,” snarled Dominic, the smile on his face from earlier gone. “You’ve made your point.”

But Gabriel’s fiery eyes never left mine. “They’re not going to care about anything but besting you, Jemma. They’ll use all your weaknesses against you, and I promise you they will never hesitate. They will carve that broken heart right out from your chest and feed it to you while making the rest of us watch. Is that what you want?”

“Jesus,” snapped Trace as my skin prickled with fear and shame. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“You are skirting dangerously close to the line, brother,” warned Dominic. “Back off.”

“Is there even a line here anymore? Because I’d love to know where the two ofyoufall on it,” countered Gabriel, his anger pouring out of him like a dam that had been cracked wide open.

“I wonder, brother, are you interested in knowing for curiosity’s sake or is your vested interest perhaps a little more personal?”

Gabriel’s back straightened as he glared at his brother. “ForJemma’ssake. So that she can train properly and focus on the things she needs to be focused on. Like the Order, and the Horseman, and the Roderick sisters,” he said pointedly and then shook his head in contempt. “For Christ’s sake, her Ascension is right around the corner, and she still doesn’thave a clue how to use any of her Nephilim abilities. Does any of that matter to you or are you both just too consumed with throwing dirt in each other’s eyes to notice thatsheis the only one you’re burying in it?”

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