Page 105 of Illusory

As much as my heart and mind fully stood by everything I had said to them last night, my body and my subconscious wanted no part of it. In fact, they wanted to do something else entirely. Something that didn’t involve ever letting either one of them go. And as hard as dreaming about them had been, I knew seeing them in the flesh was going to be a far greater agony to deal with.

Determined to make it through the day, I decided to skip breakfast altogether and instead asked Gabriel to spar with me in the hopes that it would help keep my mind off Trace and Dominic and that growing hole in my chest.

What I needed to do was to burn off my pent-upenergy and distract myself in my work. And I needed to hit something. A lot. Unfortunately, my crafty little plan went to hell in a handbasket when Trace and Dominic filed into the dining room shortly after Gabriel and I began training, looking as though they had a serious bone to pick with me.

Gabriel must have noticed it too because he immediately spoke up before either one had a chance to say a single word. “If you’re here to start up nonsense again, you can both show yourselves out. My patience is at an all-time low today.”

I blinked at Gabriel, my brows knitting together as I looked him over. He was definitely a lot frostier as of late.

“Untwist your knickers, brother. We’re here for support.”

“Support?” repeated Gabriel as though he’d never heard the word before in his life.

I had to admit, though, that wasn’t exactly the word I’d expected to come out of his mouth either. Especially not with the disgruntled looks they’d had on their faces when they first walked in here.

“We just want to help,” added Trace, looking offended by Gabriel’s assumption as he crossed his arms along his chest and leaned his back against the wall. “Whatever Jemma needs.”

Gabriel’s expression clouded with a mixture of doubt and then suspicion, and frankly, it matched my own perfectly. This was not the way I expected things to go today. In fact, I kind of anticipated they wouldn’t want to be anywhere near me after what I’d done last night. Had they not taken my speech seriously? Did they think I was going to change my mind? That I’d say screw it and decide to just keep butchering their hearts instead?

Gabriel eyed Trace before asking him, “Have you fed?”

Trace dipped his chin in a nod.

A long pause stretched across the room. “Fine, but ifeither of you so much as twitch an eye in the wrong direction, you’re both out of here,” warned Gabriel, his hard eyes scanning them both.

Trace nodded again while Dominic worked his jaw, his dark eyes thinning as though he were working hardnotto snap back at his brother like he undoubtedly wanted to.

“Is that clear?” pushed Gabriel, his eyes on Dominic when he failed to answer.

“Crystal,” gritted Dominic, having managed to shove down whatever had wanted to come out just a second ago.

My curious gaze volleyed between Trace and Dominic, though I tried not to let it linger on either one for too long. No good would come of letting my eyes stay with them.

Still…what the heck were they up to, and why did it seem like they were on better terms today? Had they commiserated over being shut out last night and suddenly decided to stop fighting each other?

And if so…to what end?

* * *

Nearly an hour later, beads of sweat were trickling down my back as I threw yet another erratic punch that failed to connect with any part of Gabriel, just as the previous twenty had done before that one. He’d easily slapped my arm out of the way and sidestepped the hit like I’d announced that I was going to be throwing it.

Training with a Rev was always exponentially harder than a Descendant, even if theyweresupercharged like my sister and me. We just couldn’t move with the same kind of speed as them no matter how hard we tried. But that wasn’t the only reason I was throwing hits like a headless chicken. I owed that one entirely tothem.

Trace and Dominic.

It was virtually impossible to concentrate with the two of them in the room, standing so close to me and watching me so intensely like I was their absolute favorite thing in the world to look at. Like I hadn’t plundered their hearts like a damned wench less than twenty-four hours ago. I honestly wasn’t sure how they could even stand to look at me at all, let alone look at me the way they were.

Every time I so much as glanced in their direction, their eyes immediately lit up, engorged with all kinds of distracting emotions like hope and longing and desire. It made the answering heat in my belly spread so ferociously that I was practically fantasizing about them with my eyes open. It was wildly inappropriate and made no sense considering the decision I had made, and yet it seemed to be out of my control entirely.

Shaking away the lusty fog, I focused back on Gabriel and threw another sloppy, ill-fated punch that he easily dodged.

“Are you even trying to land your hits?” he snapped, irritation riding his tone as he ran his hand through his dark hair. It fell right back into a place like a curtain dropping over his eyebrows.

“Obviously.” I threw my hands out so that he could see the sweat-soaked evidence all over me.

“Your form is weak and you’re throwing your body around too much,” he criticized, clearly unimpressed with everything I was doing. “You might as well be broadcasting what you’re about to do. You need to dobetter. This isn’t the way I taught you to fight.”

Anger flared up my neck and swept into my cheeks, and I happily welcomed it. I needed more ofthat. More taunts. More reasons to be mad instead of all lusty and distracted.

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