Page 89 of Cursed Lifeline

Reaching around Alfred, he takes Evangeline’s arm and laces it through his. Alfred objects, but Dimitri has already started to whisk her away into the party.

“Will you show me the way,” he asks her innocently as if he doesn’t know what he just did. With heated, angry footsteps, Alfred follows close behind. “With someone as beautiful as you guiding me, I confess, I’m bound to follow you to the ends of the earth.”

Caelum scoffs, “The earth? To hell and back would make more sense.” Talon eyes him angrily. “For your kind, that is.”

My brother takes an intimidating step forward, and Caelum holds up his hands in surrender before scurrying off after Alfred, Evangeline, and Dimitri. Silas quietly studies Celeste and Esme, then finally turns and strides off after the group when he’s concluded it’s okay to leave them alone. Celeste shrugs and follows suit. Talon panics like a little puppy and tails Celeste like he’s just been given a bone he’ll never let out of his sight again.

Interesting.

Turning to Esme, I take her face gently between my shaking palms and say,“Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.”

She sucks in a shuddering breath and nods her head.

We’ll listen to their council.

But Esme and I both knowThere's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.

If we stand a chance at rewriting history, we need to finally uncover who’s behind all of this.

After all, whoever controls the past controls the future if we’re ignorant and by fault, subconsciously allow it.

Thirty One

Felix

song: secrets | omido, ordell, rick jansen

Entering my study,the orange glow of the sconces and fireplace reflects off the dark mahogany wood floors and charcoal grey walls, giving life to an otherwise dark place. The moon shines through the windows embedded in the twenty-foot onyx ceiling. The stained glass is embellished with dark lines, creating a web-like effect in the vaulted canopy over our heads.

The walls on the main floor are lined with twelve-foot-tall bookshelves. A catwalk rests above them with another row of ten-foot-tall shelves that line the upper part of the room. The space serves as more of a private library than a study and houses all the books I’ve collected throughout the decades that I thought might aid us in our quest to break the curse, from witchcraft to folklore, to everything written on my kind, to religious works dating as far back as the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest surviving full text of the New Testament.

Floor-to-ceiling windows sit behind my desk on the far side of the room. Usually, all the windows in the space cause it to feel cold. But the fire and the extra bodies packed into the study make it warmer and more inviting than most nights when I sit here alone. That is, until my gaze locks on Dimitri who's standing behind my desk and rummaging through papers he has no business reading.Behind him, a raven catches my eye as it perches on a tree branch outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. As I enter the room and hold its predatory gaze, it quickly takes flight.

I hold tight of Esme’s hand as we enter the room, my stare falls on Dimitri, and I bitterly say, “A little more than kin, and less than kind. I’d prefer, brother, if you didn’t rummage through my things.”

He grins but doesn’t drop the paper in his hands. Instead, his eyes drop, and he takes in Esme’s hand, protectively clutched in my palm. I grip it tighter, and she squeezes mine back as we make our way further into the space. There’s a bigger war brewing than I thought. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be graced with the council’s presence. I study everyone as we pass. In times of war, it’s best to learn your allies, your enemy, and be able to tell the difference between the two.

Evangeline sits on a loveseat next to the fire. She’s watched carefully by Alfred. Silas and Caelum stand close to his side and keep their eye on my brothers, Dimitri and Talon. Across the room, Celeste hovers next to my desk and watches as Talon joins Dimitri in his rummaging, picks up a piece of paper, and silently reads the private contents of it. The knowledge of what he’s reading makes me come to a halt in the center of the room. His brows raise curiously, and a smile wickedly plays at the corner of his mouth. Having had enough unwanted intrusion this evening, I snap, “You’d drop that piece of paper and forget what it says if you knew what was good for you.”

Talon’s eyes lift to mine, and his depraved grin deepens. Gesturing to me with the piece of paper, he says, “Does she know about this?”

Theshebeing Esme.

Swallowing back rage, I pull Esme closer and shake my head no. Talon lets out a whistle and lowers himself in my seat. “I wouldn’t hold secrets from the woman I loved,” he pats the top of his thighs, eyeing Celeste curiously. Her cheeks flush as she debates taking a seat in his lap. Though I can tell she wants to, she seems embarrassed to have the rest of us gain the knowledge she’s so eager to fall into his trap.

Before she can decide, I counter, “You couldn’t keep a secret to save your life. Even the life of someone you loved.”

Anger fills his posture as he pivots my way inmychair. It was a low blow, considering the past he keeps hidden. But if Celeste is even thinking about sitting in his lap, it’s best she knows what she’s dealing with.

“Good to see nothing has changed over the past hundred years,” I add just to piss him off.

“Oh, and you’ve changed?” Talon seethes. “If Esme were smart, she’d...”

Caelum, Silas, and Alfred take a challenging step in his direction.

“One battle at a time,” Dimitri sighs angrily, cutting off the fight that would’ve escalated quickly had Talon been allowed to keep running his mouth.

Esme’s trio of watchers reluctantly back down.

---