Page 100 of Feed Your Fiends

“Étienneisn’t creepy. He’s misunderstood.”

“Yet you knew exactly who I was talking about despite having a whole entourage of lackeys.”

“Would you like to join us?” I ask. “We graduate in a few months, and you told me you were taking the sceptre. Your ascension won’t feel so foreign if you learn the ropes now.”

I didn’t think it possible, but Sylo turns whiter. “Youwantme to hang out with you and your friends?”

I nod. “You’re my little cousin. The brother I’ve always wanted.”

“You’ve wanted a brother?” he asks in disbelief.

“More than you know.”

“I’ll think about it,” he lies.

No one turns down an invitation from the horsemen because it isn’t an invitation at all. It’s astrongadvisement.

“Fantastic.Now, let’s go to the garage.”

“I said you can—”

“I cannot. The alarm system was updated since my last visit. There’s a fingerprint scanner on the interior door now, but that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure Silas has scanned you into the system.”

He eyes the spider pyjamas, then me, before donning his house slippers because he knows I’m not really asking.

“Immersion therapy, right?”

“Right.Let’s take a drive around the estate. It’s quiet, and there are no other cars around like at the penthouse. It’s the best case scenario for me.”

And you.

Elle

I couldn’t go back to the Parrish estate ever again to get answers from Delphine or Silas, but what about Jarett?

Was Mum right that he’d just been on a bad trip? Or was I right that something or rather someone had happened to him? I’d been so focused on Harod’s description of Jarrett’s companion that I’d let it blind me from the Auclairs. That and my own hatred. I hate Jarrett, and finding out that Bart Auclair was involved won’t change that.

I hop out of the rideshare into the chilly night air and pull Gant’s trench coat tighter as I slip up the stairs to house nine-hundred and twelve. I don’t knock. Instead, I use my key, take a breath and push myself back into my past one last time.

The house looks the same as always, a dreary cave of dark greens and browns. Through the breakfast nook, I spot Jarett like I’d hoped. Despite his new delicate condition, I suppose old habits, like being a drunken night owl, died hard because he’s snug in the recliner in front of the TV. There’s a beer in the cup holder, his tired feet from a long, hard day of doing fuck-all elevated.

Of course, he’s here. Of course, Jaime didn’t kick him out once he was sober. Why would she when she’d already gotten rid of her daughter, the only person who had a problem with Jarett, to begin with?

Dragging slippers across the linoleum alerts me to someone shuffling around in the kitchen. Someone who rushes out to the entryway to greet me, because who else besides me had a key?

“Ellie,” Mum smiles like always. Like nothing is amiss, and it isn’t nearly one a.m. as she scours around to make Jarett’s favourite chicken wings. “You came…you’re here.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m standing in your kitchen at one in the morning?” I ask, sticking my hands in my coat pockets and sliding past her outstretched arms.

“I want to, ” she says hastily, wiping her hands on her apron and leaving a smear of lemon pepper sauce and spices. “But I don’t think that’s important right now. What’s important is that you’re home. That you knew you could come home to your family no matter the circumstance.”

Hmm. I cock my head. “You know, I’ve been thinking about family a lot lately.”

Her face lights up. “Have you?”

I nod. “It’s been a running theme for the past few days. Family, blood, and belonging. And not belonging here, there or anywhere. It made me think of Jarett, who's suddenly found home again, and suddenly I needed to see him so badly that I couldn’t wait for the sunrise.”

More light blooms behind her green irises. More light than I’d ever seen her shine on me before.

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