Page 92 of Semblance

Finally Shadow spoke. “I made my decision. The House of Valencia will take over Constantine’s place. I have no doubt she’ll be able to grow the legacy of her family name in time. She already has by ending the life of the Black Crow.”

“Fucking crazy,” Brevin shook his head. “All of you are fucking crazy.”

“Now if we’re done squabbling, we have a lot of work to do. None of us are resting until we’ve hunted down Lucien and nailed his nuts to the wall,” Shadow said. “The Midnight Society does not forget nor forgive their enemies.”

#

Chapter Twenty-Four

I sat on the edge of the piano bench and allowed my fingers to dance across the keys while music flowed around me. At that moment in time, music was the only thing that made sense to me.

I closed my eyes and allowed my soul to shape the sounds, creating a haunting melody that melted away all the stress that had consumed me over the past few days. While I played I thought of Shadow—the sad and tortured man that he was—and crafted a song that was the epitome of him.

When I was finished and opened my eyes again, I saw Shadow standing at the foot of the piano, looking at me with affection.

“That was beautiful,” he said. “Is that one of your own compositions?”

I nodded.

“What’s it called?” he asked.

“Shadow’s out of his fucking mind,” I replied.

“Love the song, but the name can use some work.”

I stood up from the piano bench and wrapped my arms around his chiseled body.

“What the hell were you thinking putting me on the Midnight Society’s council seat? I thought you wanted to escape away from the entire thing, taking me with you.”

“I do,” Shadow said.

“Pulling me closer to the action isn’t really distancing us from the Midnight Society.”

“Do you trust me?” Shadow asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You should,” Shadow said. “You let me go down on you after all.”

“Hey, let’s not mix business with pleasure here,” I said. “Just because your mouth knows how to get a rise out of me doesn’t mean I have to agree to everything coming out of it.”

“I need you at the seat for two reasons,” Shadow said. “The first is having you closer to me means I can protect you from another assassination attempt. Second, I’m not entirely convinced that Lucien was the only member that betrayed us.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Despite Lucien hating my guts, he’s never had the balls to organize a direct physical attack on me—or those I care about,” Shadow said. “I’ve always thought of him as nothing more than a whiny bitch.”

“Well it looks like he’s becoming a dangerous bitch.”

“Maybe,” Shadow said. “But I also don’t think he has the cunning to orchestrate such an attack. I’ve known him all my life. He’s always been a spineless whelp. The only reason he’s even on our council was because of his father’s influence.”

“So you think there’s a second traitor?”

Shadow nodded. “With Abraham gone, I needed to fill his seat with someone I can trust.”

“So you’re using me once again,” I sighed. “First you were using me as a trophy girlfriend, now you’re using me as a trophy council member.”

“I’m falling in love with you,” he said.

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