Page 96 of Venomous Lies
“Of course I can see you. You’re right here,” I replied, confused about what he was saying until it hit me.
I couldn’t see anything else—the half-wall I’d stumbled over, my mother, my friend, or my brother.
“But you couldn’t see the others,” the mystery man mused aloud as he tilted his head the other way. “What are you?”
Chapter 29
Bricriu
SATURDAY
“Your hand is broken,” Professor Junchiro told Isla as he carefully turned over said hand. “Even with magick, it’s going to take time to heal. As for your head wound, it looks like a small concussion, nothing too bad to worry about.”
“Well, at least I have that going for me,” Isla muttered under her breath.
She must have gone through hell. Even with my blurry vision, I could tell that her broken hand was swollen and bruised, blood covered most of her clothes, and there was just something in her aura.
There was always a bit of cynicism present, but now there was something harder in how she held herself.
She had kept it together as we entered the library and bypassed the empty first floor to go into the back and down into the archives, where we had been previously. Better to be out of sight if people stumbled on us.
At least that was my thought as I used my illusion magick to take on my high fae form. No one else seemed to care, but it was a hard habit to break.
That hardness sharpened once Ambrose and Julian entered the room with Falke after we settled in the room. They were talking in hushed tones, but Isla wasn’t having any of it.
“You might as well speak loudly enough for all of us to hear,” she drawled, an undercurrent of anger hardening her voice. “I think we’ve all earned some answers.”
“That depends, Isla,” her brother said, his shoulders tense. “Are you going to answer any of the questions that we have?”
“After finding you pinning one of my best friends to the wall with a knife at his throat… I’m not answering any ofyourquestions, Demir. Maybe try someone else.”
“What happened?” Falke asked, glancing between the two of them. The siblings were now glaring at each other.
“It’s been resolved,” Demir ground out.
“Mymatethinks otherwise,” I retorted. He might be determined to ignore her obvious displeasure, but I could feel Isla’s anger boiling through our bond. “So, you should elaborate."
Did I emphasize our bond just to piss him off?Yes.
And it worked—even better than I imagined it would.
I could almost picture his dark eyes turning black as the air around him became weighted with the kelpie’s failure to control his anger.
Or maybe the better word would bejealousy.
Julian tried to interject, his hand rubbing his face. “Before we get into that, we should go over some other things, especially if Demir let him go.”
I swallowed hard as the vampire pushed off his weariness and settled down in front of Isla. The starkness of the scar along his face was more pronounced, telling me thaton top of whatever power he had used, he was going to need to feed soon.
“We need you to answer questions, Miss Hallowes,” he told her sharply. “The evasions and back talk aren’t going to get us anywhere.”
“If I give you answers, I want some in return,” Isla countered, hissing as the healer shifted her hand. His blurry gray magick swirled around, helping her heal faster.
“We can do that,” Julian replied with a nod.
“There’s no way—” Demir started to insist.
“Your purpose here is toassist.” Julian’s voice was cold enough that everyone, including Junichiro, stilled. “Not to give your opinions. Do what’s asked of you, and beyond that, hold your tongue. I can already see that you being here is proving to be tiresome.”
