Page 136 of Change
My throat burned under the vibrating force roaring through me, and my vision bled.
I was going to kill them. Kill, kill, kill…
There would be nothing left.
“It’s been a good minute since they’d left,” Albert mused as he slowly paced the room, but his eyes never left me. “I’m sure she’s meat by now.”
My heart exploded in a frenzy, and all senses went blank.
She was dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
Or worse, dead and violated. It was something rogues would do. Her biggest fear was that something like this would happen, and I’d been unable to stop it. I’d promised her she’d be safe. And she should have been fine with Gloria and Ada. I firmly believed in this.
Otherwise, I would never have let her be alone with them.
What happened?
It didn’t matter. They were dead too.
If they weren’t already, then I’d kill them. I’d kill everyone who touched her, and those who failed in protecting her. She was mine, and they should have known better. I’d left them in charge, and they let something happen to her.
Failure wasneveracceptable, and this time the consequences were earth-shattering.
She’d trusted me.
And I let her down—even more than the others would ever know.
I was there when she connected with the dragon-wannabe—the witch’s spell—in the woods and dove into herownmemories. It’d been proof that even without knowing each other in this life, without ever having met, that there was a part of her that subconsciously sought me out. We were connected in a way that couldn’t be broken no matter what distance and circumstance.
Bianca never wanted a prince; she’d chosen a dragon.
Everything had been set up for my success. But I still let her down.
Again.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Jameson stormed into the room, but I ignored him, continuing to rage. It mightnotbe too late, despite what they said. Ishouldbe able to feel if she’d died, right?
Or maybe it didn’t work that way anymore.
The incident with Bailey had already shattered my confidence.
A piercing whistle cut through the madness, assaulting my eardrums, followed, some long seconds later, but the looming weight of shikigami. While Albert wasn’t at all a threat on his own, the combined presence of two spiritual demons was enough to stave off the sharp edges of my fury.
My sight cleared, yet remained slightly coated in a violent haze, as my focus levelled on the two onmyoji while they conversed.
“What did you do?” Jameson seemed to grow more unhinged every time I saw him. But, granted, before today that wasn’t often. But we’d met at least once during the holidays, and the man had never struck me as the insane sort before.
And he’d have to be insane to betray his quintet. He knew Declan personally.
Albert, on the other hand, was a lower-ranking onmyoji who had high aspirations and mediocre talent. The only person in his bloodline who’d managed to break the mold had been Norman, Damen’s Jiangjun.
As further proof of his insanity, Albert smirked in response to Jameson’s concerned questioning. “I was telling the dragon about our little fae prisoner.” He crossed his arms, glancing at me. “Or at least, what’s left of her.”
A growl raised in the back of my throat while Jameson sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Are you an idiot?”
Yes. But he was the only one telling me anything.
