Page 17 of Sorcia's Heart
Hortense’s glowing eyes sparkled dangerously, the nail file hovering mid-air for a pregnant, tension-filled moment.Her lips quirked into a razor-thin smile.“You really don’t want to see an elf get angry, Hazelton,” she said, her voice as light as a breeze yet carrying a veiled threat sharp enough to cut.
Then, with a casual flick, she returned to her nails, filing one into a point that looked more like a claw.“You do realize this is yourlast chance, right?”
Hazelton froze mid-step, turning to her with a scowl that could have withered most beings.“What the hell do you mean?”
She didn’t even glance up.Instead, she toed off her boots and twisted her body, reaching down to begin filing her toenails with the same maddening precision.Her flexibility would have been impressive if it weren’t so grotesque.
“You failed to get rid of the wolf shifters,” she said, her tone bordering on boredom.“Janice, the one you recruited to weaken them, hired that pathetic excuse of a leader.What was his name?Wilton?He gave up far too easily.She wasn’t a strong enough leader either.”
Her glowing eyes flicked up briefly, and Hazelton instinctively stepped back as the eerie light intensified.“And then there was that guy you recruited for the vampires.Cerberus, wasn’t it?Too brutal.Turned humans into vampires without a plan.It was easy for Viktor to convert those newly transitioned vampires to his side.They’re loyal tohimnow and Cerberus is a pile of ash that floated off into the wind.”
She turned back to her task, utterly indifferent to his seething rage.Hazelton watched in morbid fascination as she filed her toenails with the same care one might use on an ancient artifact.
“All we want,” she continued nonchalantly, “is for our forests to thrive again.Allyouwant is power.And so far, you’ve failed.”
She paused for effect, her words landing like a hammer blow before she added, almost as an afterthought, “Twice.”
Hazelton gritted his teeth, his entire body trembling with the effort to hold himself back.He wanted nothing more than to crush the infuriating elf for her insolence, but he knew better.If he laid a finger on her, she wouldn’t lift another glowing, perfectly filed claw to help him after he’d secured Sorcia.
“The shifters, vampires, and witches aren’t supposed to be friends!”he roared, pacing again, his boots grinding the scorched earth beneath him.“They should have turned on each other!No other region has this kind of cooperation.This—thisabomination!It defies every law of nature!”
“And yet,” Hortense replied coolly, blowing on her nails and inspecting her handiwork, “it still appears that you’ve failed.”
Hazelton clenched his fists so tightly his claws pierced his palms.He squeezed his eyes shut, his efforts to calm himself as futile as they were laughable.Demons weren’t known for control.They thrived on rage, chaos, and destruction.It was why so many of his kind owned slaughterhouses and butcher shops—they needed knives and dead things on which to unleash their anger.
“I won’t fail this time,” he snarled, the words more a vow than a declaration.Without waiting for her to respond, he stormed away.
The bright sunshine outside only infuriated him further.Hazelton glared up at the glaring ball of fire, loathing every moment of its warmth.He preferred the shadows, the oppressive gloom of cloudy days.Days that put humans in bad moods and gave him energy.Today, the world was all smiles and sunshine.
He hated it.He hated everything.
But most of all, he hated the thought of failing again.
Chapter 8
Sorciasteppedintotheexpensive store, her eyes skimming over the racks of luxurious clothing.She reached out to touch the soft fabric of a dress, then ran her fingers over a pair of elegant heels, but her attention wasn’t truly on the merchandise.She wasn’t here to shop.Not really.
“You’d look beautiful in those shoes,” Marcus murmured, his voice low and far too close to her ear.
She shuddered, the heat of his presence making her skin prickle.She prayed he wouldn’t notice, but of course, he did.Marcus noticedeverything.
He was why she was here—why she was feeling so unbalanced.He’d dropped everything—business meetings, obligations, and whatever personal relationships he might have—and come to help her.The man had felt the disturbances in thesphaerabefore she had even realized something was wrong.And now, here he was, standing too close, watching her too intently, unraveling her carefully constructed defenses with every infuriating glance.
“Are you dating anyone?”she blurted out, the words escaping before she could stop them.
Marcus raised an eyebrow, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face.
The question hung in the air as she stepped into the elevator, pressing a button that didn’t correspond to any visible floor.The elevator shifted, bypassing the second floor entirely.The lights illuminating the buttons dimmed for a moment, and when the doors opened, they revealed an entirely different space.
Sorcia stepped out, her heels clicking against the smooth floor, and turned to face him, arms crossed as she waited for his response.
Marcus followed her, his movements deliberate, controlled.“Do you honestly think I would make love to you the way I did last night if I were seeing someone else in Chicago?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn’t answer.She couldn’t.
Marcus’s shoulders dropped slightly, the weight of his frustration evident as he sighed heavily.“Of course you do,” he said, his tone laced with exasperation.“You still believe I cheated on you two years ago, so of course, you absolutely believe I’d cheat on someone else with you.”
His words hit her like a blow, the truth in them undeniable.But she couldn’t let herself admit it—not yet.
