Touch, take, touch, take.
My fingers twitched.
Who would I go to for?
My body didn’t have a clue, but the darkness did.
My feet moved—Delena my apparent destination. My smile came easily because at least she was the one I wanted to kill, anyway. I didn’t want to hurt the others. The thought made my chest ache.
Still, my mind slipped into a dark tunnel the closer I stepped to Delena who was busy throwing magic at the three of them. I was losing control of everything. “Weak,” I whispered, and her eyes met mine. “I’ll take it from you.”
My words didn’t sound like something I would say, and once more, I felt controlled by the darkness—Julius didn’t have to be near to still ruin me.
She stumbled back, fell to her knees, and coughed harder. “No!”
“Come here, witch,” that voice coming from my right sounded like it was speaking to me, and for a second, the darkness wavered to the rhythm of his voice. Sebastian.“And the darkness, yeah, you too, I’m right here. Let’s not go sucking in anyone’s sins, all right? She’s dying. You don’t have to touch her. We both know I’m going to be the one stuck with the power temporarily if you do. After all, you can’t keep your hands off me.” Now, I remembered. Sebastian was the only one that took from me instead me taking from him.
I felt more like myself now.
“Stop!” Delena screamed. “Don’t you dare, Julius! I won’t let you use me to speak—Julius—what are you doing?” She slumped forward and when she raised her head up, she spoke once more.
It was her voice, but I knew who spoke. “Come here,” Julius beckoned me from inside of Delena. She had reached her worth in Julius, now Delena was collateral damage and he planned to use her speak to me. “As I already knew, you’re the only one that can do this. Just touch my hand and I’ll bring you to me. You know I’m waiting.”
“That’s not Delena anymore. Is that Harvest?” someone growled. “He’s speaking through Delena somehow.”
Hands covered my eyes and with Sebastian’s touch, air filled my lungs. I sucked in a breath and the feel of him centered me completely.
“I told you not to touch him!” Julius’s powerful voice seeped out of Delena and just like that, she burst into ashes and every bit of power she took from August and Sebastian flew into me. Only as Sebastian covered my eyes, I could feel his electric touch stealing it away.
I grabbed one of his hands and pulled it away from my eyes. “Sebastian…”
“Harvest told you not to touch me?” There it was again. That slightly maligned voice that he had used last time he had absorbed August’s sin. “Who the fuck does Harvest think he is? You obviously belong with me.”
Despite the fact that I knew it was the sin talking, warmth seeped through me. “You’ve absorbed your brother’s sin again.”
“I know,” he whispered harshly in my ear and I shivered.
My eyes widened when I saw the way his hand faded in and out before becoming skeletal. Unlike Barron’s red essence,Sebastian’s was a light stormy blue. Turquoise. “Sebastian… You’ve absorbed what little she took of both of your brother’s sins.”
“I know,” he hissed. “Tell me why wouldn’t he want me touching you? Because he thinks he owns you?”
“What?” The energy coming from him was a mess. It was chaotic, and it scared me. I had no clue what he’d do or how he’d act with their curses.
Sebastian shoved me forward. I turned around to see him gripping his forehead. “Don’t tell me!” he yelled this time. “Fuck! I’m so fucking angry. And I need to get you the fuck out of here. Alone.”
“What the hell is going on with you?” It was August who spoke. He rose slowly, clutching his stomach as he got to his feet. He looked awful. I was surprised he could even move that quickly.
“He’s taken a bit of both yours and Barron’s sin,” I explained. “Every time he touches me, he takes something from me.”
“Is there somehow you can take it back from him?” Payne asked me.
I shook my head. “No, but it wears off. At least it did last night when it happened after I touched August.”
“Look at his hands,” Payne pointed toward them, “he’s not going to rage out like Barron does, is he?”
“I’m fine,” Sebastian told them. Only he wasn’t. He looked angrier the longer he stood there, and him doing the same thing his brother had been doing seemed entirely possible with the way his body shimmered and changed. I was mesmerized as I caught glimpses of the form Sebastian spoke about.
“Come with me,” the first time Sebastian said the words to me, they came out angry and harsh. Then once again, he gripped his head and his eyes pleaded with me. “Will you come home with me?” he spoke softer this time, more desperate for me to understand the inner turmoil he was going through.
