The Emporium.
Jurgana.
Holy hellsgate.
I felt ill, physically ill. Bile stung the back of my throat.
Months ago, I’d accompanied Kenton to his meeting with Zielenski, who ruled the Emporium, and teased out our bait. At the time, I’d hoped that would be enough.
But of course, my little brother had overheard what Sirro had said to me last week and had already hatched a plan.
Kenton rubbed his blood-smeared face with a meaty palm. His deep voice rumbled, “We need Brangwene’s Hjarte, Gray.” He moved to flank me, Jett taking the other side. I was boxed in with Caidan in front and the wall at my back. “The only way we can do it is by breaking Byron to make him hand it over to us. We need to threaten her to get to him, and it might pique the Witches’ curiosity so they request an appraisal.”
“Besides, Aunt Valarie agrees,” Jett added, swiping away the strands of hair that had come free from his topknot and stuck to his temple and cheeks.
Aunt Valarie…simply her name had fear spiraling through me. Besides myself, Jett had been my aunt’s pet project all these years. It had been easy for her to mold my youngest brother into her weapon since he was my mother’s shadow.
“She isn’t going to like this when she comes home,” Jett continued, glancing pointedly at the tower.
“And when might that be?”
“Soon,” he answered vaguely, with a grin that made me want to smash it from his face with my fist.
“Holy hellsgate,” Caidan muttered between clenched, bloodied teeth, wincing as his broken cheekbones knitted back together.
Then Jett huffed a laugh, his nose still dripping blood.
I pushed forward, glaring. “What’s so funny?”
Jett pointed at the tower behind me. Morning sunlight struck his silver thumb ring.
And that’s when I heardhervoice roaring, “GRAYSEN CROWTHER! LET ME OUT OF HERE!”
I pivoted around, and the first thing I saw was fluttering fabric, billowing as it fell. My mouth fell open. Nelle tossed more from the tower. A clatter of belts swiftly followed, and I watched in growing horror as she lifted a bedside table and pushed it over the balcony’s railing. It dropped in a straight line, cracked upon the hard cobblestones, and split apart like matchsticks.
My books were flung. My chrome lamp. Anything light enough that she could lift and heave over the side of the balcony.
Holy Zrenyth!
And then my gut fell, and my heart exploded into a racing gait as I saw my board games tossed like frisbees. They flew through the air, spinning, their lids ripping free, and all the fake paper money fluttered, game pieces and cards hit the cobblestones, bouncing and scattering.
Oh, hells no!
I was going to kill her!
“You can’t keep her locked up there,” I heard Caidan say behind me. “Let her out. What is one tiny girl going to do?”
Oh, they had no idea what my little bird was capable of.
I whirled around. “Have you ever considered I’m protecting us from that spiteful, mischievous nature of hers?” I shot back, lying my ass off once again. “Worse, she could escape.”
Jett rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his lean chest. “She’s got Zrenyth’s magic tied around her neck. She can’t even get near the boundary of our estate. There’s no way she can run away.” His mouth tipped up on one side, revealing a sliver of bloody teeth. “And if she wants to play with fire and mess with us, then bring it on.”
That wasn’t what I was worried about. I gave Jett a shrewd glance. I wasn’t sure why he’d want her free of my rooms. Out of all my brothers, he was the one I was most wary of. He was unpredictable and also might be more fucked up than I was.
“Let her out,” Caidan urged, right before the sound of metal striking hardened clay rang in my ears. I winced.Not my godsdamned chess pieces.
Violence burned in my veins as I took off, reaching the top of the tower’s landing a few seconds later. I pretty much kicked the door in and burst into my room. “Don’t you dare!”
