Dominic let out a breath that was half a laugh, half a snarl. “I’m always angry.”
“Not like this.”
Julian’s words landed too neatly. Dominic turned, eyes narrowing. “Choose your next words carefully.”
Julian didn’t flinch. “You’re still recovering.”
“I’m fine,” Dominic let out a bitter laugh, “Layla saw to that.”
“About that,” Julian said, “I’m not sure she did.”
Dominic spun round with a snarl. “What? You think she was trying to—”
“No!” Julian said quickly, holding up his hands, “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m sure she was just trying to help. I’m saying she might not have needed to.”
“Explain,” Dominic said, voice rough.
Julian walked towards him carefully, eyes alert for any hint that Dominic might attack. “Do you feel any different?”
Dominic scowled, “In what way?”
Julian’s head cocked, “More powerful. More…attuned to something.”
Dominic went to snarl at him, but something made him pause. Did he feel any different? He had felt strange after waking up, a skittering over his skin, but he’d assumed that was just the aftermath of Layla’s…attentions.
The pain had hit him square in the chest when it had struck, and a hollow, ringing ache still remained. But that was just the aftermath of collapsing, surely.
He turned to Julian, “You don’t think…”
“It’s just a theory,” Julian said, jaw working, “true matings are so rare. But there are reports that the power, the gift from Lunarion, doesn’t always wake so easy.”
“Well, whatever power it is,” Dominic growled, grabbing his coat, “it better manifest itself quick.”
Julian nodded cautiously, folding his arms, “Maybe we should wait—”
“We hunt at dawn.”
Chapter 22 - Layla
Layla sat hunched over the table in her basement, her hands gripping the edge so tightly her knuckles burned white. Her breathing came shallow and uneven. The ache in her chest had settled into something constant and sharp. Not physical, not entirely, but as if the bond itself had turned against her.
Dominic’s voice still echoed in her mind. His anger. His betrayal.
She shut her eyes, shaking her head, but the words wouldn’t leave. They circled her thoughts like vultures, picking clean what was left of her resolve.
She’d thought she was past shame. That after all these years, hiding her magic, living in the cracks of her brother’s world, she couldn’t be humiliated further. But hearing it from Dominic, from the one man she had trusted to see her, truly see her, broke something she hadn’t realized was still whole.
He had looked at her like she was something filthy.
And maybe she was.
Layla pushed back from the desk, the chair screeching against the stone floor. She began to move through the shelves, her fingers skimming the spines of old grimoires and notebooks, searching. She didn’t know for what exactly, only that she couldn’t bear this anymore.
If her magic had brought her nothing but pain, then she’d cut it out.
The thought made her stomach turn, but it stuck. Desperation made it feel like clarity.
She yanked books from the shelves, stacking them on the floor, searching for that book she’d opened weeks ago. Theone that displaced her magic. Scraped it out of her, leaving her hollow andhuman. And this time, she’d make sure it stayed gone for good.
