“Amabel, I’m going to—”
“Just finish already,” I sighed, still riding the waves of my own climax.
Austin slammed home twice more before stilling with a groan. When he slumped forward, forehead damp against mine, I shoved him away before the afterglow could foster delusions of intimacy.
“Clean up. Mother could come in at any moment.”
He leaned panting against the fridge as I straightened my skirt. A milk bottle toppled when he fumbled for paper towels and removed the condom.
“Same time tomorrow?” The hopeful note in his voice almost made me laugh. He was like a puppy, always eager for scraps of attention.
I paused at the door, reviewing his mussed hair and swollen lips. He was so pretty, his Korean features giving his face a delicate appeal, his body leanly muscled. Such a nice-looking pet.
“Perhaps. If I feel like it.”
The sweat cooling on my skin was already becoming an annoyance. I needed a shower.
As I headed toward my room, my mind had already moved on. The satisfaction from the sex was already fading, replaced by cold calculation.
My thoughts went to Eluned and her dangerous impulsiveness.
My bathroom’s rainfall showerhead scalded away sweat and a lesser being’s DNA. As steam swirled around me, I replayed Eluned’s smirk. Her childish taunts. Her reckless amendment to a perfectly crafted curse.
I had always relied on my twin, even if I didn’t want to admit it, but I couldn’t deny the allure of working alone, of being completely in control.
Our partnership is holding me back, I decided.And I have no intention of being held back by anyone. Not even my own sister.
6. Tired of Waiting
Eluned Harrow
I slammed Amabel’s door so hard the antique hinges shrieked.
Good. Let the whole damn house hear it. Let the walls themselves shake with my rage.
“Three steps ahead of my blunders?” I hissed into the empty hallway, my voice bouncing off the walls of the Bell homestead. “Myblunders?”
My fingers itched to grab the hideous clay sculpture perched on the hallway table. Some Bell family craft project, no doubt. I wanted to watch it shatter into a thousand glittering pieces. Just like Amabel had shattered my pride.
The hawk attack had been perfect, vicious and unexpected, until Serafina’s new pet dhampirs had interfered. Not my fault.
Not. My. Fault.
“Always so damn perfect.”
As I stalked down the hallway like a caged animal, my bare feet made no sound on the polished wood floors, which somehow made me angrier. I wanted to hear myselfexist. I wanted to leavemarks.
The walls seemed to close in around me, trapping my fury inside my skin where it bubbled and burned. Michigan nights were supposed to be cold this time of year, but I was burning alive with rage.
“Wait, Eluned. Watch, Eluned. Don’t act, Eluned. Don’t breathe unless I tell you when and how, Eluned.”
My twin’s voice echoed in my head: “The only reason you’re still breathing is because I’m consistently three steps ahead of your blunders.”
The words sliced deeper than she knew. I pressed my palms against my eyes until I saw stars, willing the hot tears not to fall. Eighteen years of being the lesser twin, the reckless one, the liability.
“Mother would understand,” I whispered to myself.
Shenevertold me to dim my fire. She used it, directed it like a weapon. While Amabel calculated, I acted. That was our strength… until she started treating me like a child.
