The sight of her fuels my displeasure. It heightens my indignation. The vision of her soft curves beautifully outlined by the dull light coming through the windows, tangling in her dark curls should do nothing, but it serves to remind me that I amconfined to these mirrors. These portals that can only take me where one resides whilehecan touch her, have her whenever he likes.
“What’s wrong?”
Her big, dark eyes search the length of the mirror in her room, trying to find me.
And I almost recant. I almost regret my momentary anger. I almost forget why I’m even upset when she’s standing before me, so small and concerned.
Thenhefollows her with her scent all over him and I remember why he must die.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Marcus
Darknessrisesandfallsinside the glass.
A chaotic dance of swirling clouds the black of a thunderstorm pressing and folding. A congealing mess of rage that seems to spill through the room in thick tendrils. The very air stinks of ozone and blood. A sickening combination that prickles every bell in my head.
Every instinct in my body urges me to rush over and grab Lenora away from whatever issue the demon seem to be having. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that he’s dangerous in this state.
But Lenora continues to stand beneath the mirror, chin tipped up as if she can somehow see the creature’s face for signs. Like the moment she stepped into my office to confront Reuben, she’s clad in my top. Her hair a spiraling riot falling down the slender column of her back. These are all things I’m trying to ignore when every sense in my head is telling me I need to get her away from the creature wrapping his coils around her.
“You think you own me?”Wind lashes. Something howls.“You think I am a puppet you can discard when it suits you? I am a god.”
I edge a step closer as the air in the room drops to temperatures that challenge the ones outside. Frost dusts the glass around the ornate frame and crackles across the hardwood beneath Lenora’s feet.
She doesn’t seem to notice. Her attention is riveted on the demon extending and billowing from the edges. The dark tendrils uncurl towards the ceiling, choking the light.
“I don’t understand. What happened?” she’s asking.
Her oblivious nature would have been endearing if she were dealing with a bear, not a demon we have no understanding of. At least with a bear, we know we’d only get mauled.
Veyn has proven his answer of justice could be anything from being eaten by snakes to allowing us to butcher ourselves.
“You have proven that you cannot be trusted to make correct choices.”
I’m as bemused as Lenora as we both stare up at the spinning force over our heads.
The collection of brewing rage settles cold at the back of my neck. A prickling that chills the pit of my stomach.
“Linny,” I murmur, careful to keep my voice calm.
Even.
Non-threatening.
But my attempts are met with the snap and pulse of wind that shreds at my clothes. My goal is to grab Lenora and leave this room. This house. I don’t care what the demon has to say about it. But my efforts are met with a hard shove that kicks the ground out from beneath my feet. Air rushes past my ear. I hear Lenora’s gasp. A sharp cry of my name over the whirlwind.
Then I’m falling.
I think for a panicked second he’s going to shove me back in the chapel with those things and my sons’ caskets. My fingers claw at the air, desperate to latch onto anything to keep me here. All my brain can process is that I’m about to leave Lenora alone with this creature. That she will be defenseless when I meet the hardwood with a jarring smack that knocks the wind from my lungs. The world momentarily spins as I fumble for stability. I can no longer be certain if it’s me or the smokey tendrils lashing across the ceiling in a war, but I can only hang onto that for a moment before I’m wheezing and twisting to all fours.
“Marcus?” Lenora’s small, pale face appears before mine, circled by her curls and her wide, beautiful eyes. “Are you hurt?”
Another cough bursts from my lungs when I try to assure her I’m fine. I feel her cool fingers brush my cheek. A whisper before the snapping tendrils behind her hook around her wrist and she’s jerked forcibly to her feet.
Her cry of pain has me pushing up after her. Every instinct in my body is ready to face the demon head on when Lenora jerks her arm free. She whirls on the creature, dark eyes vivid.
“What is wrong with you?” she snaps, marching straight back to the mirror. “You can’t treat people badly because you’re upset.”
