The chant takes over all conscious thought as I watch Nikolo leave. The knot in my guts is so tight I don’t know if it’ll ever shake loose.
Aleksi has a much more amused reaction to Nikolo’s departure, watching him with an arrogant smirk and an arched brow. Do I look like that big a dickhead when I do that? Gods, just cut me up and feed me to a mermaid.
“Well. That was certainly…something.” Pausing for dramatic effect, he swaggers towards me, stopping to pick up a crystal from the shelf, floating it in the air with feigned nonchalance. There is no chalance—only antagonism. “I’m assuming you haven’t told Mum and Dad about thisdevelopment.”
“Not yet.” I grind out, flicking a glance at Lusce, who Aleksi seems to have decided is irrelevant enough to ignore. He’s got his phone in his hand and he’s messaging furiously.
“Well, that’s understandable, isn’t it.” Aleksi tips his head at me, like he’s making some kind of joke we’re both in on. My fury boils, burning my hands with my desperate need to shut him up.“Morgen says hello, by the way. Not that you’ve asked. And our parents, they’re well.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” My eyes snap from Aleksi to the door. I should have followed Nikolo. I shouldn’t have let him go on his own. Fuck. That was a mistake.
“I wonder if they’ll be glad?” Knowing that he’s found a nerve, Aleksi circles the point. Prodding to find where the boundaries are—only so he can dance on them. He just can’t help himself.
“What do you mean, Aleksi?” I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest.
He cocks his head and, really, I can’t rememberwhyI can’t fireball that stupid look off his face. Where the fuck is Egbert?
“I wonder if they’ll be glad that you’re hanging out with someonelike that.”
Lusce’s gasp isloud, and silently, I beg him to just stay out of it.
“And what the fuck do you mean by that?” My blood is like lava. Every second of hurt, and envy, and disappointment I’ve ever felt with my brother, all the impotent anger I felt when Nikolo was sent away, all of it coalesces into pure rage.
“You know.” Aleksi drops all pretences of casualness, placing the crystal back on the shelf. Not as it was—rearranging it just so, so it’s ‘better’. The asshole. “How can you let someone likethataround here?”
“Hey, I get you’re Willan’s brother and all.” Lusce interjects, playing with fire he really doesn’t know how to handle. “But if you’re gonna start spouting anti-vamp prejudice, you can fuck right off.”
Aleksi chuckles darkly, turning his back to me and strolling back to the counter. Leaning casually against it, he spins the stand of elixirs Nikolo likes to play with, making them rattle. “Oh, no. It’s not the vampire thing. I mean,” Aleksi pulls a face,“but that can always be overlooked. But some beings…they just aren’t of good character, you understand.”
Aleksi is leaning across the counter, smiling at Lusce conspiratorially. Like it’s all a little joke amongst friends, when really it’s a test to see just how far he can push. Unfortunately, with Lusce, the answer is not very far and my good friend is about to do something stupid.
“Are you kidding me?” I yell across the shop. Aleksi—fucking Aleksi—looks back at me, victory on his face. Guess he found the fucking limit. “The only being here ‘not of good character’ is you, you monumental asshole!”
“What are you talking about?” Aleksi scoffs, standing straight and pulling at the sleeves of his oqic.
“What am I talking about?” I stalk closer. Probably a terrible idea. “Are you really going to act like Nikolo was the problem when it was your fucking crimes he got expelled for?”
“He was neverexpelled. He chose to leave. Just like he chose to leave today. And look where he ended up. A fucking vampire stripper.”
Lusce gasps again—and I manage to forget my anger for a fleeting second to worry about him. But Aleksi just casts a dismissive eyeroll in Lusce’s direction.
“Choseto leave? Are you out of your mind?” I start in a whisper, and get louder with each syllable. “Is that how you sleep at night? He didn’tchooseto leave! It was that or be kicked out! And he’s not a fucking stripper you self-righteous dickbag. He fucking dragged himself up to be incredibly fucking successful, after our so called fucking clan turned their backs on him. He did it on his fucking own. Not like you, who only landed where you are today because our grandfather handed it to you on a golden platter!”
Years of anger rushes out of me in a tidal wave—the uncontrolled magic pouring from me, making the earth quakebeneath our feet. Aleksi is quick to answer, hispreciselycontrolled magic crackling around him.
“Watch your mouth, Willan. I’m on the fucking council, you can’t talk to me like that.”
“Or fucking what?” I throw my hands wide. “You’re going to beat me up? Hold me down and give me a noogie? Get involved in another black market smuggling ring and frame me here at the shop? We’re not fucking kids anymore, Aleksi. Grandfather isn’t alive to cover up your crimes. Nikolo isn’t here to be your sacrificial fucking lamb. Or what, is it Lusce you’ll pin it on this time? Because no one’s gonna believe it was a fucking witch, you deranged dumbass!”
For the first time I see something different flash over Aleksi’s eyes. It almost looks like hurt. It’s gone before I can really tell.
“You’re really going to talk to me, your brother, your family, your fucking clan elder, like that? Over what? A fucking vamp? What are you going to do? Turn for him? That’s just fucking?—”
“I might.” My voice is low but it’s loud enough to cut Aleksi’s rant mid speech. Lusce’s eyes flare wide at my admission, his hands flying to cover his mouth. “I might turn. He’s not just any vamp, Aleksi. He’sNikolo. I’ve loved him forever. I’d turn. For him.”
“You—youwhat?”
That’s not Aleksi’s quiet disbelief.
