I couldn’t believe him. He could’ve murdered a civilian, and all he cared about was arguing with me?
My voice trembled with anger. “How did you know he was possessed? Tell me.”
Cygnet crossed his arms. “After you left the temple, I followed you.”
Of course he did. It was so obvious that I didn’t bother getting offended. There were more serious issues on my mind.
“You lied to me, Sagitta,” Cygnet spat. “I expected it from the demon, but not from my own brother.”
I glared back at him, too furious to back down.
“You don’t understand,” I ground out.
“You let a godforsaken demon walk around the city!”
I bit my tongue, not wanting to argue with the truth, but my silence allowed Cygnet to continue his tirade.
“I suspected Chase was still possessed when you left the temple, so I tailed you. Every moment you were together in public, I was there.”
I felt like ice was dripping down the back of my neck. How much had he seen? There must’ve been a mountain of incriminating evidence...
Suddenly, my heart plummeted. There was something even worse, too.
“And yes, I saw you two kissing in the alley,” Cygnet muttered. Then he levelled a grave look at me. “Don’t tell me you, of all people, fell under the demon’s spell.”
A disgusting feeling swirled in my stomach. The insinuation that every intimate moment between Chase and I had been engineered by Faust was the last straw.
My temper exploded. I was so betrayed and scared and angry that I couldn’t think straight. I launched myself at Cygnet, ready to wrestle him to the floor and wipe that arrogant know-it-all look off his face.
Chase—Faust—grabbed my arm. He held me back before I did something I would inevitably regret. But in those heated seconds, I wished he hadn’t intervened.
I grunted with effort, trying to yank my wrist out of the demon’s grip, but he was unbelievably strong. Leagues stronger than Chase, who had carried me in his arms for kilometres to the temple. I sensed that Faust put in as much effort towards holding me back as a human pinching a piece of tissue paper.His raw strength should’ve unnerved me, but I was too strung out to care.
Cygnet frowned as he glanced between me and the possessed Chase. He didn’t seem to understand why the demon had gotten involved.
“Oo-kay, time out on the violence,” Hartford announced. He got up from his seat and strode in between us with his palms out, like a trainer separating a pair of bickering dogs. “As entertaining as this is, let’s cool it for a sec. Ijustpatched up Sagitta’s leg. Don’t make me work again so early in the morning.”
Cygnet’s brows flew up so high they disappeared beneath his black bangs. “What happened to your leg?” he asked, shooting me a concerned look.
A bitter laugh escaped me.Nowhe cared?
“Nothing important.”
Cygnet took a step closer. “Sagitta—”
I looked pointedly away. Was it mature of me? No. But I was mired in my feelings and not yet in the mood to reconcile. Instead, I wordlessly pulled up my pant leg to reveal Hartford’s stitch job. Cygnet paled at the sight of the wound. He knew Hartford was a good medic—even if my injury looked decent now, he understood that it had been a mess before.
“I... didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” Cygnet said quietly.
I dropped the bunched fabric to hide my leg again. “You summoned an imp to our apartment and you thought nobody would get hurt?”
Ourapartment. It slipped out before I knew what I was saying. But Cygnet didn’t seem to notice. He was still staring at my leg.
Hartford, however, did notice. I saw him smirking from the corner of my eye. Stupid drama-loving asshole. I would’ve told him to get lost if we weren’t standing in his office.
“It was just an imp,” Cygnet said defensively. “Even an apprentice can kill one.”
“I was unarmed, and Chase was asleep.”
