“And because he returned to them,” Valac added.
Ashmedai’s lip curled, though Valac couldn’t see it.
“You understand he didn’t choose them over you, right?”
Ashmedai growled. The behemoth was overstepping. This wasn’t his business.
“His brother is with us now,” Valac said, cutting Ashmedai’s growl short. “You should meet him.”
“His brother isn’t him.” What was the point in meeting someone who wasn’thim?
“No, but Nicolas loves him, which means he’ll be important to you, too.”
“No.”
Valac huffed. “You can’t deny what you feel for him.”
“What should I do, then?” Ashmedai snarled, taking a menacing step closer. “Do nothing? Wallow? Go and beg? Pretend I’m something I’m not?” No amount of pretending would make him like the Sentinels or their demons. They’d spent centuries on the surface blending in with the humans. Ashmedai would never be like them. He could never go into the light with Nicolas. Even the artificial lights in the skating rink were irritatingly bright.
Valac’s brow furrowed. He gestured at Ashmedai. “This isn’t wallowing?”
Ashmedai turned away with a snarl. He didn’t know what it was like to be denied. None of them did.
A hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he was dragged through dark space against his will. He roared, and when they appeared in the Rink, he spun, shoving Valac away from him.
“No!” he hissed, startling everyone in the room.
His eyes found the brother immediately. This was the human who’d accompanied Nicolas home after the night they met. He looked like Nicolas, but younger. Dark, curly hair. Light brown eyes, flecked with green rather than Nicolas’s gold. He was a little smaller than Nicolas, his face less shadowed with stubble, and his eyes widened in recognition.
“Holy shit, you’re the one,” he said.
Ashmedai leveled a scowl at Valac. “Leaving.”
“No the fuck you’re not,” Talon said firmly. “We need totalk.”
Ashmedai wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation. He turned toward the door. He needed darkness to teleport—one more way he was different from the rest of them—but Valac stepped in his path.
“Ashmedai, we just want to talk,” Julian said, raising his hands in appeal.
“No talk,” he said stubbornly.
“You agreed to stop attacking paladins for a while,” Talon said, crossing his arms. “Color me surprised when I’m still getting reports of dead paladins a week later.”
“Things changed.”
“What, your boy toy left, so you’re taking it out on the rest of us?”
Ashmedai met his black eyes with furious calm. “Do you know… how easily I could kill you, leviathan?”
Alex tugged on Talon’s arm. “Don’t piss him off.”
Talon was unfazed, dark eyes flashing with anger. “We had a deal.”
Ashmedai opened his mouth to retort—and then the little brother stepped between them, giving Ashmedai a look caught between a smile and wince. The breath stalled in Ashmedai’s lungs. They looked so similar it was almost painful to look at him.
“Hi. I’m Daniel. I’m Nicolas’s little brother.”
“I know,” Ashmedai grated out.
