Page 53 of Shattered Jewel

I nod, thankful for an excuse to move. “Lead the way.”

As we retrace our steps through the corridor and into the neglected library, I feel the weight of their presence around me.

Predators, each one of them, their power caressing me like a living thing.

But I am not prey. I am descended from Sarah Anderton and forged in the same fire as Maverick. I make my own rules.

Trust no one. Find the Heart. Expose the truth.

Don’t fall in love.

Chapter 14

Kaspian

THE BOGEYMAN

“Axe, did you take notes on Maverick’s video?”

I turn from a pile of dust-crusted books where I’m balancing my laptop and toward Elara’s voice. Frowning, I watch Axe hand over his phone so she can go over his notes on the video we all were forced to endure.

It’s amazing how Elara’s gone from knife-wielding fury to phone-borrowing damsel.

Though I can’t blame the girl for being a little shell-shocked and emotionally confused. First, we sexually manipulate her into giving up her family heirloom, then she’s informed her brother was an initiate of our noxious, gruesome Court, then I’m shot by her mother, and finally, today, Elara watches another cryptic message from her dead brother confirming that he has indeed broken a jewel that our Sovereigns will commit unspeakable horrors to obtain if she doesn’t do something about it first.

Sure, dead brother, beg your blissfully ignorant little sister to solve a homicidal mystery. But don’t stop there. Make sure she understands your excessive stupidity in leaving breadcrumbs for answers instead of just leaving the fucking jewel with her. Make us all participate in a scavenger hunt. Make her beholden to us so we have no choice but to shelter her from the violence waiting for her on the other side.

Fucking asshole, is what Maverick is.

He’s lucky he’s already dead.

Pretty, innocent creatures have no business near me, yet Elara is everywhere I turn. The room is thick with dust from the old texts they’ve been combing through while I de-encrypt Maverick’s files, creating a fog between her and me. The flickering haze doesn’t do her justice, but her beauty is undeniable even in this pitiful setting.

Hazel eyes flecked with gold snag mine as soon as she senses my stare, her mouth thinning as she takes in every surly bit of me.

That tiny gesture, her small intake of breath, is enough to send my sinful thoughts spiraling. I’ve seen her afraid, seen her angry … and it’s the fact that I’m remembering each of her expressions and cataloging them in my mind so I can return to them to think about later, that makes me look away first.

I return to the stack of books, the ancient tomes coated in a thick layer of grime that transfers to my fingertips as I flip through the pages. The musty scent of decaying paper fills my nostrils, and I’m reminded why I prefer advanced tech and computer code to fragile manuscripts.

I slam the book shut, dust billowing from its pages. “We’re wasting time. Maverick’s Pokemon GO game is going to get us all killed.”

Elara’s head snaps up. “This wouldn’t be amusing to him. He was trying to protect the Heart.”

“By leaving it for you to find? Brilliant plan.” I mock.

“I knew him best. It would only make sense for him to give enough detail that I could find the answers without alerting his enemies, the Court, and that includes you.”

Elara spits our title out like it’s the crudest of all insults. To her, I guess it is.

“Tread lightly. Your brother chose to be part of this Court,” I counter, my words lighter than the venom snaking its way through my veins.

“Chose?” She throws the word at me like a challenge. “Or was forced?”

The polluted air becomes so thick, I could slice it with the blade Elara had pressed against Wilder’s throat earlier.

Her lips remain pursed, resentment burning in her eyes like an untamed fire.

I lean back in the tattered leather chair, crossing one ankle over my knee, my gaze never leaving hers. “He had a choice. We all did.”

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