Page 34 of Magic of the Damned

I held her gaze, refusing to let her rattle me. She peddled in fear and threats, and I wouldn’t give her that. Her taunting smile widened as she stood, keeping an attentive hand on Dominic’s shoulder.

“Perhaps it will be Dominic or someone in the Conventicle. Fear breeds betrayal. I wonder which one will sacrifice their life to take yours?” She looked delighted at the prospect.

The casualness of her words and her aloofness ignited a terror in me. But instead of prompting me to retreat, it triggered me to fend it off.

“Just what my day needed, commentary from Underworld Barbie complete with tacky Seductress of the Night wardrobe.”

Dominic fought against a smile.

Her sharp gaze was fixed on me as she spoke to Dominic. “You find her entertaining. That surely can’t be the reason she’s still alive. Is it, brother?”

“Helena,” he warned. “You are not part of this.”

“But I will be affected. I have just as much say in this as you do.”

“Perhaps, but you can’t get involved. Nor will you. This will serve as your last reminder.”

“It is part of your doing that I can’t be involved,” she pushed out through clenched teeth.

“I think you have yourself to blame for that. You were never able to abide by any established rules or basic tenets of diplomacy,” he chastised.

“Penalized for making those remorseful of their bad deeds.” She pulled her eyes from me and looked at him. With a dramatic flick of her hand, she waved his comment away as inconsequential. “How am I the villain in this story?” Her lips pushed out into a moue. “I’ve honed my skills whereas yours have become dull from disuse.”

Helena trapped me in her gaze, granite hard and hinting at unspeakable violence. “Disuse doesn’t make you strong, brother. It makes you vulnerable.”

Moving with the fluidity of water and the speed of striking lightning, she was behind me with a hand wrapped around my throat. Not in the gentle way she had before, as if lulling me into complacency about my death. This time it was an iron grip. Her face sidled up near mine, her breath warm against my skin.

“Dominic, I understand your desire to play the long game and to find the culprit responsible for the prisoners’ release. But the longer the prisoners are gone, the more havoc they will wreak. You believe diplomacy is the answer, but I can assure you the right choice is violence. Make it known that they cannot ignore us without consequences. Those who want the Awakening—we’ll find them. The two of us. Eliminate people even tangentially involved. Destroy the movement in a mighty show of violence. If anyone dares revive it, we destroy it in its infancy. Every. Time. We’ll make them fear the very word. Silence it and the movement.” The anticipation of violence put a musical note of excitement in her voice.

“Helena,” he cautioned in a low rumble. My breath caught as I watched his expression go flat. I wasn’t sure if this was a battle of wills or wit. Was it a zero-sum game?

“Not just a long game,” I said in a steady, even voice in an attempt to deescalate her anger. Her hold on my throat tightened and I eked my words out in a low whisper. “Violence won’t do you any good. If you don’t find the Caster, this will happen again. Violence can’t be the answer every time it happens.”

“Dominic,” she coaxed. “One act, and the prisoners will be returned. We can make better use of our time by finding this Caster. And then we will make them pay for forcing you to coddle this human.” Her voice hardened. “You are showing weakness now. Weakness that will not serve you well in the future.”

A medley of anger, frustration, and disgust replaced my calm. The callousness and arrogance of this woman to lament my life as being inconsequential while she attempted to convince him to kill me. The sheer disdain in her voice as she said the word “human.” Less than bugs, squashed under her feet at a whim. I hated the insufferable bitch.

My fist smashed into her nose.

She gasped, releasing me and stumbling back, covering her nose. Grabbing the thick magic book off the table, I smacked it across the left side of her face, then the right. Before she could recover, I drove it into her neck, pushing her back against the wall, where I pinned her. The pressure of the book against her throat was enough to make breathing difficult.

“This is the second fucking time you’ve threatened my life,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “This will be the last.”

Fire blazed in her amber eyes as she drew back her lips, baring her teeth like an animal prepared to fight to the death.

“Human girl,” she drawled in a low, oxygen-restricted husky voice. “Do you believe you are a match for me?” Pain shot into my stomach at her touch. The sharp retaliation of magic sent me flying across the room and slamming into the bookcase. I slumped against it as books rained down. Tears sprang to my eyes from the piercing pain. I fought them back, refusing to give her the satisfaction of me crying. I hoisted myself upright. She straightened. Golden light skated around her fingers.

Dominic’s flash of movement placed him directly in front of Helena, shielding me from her. He reached for her hand and his low voice carried throughout the room as he extinguished her magic.

“Helena.” The razor edge of his voice snapped her eyes from me to him. “You started it and are quite deserving of her retaliation.”

“Yes, I started it and I have every intention of finishing it, Dominic.” No more cloying affection in the way she addressed him. It held the sharpness of a machete. Anger pulsed in every syllable. “Don’t let her be an issue between us.”

“It is not one because I have spoken.” His tone was stern, his command absolute.

A slow, wintry smile curved her lips. “It seems that you believe your control as the guardian of the Perils extends to me. Brother, you are mistaken.”

He shook his head. “I believe no such thing, Helena. I know you well. Any attempt to control you is a foolish endeavor. I’m no fool nor do I waste my time with pointless tasks.”

---