Page 48 of Jacinth

“I would never bottom,” Orion said with an indignant sniff.

Alisdair was quickly turning an interesting shade of beetroot. “We were never lovers!”

“Don’t need to be in love to get down,” Harley called from the sidelines.

As I doubled over from another round of very manly giggles, Alisdair lost his patience.

He sent this black smoke arm flying. I recognized it as the same thing that had grabbed the male spirit earlier, and watched in horror as it swiped at Skyler and knocked him into a tree.

There was a crunch on impact, and my youngest brother slumped in a heap, out cold.

“Check him,” Orion ordered.

I nodded and made my way over to the side.

Pulse strong, breathing deep and slow, pupils appeared even. Good. Skyler was unconscious, but was otherwise fine as far as I could tell. I kept one hand on his to keep track of his movements and watched as the master necromancer began to glow.

“What are you doing here, Alisdair? What do you want with my girl?”

“I gave you the option to join me once. Do you remember? We could have ruled it all together.”

“They were definitely boning,” Harley stage-whispered.

“Is it bad I find that super hot?” Jace whispered back, no less quietly than the other female.

I could tell from Alisdair’s agitation this little meet-and-greet was not going as intended.

“Let me guess. When you planned this thing, you pictured fear, shock, horror... maybe a wistful look or two from Orion?” I called from where I crouched.

“Shut up and watch Sky,” Orion said.

I ignored him and continued, “Yeah, you’re probably not going to get that here. You see... Those two are certifiable, I’m an addict, and he—” I pointed at Orion “—can kick your ass any day of the week. Twice on Sundays.”

Orion turned a censoring look on me. “Will. You. Please. Shut. Up.”

I was ruining his little reunion... with a psychopath. I really needed to talk to my brother about his choice of friends.

Alisdair appeared to be growing tired of not being the center of attention, like he had wanted, and chose this moment to try to regain control of this contumacious group—it’s a legal term that may have been applied to me a time or two, trust me, it’s the perfect word. He drew himself up to his unimpressive height and cast his shadows out behind him.

Was he peacocking?

“I will come for the girl. She will be sacrificed to the greater good. If you stand in my way, you’ll be crushed beneath my shoe. The time for an accord between us has passed with your choice to side against me. Once my friend, we are now enemies. Enjoy what time you have left, Orion. It will sadden me to kill you.”

Without waiting for a rejoinder from the collective, he swept off the way he had come and faded into the night.

“Is there, like, a manual for bad guys? His monologuing needs some serious work,” Jace announced as she and Harley wandered over.

It concerned me that they were getting along so well. Harley was a terrible influence on her.

“Hey, how’s Sky?” The second she noticed he was still out cold, her entire demeanor changed. I knew for a fact she was hiding her fear behind the jokes and brave words, but there was no fronting when she was worried about one of us.

“Fine. Just unconscious,” I said, shuffling over and allowing her room to see for herself.

She sat back on her heels after a moment and exhaled a relieved breath.

Orion cleared his throat loudly.

“For the record, I have never fucked him. I have much higher standards.”

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