Page 23 of Owned

Don’t show them, the grimoire whispered.It’s our little secret…

The grimoire was right—they couldn’t know.

“Sit down, Avril.” Titus nodded at a deep maroon leather chair and Bastian unfolded himself from the couch and crossed the room to pull the chair toward the fire.

I allowed Valen to lead me toward it and sank down onto the rich leather. Bastian sat down on the floor in front of me and laid his hands on my legs. His touch was sensual and comforting, and the anger in my chest began to unwind—but only a little.

“Where have you been?” I asked.

I felt like a petulant child asking a question like that… but I’d felt abandoned and alone in this house for far too long.

“Tell her,” Valen said.

My eyes narrowed as I twisted around to look at him. “Tell me what?”

“Where we were—” he said without looking at me. “She wants to know.”

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Bastian murmured in a sing-song voice.

Titus grunted and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Lucian summoned us to a Council meeting.”

“We didn’t have time to explain,” Valen said. His tone was strange and I couldn’t be sure what it meant.

He laid his hands on my shoulders and I didn’t flinch away. Bastian leaned against the edge of the chair and trailed his fingers up and down my shins. The pulse of magic in theirfingertips should have soothed me—but the thud of the grimoire in my mind turned their touch into something sinister that made me want to push their hands away and jump up from the chair.

I swallowed hard and forced the words past the lump in my throat. “What happened?”

Titus’s smile was sharp as broken glass. “A purge.” He spat the word out, contemptuous and cold. “Five dead in under an hour.”

My hands flew to my mouth as disbelief mingled with horror. “How?”

“I told you they’d tear each other apart,” Bastian said with a sigh. “We barely had to lift a finger.”

“What—”

“Lucian’s paranoia has overtaken him,” Titus said. “He ordered the Council to reveal spies and conspirators—”

Valen’s fingers tightened on my shoulders. “He didn’t tell us anything. It was so… sudden.”

Bastian chuckle wrapped itself around my senses. “Too easy,” he said. “You’d think they would have tried harder—”

“Harder to what?” I asked in disbelief.

Bastian’s pale gray eyes, so much like his father’s, turned to me as he rested his chin against my knee. “To hide how much they fear him… They’re giving him what he wants. Hewantsthem to fear him so they won’t stand against him. Obedience. Submission. Sure, he wants those, too. But fear is what he craves.” His fingers pressed into my calf. “That’s what he gets fromyou, little bird… All of those things. He relishes it.”

His words were soft and thoughtful, but they sliced deep into my soul.

“How can you say that?” I hissed.

“Shut up,” Titus snapped at Bastian. “This isn’t the time.”

“She needs to know,” Bastian retorted. “If she wants to help us—she needs to know.”

Titus’ dark eyes met mine briefly before he turned away.

“So— what now?” I asked. My voice shook just a little, but I wasn’t afraid.

I was angry.

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