Page 108 of Owned

Especially with Avril.

Bastian slapped his hand against the side of his door. “Titus, let’s go!”

I walked around to the driver’s side and wrenched open the door.

Avril was another problem.

I wasn’t sure if I could trust her, either.

“Go, go, go!” Bastian urged. “They’re going to reset the wards—”

Shit.

The SUV roared to life, and I stomped on the gas. The SUV fishtailed in the gravel as we pulled away and tore back toward the wrought-iron gates.

“They’re closing,” Bastian hooted. “Step on it!”

“What are you—”

But Bastian had already manoeuvred his long torso out the passenger window. His magic swirled around his forearms and he let out a wild cry as he launched a ball of dark smoke and flame at the steadily closing gates.

I kept my foot on the gas and my hands tight on the wheel as the projectile struck and an explosion split the air and reverberated through the SUV. The gates blew apart with a dark flash and we barreled through the wreckage without slowing.

Bastian whooped as he ducked back inside. “That was fucking perfect!”

The wards shimmered but didn’t stop us—they were too slow.

Always too slow.

Bastian’s laughter was strange in my ears and the academy shrank in the rearview mirror, a smudge of smoke against the bright horizon. I felt the tightness in my chest loosen as we sped further away.

“We’ll have the entire Sages Council breathing down our necks now,” I said flatly.

Bastian kicked his feet up on the dash again, leaving streaks of soot and masonry dust this time. “Exactly. They’ll be too busy scrambling to focus on anything else. Lucian will have no choice but to act now.”

I grimaced. We’d made a spectacle and Bastian was right—there was no way the Council would stand for what we’d done. Lucian would be forced to respond, and that was the opening I needed.

But there was too much that could go wrong.

And too many players.

“You’re going to get wrinkles if you don’t stop frowning,” Bastian taunted. “This happened exactly as we planned. Maybe better.” He brushed a hand through his curls and leaned backagainst the headrest. “We won, Titus. You don’t need to look so worried.”

“I’m not worried,” I shot back. “I just know how quickly a plan can fall apart.”

“See, that’s where you and I differ, brother.”

I glanced over. I didn’t like the way he’d said that. “Meaning?”

“I can’t wait to find out what happens next,” he said with a grin.

The gleam in his eyes was unsettling. I’d seen it before, and it never ended well.

Shadows twisted around me,clawing and clinging to my skin. I resisted the urge to brush them away—it was pointless, anyway—but that didn’t stop the shiver of revulsion that crept up my spine and I walked toward the garden.

The night was terrifyingly still and silent.

After so many nights of heavy rain, the pause in the deluge was strange and destabilizing.

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