Page 25 of Owned

Valen’s deep blue eyes were stern as he looked back at me. “You don’t want to know.”

“Tell me,” I insisted.

He sucked in a breath and glanced at Bastian, but his brother didn’t turn. “Lucian didn’t talk to us before the Council meeting. It was weird— he always tells us what his plans are. But not this time. Not even Titus knew what was going to happen.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared up at him. Whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to change the way I felt.

Valen shifted uncomfortably. “Lucian announced that there was a traitor in the Council,” he continued. “We— we found him and were—”

“We were going to torture the truth out of him,” Bastian said flatly.

Shit.

That did change things.

I’d always wondered why Lucian’s sons commanded as much fear as their father—that would explain it.

Bastian probably enjoyed it.

Bastian turned slightly and the smile on his angelic face sent a chill up my spine. “But he did the job himself.”

My breath caught as the smokey blackness of his magic coalesced into the shape of a long-bladed dagger. Bastian’s smile didn’t falter as he brought it up and drew the inky blade across his throat. As quickly as it had happened, the blade dissolved into dark gray vapor and Bastian chuckled as it faded away.

“I get the point,” I muttered.

“So did he,” Bastian snapped.

“Avril—” Valen said, bringing my attention back to him. “I just want you to be careful. Don’t do anything…”

“Stupid?”

He frowned. “Reckless.”

“Are you saying that you can’t protect me?” I shot back.

Valen’s eyes widened. “No— Of course that’s not what— No. We’ll protect you. We promised.”

“You did,” I said firmly. “If you don’t keep that promise, you know what will happen.”

My gaze flickered to Bastian. His pale eyes narrowed at me before he turned back to the fire.

“We know,” Valen said.

“That spell can’t be broken,” I said. “If that’s what it takes to hold you to your promise, you can bet that I’ll invoke it if you betray me.”

“Calm down, little bird,” Titus’ rumbling voice rippled through me as he reappeared from between the bookshelves. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

He didn’t realize how far ahead I already was.

“Am I?” I snarled. “How would you propose I react to this? Lucian is killing his followers— No—excuse me—he’s letting his followerskill each otherto stay in his good graces.”

My cheeks were hot with rage, and my magic pulsed in my palms. More power than I’d ever experienced rushed through me.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe I should calm down.

I didn’t know how to control all of this… not yet.

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