Page 35 of Lourdes & the Mafia
“Where’s Yessi?” Her eyes flick over Kane, drenched in blood. “Whyare you covered in blood?” Her breath hitches, her chest rising and falling at a rapid pace.
Kane shifts from one foot to another before steeling himself. I side-eye the glare he pierces in her direction, and his rage becomes a wave. My defenses prickle and I force myself to tamp it down.
“You didn’t…” Tears gloss over her eyes. I give in to the urge to step towards her, to comfort her, but at my approach she steps away, shooting her glare my way. It guts me. “Youpromised.”
“Kane.” Ramiel looms several feet behind Lourdes, his rage a fearful thing that makes the air through the room charge.
The darkness encloses around the corners, and his body seems to rise, his true form flicking into existence. I swallow past the fear in my throat.
It doesn’t matter that the same fingerprint of power flows through the three of us.
Ramiel is a fearsome thing to behold.
“What did you do?” he demands.
Kane looks sharply at our brother. Ramiel already knows, yet he wants Kane to confess his sins aloud for Lourdes to hear.
To hear how he broke a promise.
“I interrogated her.”
Lourdes lets out a strangled sound, and the tears finally spill over her cheeks. The heartbreak in them is a nightmare to behold. Like the tears that roll down those in the Land of Lament to fill the lake. I canfeelthe pain like it’s my own.
And I want to heal it.
“Youkilledher,” Lourdes accuses. “After you promised you wouldn’t.”
Kane growls, despite Rami’s warning glare. I’ve never seen my brother so full of hate as he is now. So full with rage as he steps towards her, stopping just before their bodies touch.
“You really think I care about the whims of a fucking human like you? That woman was a sinner, and that’s one less shit stain to deal with out in the world.”
Lourdes steps away from him. She squares her shoulders, takes in a shuddering breath. I can see she’s gathering her strength.
I know it’s not the time for the thoughts that race through my head at this moment, but she looks like a fucking queen. Even wearing that little silk number, her head tilted up and the curls tumbling around her head, barefoot, she looks regal.
I have the sudden urge to dress her for the occasion. To slip fabric over her body and drape jewelry over her skin and put a crown atop her head.
I wonder what she’d look like spread across my sheets like this, with that expression of fury. I’d twist it into something else with the simple touch of my hands and my fingers. I’d make her cry out for my cock, pierce her with my knot until she doesn’t know anger anymore.
Only pleasure.
My fantasies are disrupted as Lourdes bites out, “You’re liars.” Her gaze goes over all of us, and I hate the way it sears into my soul. Like she’s trumping me with Kane. I never would have minded before, but the hurt there is concrete. “I never should have trusted you in the first place.”
Those words are like a nail on my metaphorical coffin. But I can’t say anything to defend myself as she whirls and storms off, down the hall. We listen to the sound of her footsteps, even long after she takes a turn and is out of our sights. We can still feel her as we listen for her body. She stops in my room, slamming the door closed behind her. Only once I know she’s safe, in my room, where she’s meant to be, do I turn to my brothers.
“You both fucked up royally,” Rami growls. His magic shoots at us, and it’s a painful source. I have to brace my feet apart to avoid being blasted back by it.
“What did I do?” I demand, when his magic calms.
“You let Kane fuck up.”
My own anger flares. “I’m not his fucking babysitter, brother.”
Rami’s eyes narrow. “No, but you could have healed the human woman while he was inflicting his revenge and yet you did not. You’re just as much to blame as he is.”
Fuck.
He’s right, though I don’t tell him that. Maybe subconsciously I also wanted the woman to fucking suffer for what she did to Lourdes. Maybe I am just as fucked up as Kane is.
