Page 55 of A Hint of Delirium

I grinned annoyingly. “At least you’re along for the ride.”

“Bitch,” he growled.

“Enough!” Ansel cut between us. “This isn’t helping.”

“Well, I’m not going to be made to feel bad for wanting to survive, especially not fromhim,” I snapped, pointing to Alec.

He rolled his eyes and turned away to look at Ansel. “This is a death sentence, and you know it.”

“Well, so far no one besides the three of us and her mom know what she is, so for now we’re safe,” Ansel said, trying to calm the situation.

Alec and I looked at one another guiltily, silently telling the other to spill the beans about my morning adventure. The quiet went on so long, Ansel grew suspicious.

“Right?” Ansel clarified, switching his gaze between us. “What don’t I know?”

“You tell him.” Alec nodded toward me.

“What?” I gasped.

“It was your mistake anyway!” he accused.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Ansel. “We’re not the only ones who know.”

Ansel’s green eyes widened. “Explain.”

I told him what happened. How I sneaked off to Jackson Heights to see my apartment and was ambushed by the Ancient Order of Leviathans, where they were lying in wait. How they shot me up with iron because they already knew I was a halfling due to the letter my grandmother stupidly left behind.

Ansel looked like he was ready to explode but was trying his darndest to keep it together. The twitch of his upper lip gave him away.

“This is a problem,” he said more to himself.

“More than Kazimir?” Alec choked out in disbelief.

Ansel nodded. “As of right now, Kazimir is a nonexistent problem. He doesn’t know anything about her. We need to worry about the trouble at hand, and that’s the Ancient Order of Leviathans. They could become a huge problem if left unchecked.”

“We’ll have to eliminate them completely,” Alec warned. “Are you willing to do that … for her?”

Ansel looked over at me, then back to his brother. “Yes, I am.”

“What do you mean,eliminate?” I asked. “Like, kill them all?”

“No, I meant send them on a cross-Atlantic pleasure cruise,” Alec said dryly. “Duh, of course I meant kill.”

I turned to Ansel. “You can’t kill them all! There are children in that order.”

Ansel’s features tightened. “It doesn’t matter, Violet. The whole order has to disappear, or else they’ll be a threat to you for the rest of your days.”

“Even the puppies got to go,” Alec smirked.

I wanted to slap him, sickened by the pleasure he was taking in this. I turned my attention back to Ansel. “When you killed my grandmother, I tried to understand. I was mad then and I’m still mad, even though she betrayed me and had no love for me, but I tried to understand you in some way. But this? Mass killing? I can’t wrap my head around this!”

“You’ll understand once you’re safe and no one is threatening your life,” Ansel soothed, his voice calm as if we were discussing the weekly grocery list. “You don’t have to try to understand me, Vi. If you’ve forgotten, let me remind you: I’m not human. I’m Seelie. These morals you live by are purely human notions. I don’t live by them, so don’t try to force them on me.” He turned on his heels and stormed out of the living room and into his bedroom. The apartment was quiet until we heard Ansel’s bedroom door slam.

“Someone’s mad,” Alec murmured.

“Shut. Up,” I growled.

He sighed. “Lighten up, Violet. You’re a halfling. Eventually, you’re going to have to get used to your other half. We don’t do things the human way.”

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