None of them are the source of the yelling.
The Mystic’s heir, Fallon, is a tall, lean white woman with fire-engine red hair. She looks about half a second away from ripping something apart with her bare hands. Her half-brother, Matteo, has hints of red in his thick, wavy hair, but his skin tone is several shades darker than hers. Courtesy of the Mystic’s third wife’s darker coloring. He’s one of those guys who seems permanently stoned—from what I know about the Mystics, it’s entirely possible that it’s the truth—but he’s got his arm around his sister’s waist and is physically restraining her.
The source of their anger?
I stare at the woman standing in front of Jasper, the Amazon queen’s younger brother. I know her. Beatrix. The Mystic’s younger sister, and aunt to Fallon and Matteo. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask. She isn’t a Bride. In fact, she’s in a relationship with Jasper, who is a Bride.
Oh shit, this is going to be trouble.
I push the cart the rest of the way into the room and shut the door. I don’t even know how she got onto the compound, but I’m nearly certain she wasn’t here last night. Or at least she didn’t get into the trucks with us when we were transported from the amphitheater to the warehouse. I abandon my tea and march into the mix.
I point at Fallon. “I don’t care how pissed you are, starting shit right now is a mistake.” Going the harsh route is a risk. The Mystic might rule with witchery and superstition and fear, but I’ve seen Fallon fight. She’s just as deadly as Monroe. Possibly more so, because she’s got one hell of a temper, and it gets the best of her often enough to make all her enemies wary.
I hold her gaze, refusing to flinch at the promised violence in her eerie gray eyes. “What do you think the Paine brothers will do if you start stabbing people? Nothing good. Dial it back.”
I turn to Beatrix. She’s got the same flaming red hair and pale gray eyes as her niece, though her features don’t look like they were carved out of ice. Right now, she’s leaning back against Jasper, and I can’t tell if it’s to stand between him and her niblings or because she needs his support. “What are you doing here?”
She meets my gaze. “I’m here for Jasper.”
That’s what I feared. Word is that she, Jasper Rhodius, and Ezekiel Paine used to be joined at the hip before the coup. An Amazon, a Mystic, and a Paine. It seemed to defy belief that their friendship would have lasted even without the Paine brothers being driven out of Sabine Valley, but she and Jasper have been together ever since. No wonder Ezekiel picked Jasper as his Bride. My chest aches for Beatrix, but her heartbreak changes nothing. The situation is what it is. We just have to make the best of it.
I shake my head slowly. “He’s a Bride, Beatrix. The ceremony has happened; it’s been consummated. There’s no going back. If you take him, you’ll never make it out of the compound, and the entire city will turn against you.” Neither of their factions will be safe for them, not if he’s an oathbreaker and she’s the one who facilitated it.
She lifts her chin, a stubborn glint in her eyes. “I’m not taking him anywhere. I’m staying with both of them.”
Well, fuck me.
I don’t drag my hand over my face, but it’s a near thing. This situation was already a mess, but it gets more nightmarish with each minute that passes. No matter what Abel thinks, I am only human, and he’s thrown me right into this pit of vipers.
How the hell am I going to pull this off?
14
Abel
My brothers filter into the room, one by one. Broderick and Gabriel look haggard as fuck, as if they spent the last twenty-four hours in the fight for their lives. Considering that their Brides are the heirs to the Amazons and Mystics, respectively, it’s no wonder. They can handle it, but I’m reassured all the same when they meet my gaze in turn and nod before dropping onto the couch across from me.
Finnegan and Ezekiel come next. They’re twins, though not identical, and the tension coming from them both is enough to change the air in the room. Ezekiel, I get—his Bride is Jasper, who was once a good friend. I know all too well how a friendship soured can turn to poison on your tongue. I think my little brother hoped that he’d come back to some sort of explanation or at least protestation of innocence. Instead, Jasper and Beatrix have moved on without him. That shit stings.
Donovan ducks into the room. He alone has a lazy kind of swagger that hasn’t been affected at all by us being back in Sabine Valley. He never takes anything seriously, so why would he start now? That said…