Because I felt the same way.
This was so utterly fucked up.
When Kols suggested the three of us bite her at once, I didn’t hesitate. I’d accepted the solution almost eagerly. Too eagerly. To the point where I hadn’t once considered the consequences. I’d just wanted to save Aflora.
I should have killed her instead.
It would have made all of this so much easier.
Had I just taken her out when she first arrived, Kols never would have mated her, his future wouldn’t be in jeopardy, and he could have lived his life the way it was meant to be lived.
She’d been a weakness to us all from the day she arrived. Part of me hated her for it, hence Raph’s behavior in class today. He’d acted upon my aggression toward her, taking it out on her precious familiar.
Wrong, yes.
However, it’d felt good at the time to expel some of my frustration so violently. Until the guilt hit me square in the chest.
The female had some sort of magical pull over all of us, creating a web of dangerous choices that both Kols and I had fallen into almost willingly.
I despised her for it.
And adored her at the same time.
“I’m glad my solution worked,” Kols said, his mind clearly following a similar path to my own because I felt the exact same way. “It’s wrong, and I hate her, but I hated watching her suffer more.”
“Because you don’t really hate her.” Just as I didn’t.
“I know,” he agreed quietly. “But I want to.”
“I know,” I replied, purposely repeating his words.
A moment of mutual understanding fell between us, our minds aligned in that eerie way we’d come to respect over the years. It was why we worked well together, even when we shouldn’t.
“I’ll handle my father and Shade, while you...” Kols trailed off, his focus falling to the ground. He bent to pick up a discarded wand, his lips curling down. “I guess I’ll talk to Aflora, too. This is hers, right?”
I hadn’t actually studied her wand much, but it looked right. “Yeah, I think so. But I don’t remember her using it.”
“She probably summoned it without realizing it.” Kols eyed the magical tool with interest, raising it into the light provided by the rising sun, and frowned harder. “Her essence is all over this, so it’s definitely hers, but I swear it’s changed somehow. See that blue streak? Looks like a crack, doesn’t it?”
I studied the sharp gold tip and noted the letters inscribed at the top. “This wand used to belong to someone else. Are you sure it’s hers?”
“It’s definitely her wand,” he said, catching and following my focus to the word. “Lahaz. That sounds like a spell.”
“Or a name.”
“I’ll ask her if she knows what it means when I confirm this belongs to her.” He tilted the wand again, his brow furrowing. “How have I never noticed the cerulean lines before?”
“Maybe the wand changed formation,” I suggested. Magical conduits were known to grow with their masters. “It could be maturing, just like Aflora’s connection to the dark arts.”
His jaw clenched, his gaze finding mine once more. “She’s going to be a handful.”
“She already is.”
He snorted. “True.” With a soft curse, he shifted focus to the clearing again. “Right. You talk to your guy. I’m going to find Shade and give the asshole a piece of my mind. Then I’ll make sure we’re on the same page.”
“And if we’re not?”
“Then I really will have a duel to report.” He turned on his heel, frustration and irritation pouring off his essence.