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“Don’t worry, he won’t,” Arthur says soothingly. He sets us both down and Raine crashes into me, taking my shoulders in his broad hands and holding me an arm’s length away to inspect me from head to toe.
“I’m going to fucking kill that little?—”
I cut Raine off with a hard glare. “It’s not Edgar. There’s something wrong with him.” My voice quivers as my entire body trembles.
“Yeah, he’s almost not even human anymore, Terra.” Raine unzips his coat and presses me into his chest, hugging me tightly and rubbing his hands on my back to try to warm me. I tremble mindlessly as I watch the three instructors circle Edgar like he’s a wild beast.
“He’s still my brother.”
25
Elias
This little fucking prick.
If he weren’t a Nova, I’d pull his bones from his flesh one by one until he begged me to kill him. I know Emerai and Dr. Cein have been waiting for Sully to find another suitable vessel after what happened six years ago, but I thought they’d learned that this one is different.
It cannot be tamed.
Nekane’s eyes fall to the ice below us as he mutters, “You guys seeing this?”
Kallos and I look down as well.
The lake is coiling with black scales, and large oval-shaped eyes the size of a full-grown human stare up at us. Sully is a serpent this time around? I suppose it’s better than its prior form.
“It’s just a snake, Nekane,” I say with little interest and step toward Edgar.
Nekane scoffs and Kallos only stares down with a perplexed expression.
Edgar turns on me and lashes out, his power precise and lethal. Almost as perfect as when Terra nearly took Arthur’s head clean off.
I raise my arm and block his attack with the back of my hand, leaning forward as he leaves himself vulnerable. I grab his neck with one hand, squeezing the little fucker’s throat until tears spill from his eyes and I see the fight go out of him like a light.
“Listen, Edgar, and listen well. If you try to kill your sister again, I will gut you so slowly, so agonizingly, that you’ll beg me to take you apart joint by joint.” My words draw a deep fear into his eyes, but I’m not sure he’s got the message yet. I drop him and he gasps for air. My foot comes down on his head and he screams as I press my boot against his ear, crushing the other side into the ice. “Do. You. Understand?”
He cries and gasps for air. “Yes! Yes!” He squirms beneath my boot and sobs as blood spills beneath his head.
Kallos crosses his arms at my choice of treatment, but I seem to be the only one who remembers how vicious Sully truly is. How twisted and cruel. I lift my boot and glare at Edgar as he clutches his head.
Nekane laughs as Edgar stands, tears and blood staining his cheeks. Okay, maybe Nekane remembers too.
“Get him out of my sight,” I say to Kallos before stalking back to the shore.
“Elias, the four of us need to speak tonight. Meet us after midnight at the Broken Rock,” Kallos says with a grim tone. I don’t turn to look at him, but I nod. Edgar lets out small grunts of pain as Kallos helps him walk back to the courtyard.
What a fucking mess. We haven’t gone to Broken Rock since the night before the first Blood Crowns exam. The memory sets my teeth on edge and I shudder it away.
As I approach the shore, students move to the side, watching curiously as I approach Arthur and Terra. She looks up at me with deeply pained eyes. Raine is curled around her like a blanket, but for some reason, it doesn’t bother me like it did before. Even Velis accepts his Shadow, lingering close to the edge of my skin curiously.
I’ll have to sort that out another time.
“Is Edgar okay?” Terra asks innocently.
I won’t lie to her. “I doubt it.”
She shakes her head and lets tears stream down her cheeks. What’s with all the crying? She shouldn’t have turned her emotions back on. I sigh and open my arms to her. Her eyes widen, but she only hesitates a moment before releasing her hold on Raine and molding herself to my chest. I secure my arms around her.
Raine levels me a look, not angry or jealous, but curious. I just smirk back at him.
