Or I might find another creative way to punish him. Maybe I’d even use that bloody weapon on him, see how he likes it.
Maybe zapping his memories will fix his humanity problem, I mused.
Some would probably tell me not to stoop to his level.
But I was well beneath his level. I was at the bottom of the underworld where light didn’t exist.
Ismerelda was the one who could pull me from my inky depths.
And my brother had snapped her fucking neck.
Thus cascading us all into the pitch black of night.
Not even the blazing sun could save my brother from my darkness now.
“It was an accident,” my brother began as he walked over to the en-suite bar to pour us both an amber-colored drink.
Michael must have taken that as a cue to leave because he simply closed the door, sealing me inside with just my brother and Ismerelda.
“I suppose I should start at the beginning,” my brother clarified as he handed me one of the crystal tumblers. “As you’ve likely ascertained, I never slept. It turns out you have to be a willing participant for the ritual to work. But you knocked me out prior to performing it, and, well, I woke up.”
I took over one of the chairs in the seating area, my focus on my brother while I monitored my mental link to Ismerelda.
Still nothing.
Which I supposed was to be expected, given that she’d died only minutes ago. But that knowledge didn’t placate my nerves. Being cut off from her like this was even worse than when she’d fallen into her catatonic state.
And to think I’d killed her mere weeks ago.
If I’d been connected to her when that had happened…Fuck.
“Do you know why you knocked me out?” my brother asked when I didn’t comment.
“No. I’m only aware of what I’ve seen in Ismerelda’s mind, as well as the brief summary Darius provided me with about Aurelia and your waning humanity.”
Cane’s jaw clenched, his gaze narrowing. “I’m sure that summary was missing a few key elements.”
I relaxed into the chair and brought my ankle up to rest over my opposite knee. “From what he told me, your contempt for the world strengthened after the slayer seduced you and attempted to kill you. However, I warned you the lycans would never agree. Which it seems I was wrong about.”
“Oh, no, you were right. But I found a way to convince them.”
“Yes, you outed lycan kind, thus prompting the humans to respond in their usual manner—a manner grounded in insecurities and underlined in violent tendencies,” I summarized.
“Not quite.” He finally sat down on the couch across from me. “I uttered a few suggestions, or I suppose we’ll call themcompulsions, that led to humans attempting to militarize the lycans. I figured that would anger the wolves and force them into action. Then vampires would be credited with helping the shifters fight back.”
I took a sip of my drink and hummed, approving of his methods.
Well, not exactlyapprovingof them, but appreciating them nonetheless. It was a clever ploy to sway the wolves to his side and essentially allow them to do all the work for him.
And frankly, it’d worked.
“However, it wasn’t just the lycans we discussed that fateful day, brother, butErositasas well.”
I took another sip, then swirled the contents in the glass. “What about them?”
“I told you having one is dangerous, that it secures your link to humanity and initiates false instincts. When I recommended that you kill Ismerelda, you knocked me out. And the next thing I knew, I woke up in our family crypt just as you were closing my coffin.”
“I see.”
