I nodded stiffly. I'd agree to anything right now if it would get him to let me the hell out of this house.
"Then it's settled," Alice said, her voice calm despite the danger she was about to walk into. "We use Alex and me as bait."
31
ESME
Iwalked back to Brogan's house in the strange glow of predawn, twisting my hands in front of me, my mind still buzzing from my conversation with Alice, and wondering why Brogan hadn’t waited for me.
I’d known he was there at the cemetery. I’d sensed him through our bond before he even came through the gate. But I didn’t say anything in front of Alice. I didn’t want his presence there to spook her.
The city’s scents wrapped around me—stale beer and damp stone, the acrid bite of cigarette smoke, the faintest trace of chicory coffee from a café waking before the sun. On any other day, I might have found comfort in them. But tonight, they felt distant. Hollow. Ghosts of a world that kept moving while I stood frozen in my failure. Wind rattled the wrought-iron balconies, and the flickering glow of a streetlamp flickered as the darkness dissipated.
But I barely noticed.
My designer boots struck the uneven pavement in sharp, nervous steps as I walked blindly down the street, the sound swallowed by the damp air. The January chill curled around me, slipping through the thin fabric of my jacket, but it wasn’t the cold that made me shiver with foreboding.
I'd failed.
My family had ignored me, turned their backs when I needed them most. I covered my mouth with my hand to stifle a sob. The coppery scent of my own blood still clung to my fingertips, a bitter reminder of what I’d given—and what they'd refused to take. Clenching my hands into fists, I stuffed them into my pockets, my jaw tight as I walked past shuttered bars and empty courtyards, trying to hold back my tears.
A crash echoed from a nearby alley—a trash can tipping over. Something scurried into the shadows and I jumped, my breath hitching in my throat in terror, half expecting Marcus to pounce out of the shadows at me.
But it was only a rat.
However, my time was up, and Marcus was waiting. He'd made it perfectly clear what would happen if I failed, and I knew he would carry through on his threat.
The thought wrapped around my ribs like a vice, making it hard to breathe, and I quickened my steps. I needed to get back to the house so I could see Brogan one more time, because despite Alice agreeing to help me, I knew the power of the djinn. I'd seen it firsthand. And I had very little faith that we'd be able to do anything to stop him. So, yes. I wanted to spend what little time we all had left with the male I'd somehow fallen in love with without even realizing it.
Through the thick silence, a deep, resonant sound rolled over the rooftops.
A church bell.
The tolling filled the spaces between my scattered thoughts, settling into my bones, steady and sure. I closed my eyes for half a second, letting it pass through me like a prayer I didn’t know how to say.
Something inside me shifted. Just barely.
My ancestors had abandoned me, yes. And I was out of time.
But I wasn’t alone.
I exhaled, opened my eyes, and kept walking with renewed purpose.
"Esme," a voice behind me sliced through my thoughts, smooth and dangerously melodic. I spun around to find Marcus, his lean frame draped in shadows as he leaned casually against the gate that led to a courtyard only a few houses down from Killian’s. His eyes gleamed with furious delight.
No. No, no,no. I was almost there. I was almost in Brogan's arms.
Marcus’s brown eyes, deceptively warm and familiar, dropped to my empty hands, lingering there for a tense moment before rising to my face. He didn't ask me where the book was, but his expression was expectant.
"I don't have the book.” I stood my ground, though my voice tremored with fear. "I've tried to find it, but it's…I…" My voice trailed off. There was no excuse I could give him that he would accept.
His laughter was soft, almost affectionate, but his eyes—that was where the real story lay. They were suddenly cold, unyielding. "You barely even tried."
I shook my head. "I did! I did try!"
He cut me off with a slash of his hand through the air. "No, you didn't." Then his demeanor changed completely as he sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging with disappointment. "I thought so much more of you than this."
Anger rose up suddenly. "I don't know why," I snapped. "I was nobody to you until you suddenly showed up at my home and demanded something we didn't have. Then killed my family when we couldn't magically make it appear. You showed no remorse! Just shrugged off the lives of my loved ones like they didn't matter!"
