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He snarls, his teeth flashing as his hand hovers over the flame.
“It’s not fair. He couldn’t be allowed to keep taking andtaking—”
“Jacob—”
“I only ever wanted to help him,” he chokes. “My dad, I mean. But he’s weak. He would never see what had to be done even if was right there in front of him.”
His eyes lock with mine.
“So, I had to do it for him.”
A cold chill slides up my spine, numbing me.
“A boy shouldn’t have to avenge his own father’s honor,” he whispers coldly.
Horror begins to sink into me.
“What do you mean avenge, Jacob?” I whisper.
His jaw grinds. His eyes drop the flame licking at his hand.
“It’s so pretty, isn’t it? It’s…”
He waves his fingers across it.
“Spellbinding. It’s like a drug to me. Like sex. It’s always been like that. And let me tell you, a little candle is one thing, but…”
He whistles.
“When the flames touch the sky, Ella?” he whispers.
When it hits me, it’s like a getting punched in the stomach. I choke, my heart actually wrenching in my chest as the pieces slip into place.
Oh my God…
I stare through the flickering candlelight at the man sitting across the table from me, flame and shadow twisting in his cold, ruthless eyes.
“Fire makes us stronger, Ella,” he growls. “I mean look at you now.”
I push my chair back, shaking, feeling like I’m going to throw up. Jacob frowns.
“No, no,” he shakes his head, his eyes stabbing into mine. “No, we are thesame, Ella!”
“No, Jacob. We’re n—”
“We are!” he roars. “Because… because if we’re not… if…”
His eyes stab around erratically, his jaw grinding before suddenly, his eyes lance right into me, sucking the heat from my heart.
“If we’re not,” he rasps. “Then you’re just one more thing I have to take from him.”
Time stops. And then suddenly, I’m lunging from my chair, bolting for the door to the staircase that leads back inside. I scream when I hear his chair topple over behind me, and the sound of pounding feet across the patio stone.
Pain explodes through the side of my head, stars spiraling in my vision as something slams into me. The world goes sideways as I go sprawling across the patio in terror. I whirl, looking up in sheer horror at Jacob looming over me, brandishing the cane he just bludgeoned me with.
I choke, kicking to try and get to my feet. But suddenly, with a snarl, his arm jerks down, and he grabs a fistful of my hair. A scream rips from my throat as my own hands jut up, grabbing his wrist as he starts to drag me across the patio back to the table.
With a strength I’d never guess, he yanks me into the chair, slamming me back into it so hard my head swims. The pain from where he hit me is nauseating, the entire world spinning and tilting around me.
