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Talon chuckles as I smirk at her while Alexi shakes his head, a frown line burning into the skin between his eyes. “You don’t need to know our weaknesses, Harmonia. You don’t really need to know any—”
“It means Alexi controls rage, leaving someone with nothing but their inner thoughts and helplessness while he rains down his own brand of anger,” I interrupt, refusing to build walls between Harmonia and I because he says so, and it seems Talon is on the same page because he too digs deeper for her.
“Alexi’s ability is to understand anger and feel when unnecessary wrath or pain is felt, human or supernatural, and it’s his job to intervene where necessary.” Talon points at him while wagging his eyebrows. “Like this guy needs any further assistance with his anger levels, right?” The irony of Alexi controlling everyone’s anger except his own is not lost upon us. He rolls his eyes as he throws his hands up in the air, but nobody pays him any mind. “What I do is kind of in the name, you know, avenger of murder, and well, Malik deals with…”
“Everyone and everything tainted by the pallid green of envy.” He almost sounds like some kind of fairytale villain. It’s not a case of someone being jealous over someone else’s material things, it runs much deeper than that. Much darker.
Like Zellus, for example. I’m beyond happy that man is no longer roaming the Earth and ruling Saints Academy. The cloud of jealousy that loomed over him was unbearable, undeniable, and explosive. But as most do, they hide it well, and have the ability to defend themselves with their family members. Even if it is those same family members they’re jealous of. Downfalls come in all different shapes and sizes, and I’m quite sure we’ve already seen them all.
“Jealousy is the force behind so many terrible actions, I can’t even imagine,” Harmonia murmurs, placing her hand on my thigh, a soothing gesture, but I tense at her touch. She must sense the shift in me and quickly goes to remove her hand from my leg, but this time I can’t stop myself from holding her in place.
Her cheeks tinge pink with a hint of embarrassment, but I rub my thumb over her knuckles encouragingly, and after a moment she relaxes in her seat and in my hold.
“So yeah, it’s all a little crazy, but we have to provide detailed evidence before we can commit to their deaths. We can’t just go around killing anyone and everyone because we feel like it. If we feed the Keres pure souls instead of those tainted by anger, murder, or extreme jealousy, then we’ll likely be feasted on instead.” Talon exaggerates a shiver as he speaks, but his words are true and unbelievably haunting. “We can’t make a wrong move, not a single mistake, there’s no room for error.”
“Holy shit,” Harmonia mutters under her breath, her fingers clenching beneath my hand as she looks at the three of us.
“Holy shit is correct.” Talon nods as Harmonia nibbles on her bottom lip. I can sense her question coming before it touches her lips.
“What are the Keres?”
This time it’s Alexi who steps in, more than happy to talk about something that isn’t so personal. “The Keres are death-spirit Goddesses who reside in a small corner of Hell. They can’t die and they can’t kill. They’re connected to Nyx and Hades somehow, but we don’t know much more than that. No one does. We have our roles and we fulfill them.”
Silence descends over the room as Harmonia absorbs everything. When I see her starting to nod her head, almost to herself more than anyone, I know she’s taking this all in far better than we did.
“And what about the Redvellions?” she asks, adjusting her thoughts to the here and now and how all of this impacts our lives on a daily basis.
Alexi scoffs, shaking his head as he rises to his feet and fastens the middle button on his suit jacket. “The Redvellions wouldn’t be an issue if our souls were sealed and our magic complete,” he grunts, turning his back to the table as he moves to the window to look down at the street below.
“Knock it off, Alexi.” Talon’s voice is stern as he beats me to it, but I glare at the back of Alexi’s head, hoping he can feel the burn. I squeeze my fingers around Harmonia's hand, silently offering my support without looking at her, and I feel her edge closer, her arm brushing against mine as my body tingles at her proximity.
Alexi’s shoulders stiffen, his profile revealing his deepening frown as he glares down at the sidewalk, his jaw clenching as his hands turn to fists at his side. “Shit,” he bites out under his breath before the room is suddenly drenched in darkness.
“What the hell?” Harmonia hollers, surprised by the change as she scrambles to her feet. I release my hold on her hand but remain at her side as a ball of flame comes to life in her hands, casting light over the room.
My gaze flickers from Harmonia’s to Talon’s before settling on Alexi’s. The anger that burns there is more scalding than the embers that flicker in Harmonia’s palms.
“Get her the fuck out of here,” he barks, venom and rage boiling beneath the surface. “It’s Noose,” he adds, making my own fury race to the surface as I wrap my arm around Harmonia’s waist.
“Who’s Noose?” Her voice isn’t meek or uncertain, if anything it’s rising to match our anger, fueling us as she looks at each of us. I’m ready to leave, willing to give her the answers she needs when we get home, but Talon offers them to her just before I snap my fingers.
“Noose is the leader of the Redvellions.”
