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“Um, you’d better go,” she says to her companion after a few seconds. She sounds nervous as hell.
“I don’t think so. I’m actually very interested to hear how this conversation is going to go,” he replies.
My whole body tenses at the sound of the voice.It can’t be.It just can’t be. But then the shield drops, and I can see the bed clearly. Leah’s managed to drag herself into a crumpled dress. Her eyes are wide, and her breathing’s far too rapid.
Gabriel, on the other hand, is still utterly naked and seems entirely unconcerned either by that or by being discovered. He’s still lounging on the pillows, sprawled out, his characteristic relaxed smirk firmly in place.
My breathing and heart rate accelerate way past Leah’s. The rest of the room blurs, until only the bed is real. All the surprise and anger that’d hit me when I’d first walked into the room and just about managed to suppress races back a thousandfold.
“You treacherous whore!” I scream the words, fists clenched and eyes wide.
I’ve read several articles about how you should never call another woman a whore. About the need to be sex-positive, to be sisterly, to avoid slut-shaming. And I’ve always agreed with them wholeheartedly. I’d feel bad about my choice of words, were I not so utterly overcome with fury.
“A quick fling would have been one thing. But of all the men in this town, you cheated on my brother withhim.He’s the enemy. It’s his fault your fiancé’s inside in the first place. What is wrong with you?”
I probably ought to attempt a core meditation, or at least some simple breathing exercises. But I’m way beyond that. I’m wherever my dad goes when people disrespect magic or put the family or the town in danger and he loses it completely. I feel like I could set both of them on fire with the power of my mind. It’s terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.
“I’m sorry,” Leah murmurs. She’s completely sobbing now.
Gabriel still merely looks wryly amused. “Are you angry on your brother’s behalf or on your own?”
I ignore him for the simple reason that if I so much as attempt to engage with Gabriel-fucking-Thornber right at this moment, I’m going to bring the house down around all our heads.
I gasp as a fresh thought hits me. “You’ve been slipping him information, haven’t you? This isn’t a one-off thing, and it’s not even just sex. You’re not just a cheater, you’re a spy. You’ve not only betrayed Brendan, you’ve betrayed the whole family.”
I try to suck in some air. Not to calm myself—there’s no hope of that—but to stop myself from actually passing out from the force of my anger. My magic’s swirling around me, barely under my conscious control. I dread to think what my eyes look like.
Leah doesn’t even attempt to answer, just lays down on the bed and buries her head in the pillow.
“You told him about me, didn’t you? You were one of a handful of people my parents trusted, and you told the one person I really needed to keep my identity secret from. You could have got me killed. Or used against my will.”
“For the record, she did tell me, straight after that first day in court, but I already knew.”
I press my hands to my forehead. “Shut up, Gabriel. You’re utterly despicable, but I expect that of you. This is Sadler family business. It’s between me and her.”
For a second, the smug look fades away, and he closes his eyes. “Are you sure that’s what you’re thinking right now?”
Leah manages to sit back up. “Sadie, please don’t tell Brendan. Please. I’ve been a total idiot, but I’ll do anything.”
I fight to keep my hands pressed against my forehead, where they won’t do any harm, but I’m crying, I’m trembling, and I’m about to go beyond the point of no return.
My hands fly away from my face, and before my conscious mind catches up with proceedings, they’re outstretched towards the bed, and Greenfire’s hurtling towards Gabriel and Leah.
Gabriel shields without a second thought, inevitably, but the semi-physical manifestation of my fury surrounds Leah. Within seconds, her emotional sobs have turned to physical screams. I shouldn’t be doing this, but it feels so good.
“Sadie, stop,” Gabriel says. “You know you don’t want to hurt her.”
I don’t stop. I’m not sure whether that’s because I don’t want to or I can’t. The lines between the conscious and the unconscious and the physical and the mental are all blurred by rage.
Leah is struggling for breath. As a practitioner, the Greenfire shouldn’t do her much harm, but she’s not a particularly strong or gifted one, and unlike me and my siblings, she probably neither duelled nor messed around with Greenfire much in her youth.
Most of my attention is focused on the trembling, glowing figure of Leah. This must be the first time I’ve been in Gabriel’s presence and not been utterly absorbed with him. But I still notice when he stands up, throws on a dressing gown—my brother’s presumably, which seems like adding insult to injury—and crosses the room towards me.
I tense, prepared for an attack, but all he does is come behind me, slip his arms round my waist, and close my hands into fists, just like that night at the casino. As he draws our joined hands towards my chest, the spell falls away and a sobbing Leah drags herself back to a seated position. The pain will have disappeared the moment the magic stopped, leaving no physical harm or discomfort behind, but she looks in shock. I shake a hand free from Gabriel’s grasp—he doesn’t resist—and perform a simple binding spell on Leah, locking her arms and legs together.
“What are you intending to do?” Gabriel whispers the words. It’s unnecessarily intimate.
“Take her back to my parents. Let them deal with this mess. Though it’ll ultimately be up to Brendan how far we stick to the Old Ways.”
