Chapter 36 Start Talking
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KADE
My soul tears in two and I scream as I’m ripped into a form I cannot bear. There was me before, and there’s me now. Before Zara and after her. She was warm and alive in my arms; her being in balance with me. She and I had found our equilibrium, and her magic had stopped trying to consume mine.
Then she was gone, yanked away from the blood weave by an unhinged darkness that knows no limits to its depravity.
Now, all that remains is a void so absolute it threatens to consume me.
My knees hit the ground, the blood weave’s pulse writhing through my veins like feral vermin, feeding my rage and pain.
“Zara!”
Her name tears from my throat, raw and broken. The walls of the room warp and twist as my magic lashes out uncontrollably, the aftermath of the weave’s energy wreaking havoc. I try to focus, to pull her back, but the connection between us feels distant. Or worse, frayed to the point of no return.
I scream in silence, pulling at my hair and rocking, doing anything to contain the madness and pain swelling in me.
I lose track of time as the seconds bleed into minutes, which stretch into infinity, and all I know is that she’s gone.
And the longer I’m without her, the more the madness takes hold, insidious and poisonous.
My blood hums with fury, with a primal and uncontainable need to destroy anything and everything in my path to find her.
Only her.
I stand and turn to the door, fixing on it as it becomes the only thing standing between me and what I need to do. My reason kicks in and there’s only one possible explanation, only one solution to the problem I’m facing. It’s unhinged and unlikely, but no other explanation makes sense.
My brothers did this.
No one else knew of Zara, and Galen knew of the blood weave. They are the only other warlocks who can enter our mansion and they’ve betrayed me. They’ve already meddled, already interfered, and they tried to twist Zara into their schemes, and now she’s gone because she didn’t fit into their plans.
I’ll make them pay.
In blood and pain, twice over.
The room turns into a chaos of shattered furniture and scorched walls.
I assume I unleashed magic and its remnants move around me, unchecked, and the crackles in the air beg to be released again.
The blood weave’s energy surges again and its pain is an agony I’d never imagined relishing, enjoying it because it means she’s still alive.
It wouldn’t hurt like this if Zara was dead, and that means I can still find her. I can still save her. I can be the hero I never wanted to be, and I can burn the fucking world down as I do it.
Energy surges through me and I let it fuel me. I let it consume me. I’ve become unhinged and I no longer care about control. There’s no point in order now she’s gone.
This is what my brothers wanted, and it’s what they’ll get.
The doors burst open with a violent frenzy of energy. They slam against the walls with a deafening crack, and I stride through without hesitation. I descend the stairs, anger roaring in my screams as I demand their presence and race through the mansion, letting my magic loose.
Galen stands at one end of the banquet room, his expression calm but his eyes sharp. He’s always been the most composed of us, the one who plays the long game. But that doesn’t make him right and it doesn’t make him better than me, and in this moment all it makes him is a target.
Darius stands off to one side, his posture tense. Unlike Galen, he doesn’t bother masking his concern.
“Kade,” Darius starts, his voice edged with warning. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” My laugh is bitter, guttural. “She’s gone! Do you understand that? Gone! And it’s your fault.” I point a shaking finger at Galen. “You couldn’t keep your manipulative hands off her, could you?”
Galen edges forward, his movements deliberate. “You’ve lost that whore of yours and you think I had something to do with it? The blood weave is clouding your judgment, brother. I warned you that this would happen.”
“Don’t you dare patronize me,” I snarl, closing the distance between us in an instant.
My hand shoots out, grabbing the front of Galen’s shirt, and I slam him against the wall behind him. The impact sends a crack spattering through the stone.
His calm demeanor shatters as his back hits the wall and his magic sparks to life in response.
His lips curl into a sneer, but before he can act, I release the torrent of energy inside me, praying it’s enough.
A pulse of crimson light surges from my core, slamming into him and throwing him across the room.
His body collides with the massive banquet table, shattering it into splinters.
“You think you can manipulate me?” I growl, advancing. “You think you can take her from me and walk away unscathed?”
Galen rises slowly, brushing debris from his coat, his magic shimmering in the air like fractured glass. “You’re unhinged, Kade. The blood weave has turned you into a madman. Perhaps it’s best this way. You were never meant to wield great power. Never meant to lead like us.”
I don’t give him time to finish.
My rage explodes, and a volley of dark energy streaks toward him, each bolt sharp enough to carve through stone. He raises a hand, summoning a translucent shield of silver light, but my magic pounds against it, still holding up despite my weakened state.
Darius moves before I can land the next blow, stepping between us with his own magic flaring in warning. His aura blazes like molten steel, sharp and unyielding, and his voice cuts through the chaos.
“Enough, Kade!” His power clashes with mine, halting my onslaught and throwing a wave of tension through the room. “This isn’t the way!”
“Stay out of this, Darius!” I snarl, the blood weave’s fury coursing through me. “You didn’t stop him when he meddled before. You didn’t stop him now. That makes you just as guilty.”
I push more magic into the fray, harnessing the pain burning through me as I ignore my doubts. Tendrils of raw energy writhe around me, heat and malice ready to strike at anything in my path.
“Kade, stop!” Darius moves forward, but I’m beyond reason. The blood weave’s power thrums through me, amplifying my fury.
Galen’s composure falters, his gaze narrowing. “You’re acting like a rabid beast,” he says, his voice tight. “This isn’t helping Zara.”
He steps out from behind Darius, blood gushing from a gash on his cheek.
His shield flickers as he strengthens it, his aura steady but sharp.
My brothers and I have fought before, but never like this, and I won’t falter now.
I won’t give them an inch or show them any mercy, not when Zara’s life depends on my cruelty.
The room detonates into chaos as Galen’s spell erupts. Shards of light streak toward me, each one slicing through the air with precision. I counter with a sweep of my arm, a shield of my own snapping into place. The collision of power rattles the room, the air cracking like a storm.
I lunge at him, magic wrapping around my fists, and slam into him with everything I have. His shield shatters with a deafening crack, and my punch connects with his jaw. The force sends him sprawling, but his retaliation is immediate.
A concussive blast of force slams into me, throwing me back into the remains of the banquet table. Pain lances through my side, but it only fuels my fury. I spring to my feet, summoning another wave of crimson energy, and hurl it toward him with a roar.
Galen dodges, the spell missing him by inches and leaving a molten scar in the wall behind him. His eyes narrow, and he snaps his fingers, summoning chains of glowing energy that lunge toward me like serpents.
I twist, avoiding most of them, but one wraps around my wrist, burning like acid. I tear it away with a snarl, the blood weave feeding my strength, and retaliate with a blast of fire that forces him to backpedal.
“Stop this!” Darius shouts, his own magic surging. Golden light ripples through the room, slamming into both of us and forcing us apart. “You’re going to destroy everything if you don’t control yourself.”
Galen spits blood onto the floor, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His gaze sharpens, cold and calculating.
“Do you think this tantrum will bring her back, Kade? Do you think it will undo what’s been done?”
“Don’t lecture me, you patronizing cunt.
” My roar reverberates with anger as I shake off the golden light still crackling in the air from Darius’s interference.
“Don’t act like you’re so fucking righteous when this is your own fucking fault.
You don’t even have the goddamn balls to admit it, do you, Galen? Admit you took her from me.”
The mansion falls into an eerie silence, and the faint memory of the residual hum of magic vibrates through the air, broken only by Galen’s steady, deliberate breath.
He lifts his chin and stands proud. Defiant.
Fucking sure of himself. His hindrance hangs heavy, each passing second a sharp knife driving its point deeper into my chest.
Galen straightens, his posture a deliberate act of assertion.
“What if I did?” he says, his voice calm but laced with venom. “She was a liability. A distraction. You’ve let your obsession with her consume you, and now look at you—unraveling at the seams, dragging us all into your madness.”
The words hit like a physical blow, but instead of weakening me, they ignite something darker. I close the distance between us in a heartbeat, magic crackling in my palms as I grab him by the throat.
“Where is she?” I growl, my voice barely human. “What did you do to her?”
Galen gasps for air, his hands clawing at mine as he struggles against the blood weave’s enhanced strength.
I don’t know how my power’s come back, and I don’t give a fuck about what it’ll cost me right now.
All I can think about is torturing my brother until the cunt gives me back the girl he’s stolen from me.