CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Yael
“Yael,” a weak voice called to me from the shadows across from my building; a voice I hardly recognized as Jemma’s.
But sure enough, it was her—barely. She slinked out of the darkness like a snake, arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from twitching and scratching.
I hadn’t seen her for over a week, and the reason was plain.
Though I’d heard rumors of her most recent decline, they hadn’t prepared me for the husk of a being that approached me.
Her beautiful red hair was a matted mess, and her skin was covered in grime and blood and various other substances I could only imagine.
But it was her hollowed-out cheeks and gaunt frame that made my heart plummet to the concrete beneath my feet.
She was being consumed by the evil inside her once again.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she continued as she shuffled across the street in bare feet. “I need a favor.”
“I think I’m all out of those, Jem,” I replied as gently as I could. My feelings were a tangle of conflicting emotions that refused to be separated. My heart wanted to scoop her up and save her from herself one last time, but my mind knew better.
“This will be the last time, Yael. I promise.”
“I believe that’s exactly what you said to me a month ago.”
“I had some things I needed to figure out, but I’m good now. Really.”
“You don’t look good.”
“Things got a little out of hand over at The Lion’s Den, and I had to do a couple jobs to get it straightened out. I didn’t plan for it to go down like that.”
“You never do.”
“I just need to take the edge off this last time, and then I’ll be able to handle it. Please, Yael. I need your help.”
“I can’t keep taking it from you,” I said, my mind and heart warring inside me. “It’s getting too hard to control!”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to stop. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“But you do!” I shouted at her, my anger and frustration finally boiling over.
“You’ve had so many second chances I’ve lost count of them, and every time you get better and things finally go back to normal, you choose to cave in to this sick addiction and nurture it rather than fight it.
” I stared at the shell of my sister standing before me, and what little hope I’d held out for her withered away.
“I cannot stand by and watch you do it anymore, Jem. And I can’t be the one trying to save you from yourself anymore. ”
Onyx flashed in her eyes as she leaned in closer to me, teeth bared. “Have you forgotten that I know your little secret, brother? That I alone hold the key to your safety in my hand? One rumor about your taboo magic to the fae king and it would be the end of you.”
“The king already knows,” I said, leaning in closer to sell the lie, because the king most certainly did not know. Myra wasn’t the only one keeping her powers hidden.
“The king is not the only powerful being you should fear.” Her eyes narrowed with malice. “There are many in the Devil’s Playground that would love to bring the fae king’s rising favorite to his knees. And all it would take is one word from me…”
I looked into the face of the sister I no longer recognized and knew what I had to do.
“Do what you will, Jemma,” I said, turning to walk away before my resolve could waver.
“You can’t ruin my life any more than you already have.
” Her unhinged ranting rang out through the neighborhood as I walked across the street to my luxury apartment building, knowing that she would be slumming it in the Playground soon enough to feed her addiction to the evil coursing through her.
With every step I took, I fought the urge to look back just one last time, because somewhere deep in the marrow of my bones, I knew it would be my final image of her.
And it was.