Chapter 63 Jasmine
When I enter the walk-in wardrobe to finally get dressed, I try not to spend too long being enamoured by the clothes again. Deciding to opt for something simple, black jeans, and a deep violet jumper.
Julien waits for me in the bedroom, but when I enter, we end up back in the wardrobe for a few more minutes…
When he finally flits us to Ezekial’s office to be with the others, I take a moment to appraise them, because they’re all dressed in their enforcer uniforms.
And I suddenly find myself wishing I could go back and change, maybe source something to almost match…
But Sai’s wicked smirk catches my attention as he scales me from head-to-toe.
“Those jeans are dangerous, Red,” he murmurs, tilting his head for another angle. “They don’t leave anything to the imagination.”
“Did you find the accessory drawer, Jasmine?” Ezekial doesn’t look up from his desk as he asks.
I frown at the sudden question. “I don’t think so… I only really looked at the clothes.”
“You might want to find it next time,” Ezekial adds, eyes still on his monitor. “You’ll find something to shut up Sai.”
“Fuck off,” Sai growls, but there’s no heat in it, just excitement. His grin turns feral. “You actually bought me a muzzle?” He leans over the desk, eyes glinting. “What colour is it?”
Ezekial tries to ignore him, but Sai keeps pushing. “Tell me it matches the collar.”
Julien mutters something in French under his breath, while Kane stays silent beside his brother, gaze narrowed in concentration on Ezekial’s screen.
And I find my gaze drifting to the wall of glass, seeking out the barrier I imagine is there. But not for much longer.
“Mon ame,” Julien murmurs from behind. “Have you thought about what you want to do, when they come?”
“If they come,” I mutter, eyes fixed on the city beyond.
Sai suddenly slumps against the pane to my side, shoulder pressed to it.
“I know you love a hypothetical, Red,” he murmurs, smirk tugging at his mouth. “So, hypothetically…”
I let a small laugh slip through at that, and his eyes catch the sound, brightening just for a heartbeat.
“If they walk through that barrier,” he says more seriously, “what do you want to happen?”
I think. Really think. Not as a threat waiting in the distance, but as something real and imminent.
“I think…” I chew my lip. “I think, hypothetically...” Sai smirks as I play along. “I’d like to speak to them.”
I turn away from the glass, slowly putting my back to the city.
Julien steps behind me, arms settling loosely around my waist. I sink into him, letting his heat and calm surround me. He’s too tall to rest his chin on my head without bending, so he just holds me closer instead.
“I know that makes you nervous,” I continue, glancing at them all. “They’ve lied to me once, why won’t they do it again? But it won’t change what I want, or what I think.” I try to make those words clear, my intentions clear. “I want answers, and I think they know more than I ever realised.”
My response seems to lie heavy on us all. Through the bond, it’s a firm pressure causing just the slightest ache.
“But…” That one word, and there’s the faintest lift in pressure. “Then I start to think… do I really need to know about the past? Does it matter? Maybe…”
I glance down, embarrassed. Too much of a coward to say the rest.
A sliver of shadow races along the floor, snaking up my ankle and curling around my calf.
Kane is already there when I look up, his cold calm soothing my panic. He doesn’t ask me to say anymore, because he doesn’t need me to—he can feel it.
“We could leave now. Never return.” His voice is quiet, but leaves no room for misinterpretation. “Leave the beings of this world to continue their wars and petty disagreements. Start anew.”
He cups my cheek, and the feel of Julien’s intense heat combined with Kane’s soothing cold is invigorating.
“Say the word, and we’ll leave,” he murmurs, shadows kissing my skin.
“You’d leave everything behind?” I frown, not quite believing it. “Everything you’ve built here? The organisation? The people who rely on you—”
“You think we are righteous beings. We are not.” Kane’s voice lowers as his eyes darken into that beautiful storm—not a speck of light to be seen. “We are creatures of the dark. Every fibre of us. We want you. The rest of the world can burn.”
There was a time I would never have imagined those words from Kane’s mouth. Never. But now… here he is.
And he’s mine.
They’re all mine.
“Where would we go?” I whisper, caught up in the fantasy.
“There’s so many options, Red.” Sai’s fingers brush along my hip with a pleasant crackle.
“Countless.” Julien’s voice quietly rumbles at my back.
Ezekial moves towards us then, stripping off his glasses, dropping them on the desk, discarding his devices there, leaving everything behind as he comes to stand beside his brother.
“There’s nothing for us here,” he says simply.
How can he say that? He’s a council member. He controls everything in this district.
“This”—he gestures to the room, the desk, the district—“means nothing.”
“But… what about your own reasons?” I look at each of them. “Finding the people who did you wrong—your revenge?”
Kane’s shadows curl up my spine quickly, softly, silencing me with soothing cold.
“We’ll leave it all behind,” he murmurs. “We just need you.”
Everything in me softens as I look at him, listen to him, because he truly means it. They all do.
“I want that,” I whisper, and all their powers pulse. “I really do. But… I need some answers,” I say with a sad smile, leaning into Kane’s hand. “I’ve lost a hundred years; I’d like to try and get a few back.”
I touch his fingers, catching each of their eyes as my shadows slink around them. “But I need you all with me.”
“Mon ame, there is nowhere else,” Julien murmurs into my hair.
Before I can respond—either with words or by kissing them each hard and fast—a sharp buzz vibrates from Ezekial’s desk.
He sighs, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he moves towards it. With one quick glance, his eyes are back on us. Dark steel.
“They’re here.”
The fantasy fractures like glass. Tension locks the room into place, and not even Sai says a word.
Ezekial looks straight at me. “If you want this, to speak with them, we can do it now. Orion and Eury are prepared to flit them here.”
My thoughts scatter. My chest squeezes, aches, like my lungs are being wrung out.
This isn’t hypothetical anymore.
I want answers, I do—but right now?
The room is too bright. I can’t focus.
I’ve only just started to learn the truth, to accept the bond, to feel safe and now… now I have to face them?
Sai steps in beside Kane, nudging him out of the way a little.
“Hey, Red,” he says softly, smile small but steady. “Baby, we can still leave. Just flit away. If that’s what you want.” His worried gaze flicks to Julien behind me.
His arms tighten. “Breathe for me,” Julien murmurs into my hair. I do, taking one deep breath, then another that they all seem to hold with me. “That’s it.”
Kane’s fingers brush my cheek. “The choice is yours, Jasmine. Whatever you choose, we will be there. Always.”
I nod, still following Julien’s breaths. I know I have choices, I know if I changed my mind—told them to flit and leave this all behind—they would, in an instant.
For me.
Which is what gives me the strength to say, “Flit them.”
No one speaks after me, but through the bond, I feel them. Their silent understanding. Their unwavering presence. The sharp twist of dread—worry. But also, their conviction and strength.
Kane’s fingers and shadows brush my cheek one final time, then he turns to face the door.
Without a word, they all form around me in a defensive diamond.
Ezekial moves to stand just behind his brother, silver ribbons circling his fingers.
Julien still holds me from behind, arms somehow firmer.
Sai takes position at my side, a little ahead.
My enforcers.
There’s a ripple in the air, not a sound but a sensation, and when the office doors burst open, shadows pour into the room.
We’re not in the Dark Realm though. This is something in between. A limbo.
In the darkness, I hear footsteps, sharp and urgent. There’s a muttered curse, a stumble, then—familiar light flares.
My stomach drops.
Javier.
He steps into view, his white markings bright against the dark, then he stops dead at the threshold. He stares at me, blinking like he’s seen a ghost.
And maybe he has. Because I know I’ve changed. In small ways, and in ways that are monumentally, irrevocably different.
As the shadows slowly recede and light bleeds back, Javier’s eyes dart from me, to Kane, to Ezekial, to Sai—then crash to a halt on Julien, on how his arms are locked around me while the others stand guard.
Javier looks at me once more, eyes wide, markings bright. “Jas… what the actual fuck?”