Chapter Fifty
CHAPTER
FIFTY
Severin leaned against his closed door, groaning his regrets into the wood.
With the taste of her on his tongue, there was nothing he wanted more than to fling said door back open and return to Aurelie. To carry her into his bedchamber and finish what they’d started.
Instead, he dropped a fist against the frame, trying to quell the lust burning through him.
He’d expected complications from the bond, of course, but something had happened in those woods.
It was as though the bond had flooded open wide between them, and he’d been so consumed that he’d nearly told her everything.
Even now, he wanted to find her.
But then what would he do? Lie with her? Lie to her?
Aurelie was not his to claim, and the sooner he got that through his head, the better.
“You look like shit.”
Severin’s jaw tensed at the voice behind him. “Hello, Lute. Did you enjoy the show?”
“I didn’t exactly expect to find you nose deep in that bitch’s cunt.” Her shadows slipped across the stone, curling around his ankles like smoke and tugging gently as if to draw him forward. “You’re getting sloppy, Severin. I’m not the only one who’s learned some of your secrets tonight.”
He didn’t need her to say it.
“Fucking Yuri,” he growled. “Where is he?”
“Therein lies the problem. He found the entrance to the cellar.”
Of course he did. Of course the angel couldn’t give him just one night. Even now, Yuri was a thorn in his side, and all Severin wanted was to cut it from the root.
His wrath sharpened with every step as he brushed past Lute to descend through the narrow passage. By the time he reached the cellar, his blood was already simmering.
Yuri sat bound and limp on the floor, his arms and wings fastened behind him.
A flightless bird. One of Severin’s favorite sights. Though he would have preferred the angel waited a few more days before causing trouble.
Across from him, Gareth trembled in place, claws tearing from his nail beds and his eyes bloodshot.
Severin groaned. “I turn my back for an hour and everything goes to fucking ash.”
The mortal was turning into a demon, again.
“All you had to do was stay down here and keep your mouth shut for one day,” he snarled. “One day, Gareth. That’s all I asked. I told you I’d take care of everything.”
“Do it yourself next time,” Gareth hissed. “I don’t want to be a fucking hum—”
Severin raked his claws across the hybrid’s throat.
He used no magic. Gave no warning. Just a clean, lethal strike that sent Gareth crumpling to the floor in a heap. Blood spilled across the stone, a thick mix of red and black that pooled beneath him.
Severin hissed his frustration. That was definitely going to stain the floor.
“Was killing him necessary?” Lute asked, voice dry. “We could have used him.”
“If he can’t listen, he’s a liability.” Severin wiped his claws on a spare cloth, then tossed it down at the corpse’s feet.
“What about this one?” Lute asked, lifting a hand. Pinched between her fingers was Vexara, writhing and spitting in her grip.
“Put me down, you overgrown lizard!”
Lute flicked the vesper sharply on the head. Vex whimpered, curling in on herself as she rubbed at the spot.
The envyborn glanced back up at Severin. “Shall I kill her?”
“Of course not, it’s bad luck to harm a Luminel. Lock her up for now. We need to keep her away from Aurelie.” Vex was harmless, and it was best not to tempt old superstitions.
“Stay here and watch over the angel. Make sure he doesn’t escape.” He turned toward the exit, unable to keep the bite from his words. “I can handle Rhovar on my own.”
“And what of the girl? You think she’s going to believe her bonded just vanished without a word?”
“She will.” He paused at the threshold, wiping a line of Gareth’s blood from his cheek. “That bastard practically wrote his exit himself.”