“We could fly to Liam’s,” I mumble, struggling to keep my eyes open. “His place is not too far from here.”
Liam is the closest healer I can think of. However …
“Can we trust him?” Alex questions as we arrive at the end of the alley and step out onto the street.
The front of the building is now visible, along with the stretch of road that borders it. And what I see makes my stomach drop.
Pure and utter chaos has taken over, creatures running around and screaming, growling, and some are taking the opportunity to feed off of injured victims. Smoke has laced the air, as well and the flames that Hadley and I ran through, now devouring the building.
Flames reflect in my brothers’ eyes as they take in the horrifying scene. I’ve seen some dark stuff in my life, but I can say with truthfulness that this is one of the most awful ones I’ve had to witness. Even worse, I was in the middle of it with Hadley.
Hadley who needs help right now.
“We’re going to have to,” I say, my voice sounding hoarse and scratchy. “Where the hell is Rhyland? We need to get going now before things get worse.” And I’m not just referring to mine and Hadley’s burns. I’m talking about whatever the hell is going on right now in this realm. Because everlasting fires don’t accidentally get started. An intentional spell has to be cast in order for the ruthless flames to manifest. And the fact that this happened while we were in the club, while Hadley was in the club … it can’t be a coincidence, especially since we were here to schedule a meeting with the Keeper of Crowns, and Rhyland had to do that with Elise.
I’m not sure if she had anything to do with this or not. Elise is a bitch for sure, and she got off on doing all sorts of messed-up stuff to my brothers and me during our younger years, things that still scar our minds and souls. But starting a fire in a very busy club doesn’t seem like her style, unless someone else made her do it. Why, though? That’s what I need to find out.
“Rhyland is taking care of a problem,” Jaxon tells me, his shoulders winding with tension.
“Don’t be evasive with me,” I growl. “Tell me what the hell he’s doing.”
Jax lets out a weighted sigh. “Well, considering he took off the moment he saw Hadley and Blaise land from off the roof, and he was muttering something about killing that fucked-up psycho for doing this … I’m guessing he thinks Elise is behind this fire and…” He wavers. “Well, you know how our big brother always forces himself to remain in control. I think this may have finally been the breaking point that made him snap.”
I gape at him. “Wait … You think he’s killing Elise?”
Jaxon lifts a shoulder, but I can tell by his expression that this is exactly what he thinks. “I’m not positive, but if you focus on the sealing spell right now, you can feel his rage.”
He’s right. I was too distracted to notice it before, but now that he’s mentioned it, it’s all I can feel.
Scorching hot rage.
“We need to stop him,” I mumble, “before he ends up doing something stupid.”
“We need to get to a healer first,” Alex interrupts. “Once we do, Jaxon can come back and get our brother.”
“We can’t just leave Rhyland here on his own,” I mutter. “I can fly myself.”
Alex arches a brow as he cradles Hadley against his chest. “You think so, huh?”
I nod and try to push up, but I end up tripping over my own feet, and Jax has to steady me.
“We can hurry,” Alex says as his cloak appears around him and flaps behind him in the wind. “You know, if it was Rhyland, he’d make the same decision.”
He’s right, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take off and leave my brother in the flames of the unknown.
Chapter 12
Rhyland
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been the most collected of my brothers. I chalk that up to my genetics. While Blaise, Rhyland, Jaxon, and I consider ourselves brothers, we’re not related by blood, so I’d often wondered if our differences stemmed from traits inherited from our unknown families. I’m starting to wonder, though, as I hunt my way through the crowd with a storm of rage pouring through my blood, if perhaps my calmness was caused by being the oldest of us. And because of that, I took on the responsibility of being the role model, the one who takes care of the mess my brothers create, the one who bottles everything down until it rushes to the top and shatters into the air.
I’ve never felt this way before, but when I saw Hadley and Blaise land in a heap in the alley, I felt something I’ve never felt before.
The need to hurt someone so badly I couldn’t control it.
I know Elise had something to do with the fire. I didn’t realize it when it started, but after I got Alex out of the building, something she said to me while I was scheduling the meeting came back to haunt me.
“You need to see the Keeper of Crowns, huh?” she purrs as she circles around me.
We’re in her office, located in the basement of the club. The room is covered in stacks of books, something I find a bit odd. Normally, receptionists for powerful creatures and realms sit at an empty desk, waiting to make appointments. That’s their sole job. But it appears as if Elise is searching for something, and when I note the titles of some of the books, my confusion only deepens. Unordinary Dark Spells, The History of Queens and Kings, Secrets of Reapers, and How to Create Magic out of Nothing are some of the titles.
It looked like she was trying to figure out something, but I didn’t know what. And I really didn’t care at the time. I just wanted to get the appointment made so I could get the hell away from her.
“Yes,” I reply with my arms crossed.
She continues to walk around me, eyeing me over while playing with her yellowish hair. She looks almost the same as the last time I saw her, all those years ago.
Reapers become ageless around their early twenties, so this isn’t out of the ordinary. What is odd is she has this mark on her wrist that looks like a black flame piercing the night sky. She didn’t have that before.
“Well, maybe I can schedule it for you,” she says as she comes to a stop in front of me. Her lips pull into a smirk, and I have to fight the urge to wring her neck. “For a price, of course.”
“I’m not fucking touching you, if that’s what you’re getting at,” I say in a low tone. “And I know that’s not how this works. I’m not a child anymore, Elise. You can’t force me to do things I don’t want.” It takes a lot of strength to step toward her, but I manage. “So schedule the fucking appointment.”
“My, my, how you’ve grown.” She frowns, disappointed at that. She always did like her men young, not really men, but boys on the brink of manhood. The sick fuck.
With a twitch of annoyance in her eyes, she turns and makes her way to her cluttered desk. “Let me see when he’s available.” She snaps her fingers, and a digitalized appointment screen materializes in front of her. “Why do you even need an appointment with the Keeper of Crowns?”
“That’s none of your business,” I reply, trying to remain as calm as I can. But this restless energy is humming inside me.