He hesitated for so long she didn’t think he’d answer, but as he dried his hands, he said, “Eidolon was punished, not for something he did, but for something Wraith did. Wraith can never know.”
“So this wasn’t about what happened at my apartment? I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m not going to hurt Eidolon, or I would have done it instead of calling you, right?”
Shade bared his teeth at her. “If you hadn’t, I’d have—”
“I did,” she snapped. “So tell me why he’s nearly been killed for something your brother did.”
“I. Don’t. Like. You.”
“Feeling’s mutual, buddy. So spill already.”
Shade blew out a harsh breath, as if that would cool him off. At least it got him talking. “Wraith is part vampire. But he’s also a Seminus demon. Vampire and Seminus law don’t always mesh, and he falls into a crack between the two. Neither Council can agree on how he should be punished for various transgressions. But they both want someone to pay.”
“Why Eidolon?”
“Because Wraith wouldn’t survive it.”
This was seriously twisted, and it fired up all her protective instincts, which she hadn’t known she even possessed.
“I don’t understand why Wraith would allow this to happen. Why doesn’t he stop doing whatever it is that gets Eidolon beaten?”
“Wraith thinks he’s untouchable . . . he has no idea Eidolon is suffering. If he did, if he knew what E has gone through . . .” Shade shook his head. “We’d lose him. He can never know.”
“That’s crazy. You’ve got to tell him. This has to stop. What if next time they kill Eidolon?”
“It’s none of your concern. Like I said, not a word. If you even hint to Wraith that this has happened, I’ll take you out, slayer.”
She slapped her palms on the counter and leaned forward to snarl, “Try it, asshole.”
Shade’s eyes flared gold, reminding her of the man suffering in silence in the other room, reminding her that now wasn’t the time to pick a fight with the demon who had helped him. He seemed to come to the same conclusion, and the gold melted away, to be replaced by the eerie brown-black, which always seemed to shift, as though a shadow lurked behind his eyes.
“You look like Eidolon,” she said quietly. “But you’re so different.”
He grunted. “All Seminus demons are nearly identical to their siblings, but our behavior varies because we’re raised by different species.”
“But . . . Wraith. He’s blond.”
“Bleached.”
“His eyes are blue.”
“That’s because they aren’t his.”
“They aren’t his eyes?”
Shade slung his bag over his shoulder, done with the conversation. “E will be healed by morning. Try to get him to drink fluids, and . . .” He trailed off, averted his eyes before boring those chips of stone back into her. “Stay with him. He usually goes through this alone.”
He slammed out of the apartment, leaving her standing in the kitchen, her heart pounding. Emotion like she hadn’t experienced in years nearly brought her to her knees.
The brothers loved each other fiercely, something she wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. They protected each other, healed each other, and clearly, they’d die for each other. She doubted anyone but her mother would have died for her, and even then, most of Tayla’s life, her mother had been too stoned to lay her life on the line for anything but the next fix.
What would it be like to have family like that? she wondered as she filled a glass with orange juice she’d found in the fridge.
And then she stopped wondering because that road would only lead to the corner of Self-Pity and Pathetic Idiot.
She slipped into the room with Eidolon, where he appeared to be sleeping peacefully despite the fact that he was still on his hands and knees—the only parts of his body that hadn’t been beaten. Already some of his wounds had started to heal.
Yeah, his wounds were closing, but hers had just opened up.
The sound of a phone ringing woke Eidolon. Before he could rouse himself, the ringing stopped and Gem’s voice ground out over the answering machine. She sounded as if she’d been dragged through a frat party and left to sleep it off on the front lawn.
“E, it’s Gem. I think something happened to Tayla. I don’t know what, but I spent the night in her damned closet. I’m at UG now. I need to talk to you. It’s important. Can you come in? If not, I’ll come to you.”