and I blinked, wondering if he really wanted an answer. “Let’s just assume Wrath won’t be joining the end-of-the-world party. Before I shredded him and sent him packing back to the netherworld, he told me how all of hell broke lose at the Institute, that Val was there, and how you vanished.” He stilled as if carved from marble and slowly blinked his wintery eyes. “I was ready to turn hell upside-down looking for you.”
He’d showed up at my place worried about my wellbeing and seen me getting busy with Akil. If his words were knives, he’d just twisted them in my gut. “I’m sorry you saw that.”
Cutting his gaze away, he smiled an unkind smile. “Did you finish what you’d started with him?”
“No.” I caught it, just a tiny crack in his flawless armor, nothing more than a twitch, as though he’d flinched inside. He really did care. Stefan was still in there behind all the stoic demon bullshit. I shrugged. “Would it bother you if I had screwed Akil?”
“No.” He gazed out of the windows, his stare hard.
I’d stumbled on the exact thing I needed to rouse the humanity in him: my relationship with Akil. It was cruel to needle him, dangerous too, but would it be enough to stir his human instincts? Traits like loyalty, compassion, empathy, and the monster that is jealousy. “You’re right. You don’t care. So it doesn’t matter what I do.”
“Do you love him?”
Dammit, why did everyone keep asking me that? Why did they all assume they had a right to know what I hadn’t yet figured out? “I hate him.” I used my stock reply. It came out flat. Not a lie, but close.
Stefan tapped his fingers against the back of the couch. “You know, Muse, you can love and hate someone equally.” His gaze slid back to me, and with it, the chilling touch of power tightened the air, leaving me in no doubt who those words were directed at. I almost blurted, you love me? before doubt stopped me. He might not be referring to me. Why should this be about me? What if that’s why he was at Jenna’s place? And even if he did love me, he’d just admitted he hated me too. Hate was a horrible emotion, no less dark than the thing I’d had rotting at my core. Give it room to move, let it fester too long, and hate could smother the brightest spark of love. My hatred of Akil sure had. But if I dug beneath the words, the truth lay bare. A demon doesn’t hate, nor does it love. The current Akil seemed to be something of an anomaly. Did that mean Stefan was looking back at me right now? In control? Seeing me through human eyes and hurting? If I went to him, would he close his arms around me or drive an ice dagger through my heart? He never did get to finish the sentence in the car about his reason for being there, for helping me.
“Where’s Jenna?” Ryder blurted.
I’d been so lost in Stefan’s cool, hard gaze, I hadn’t heard Ryder return. “Huh?”
“You left her alone?” He dropped his bag of weapons and dashed for Jenna’s bedroom door.
I jumped to my feet. “She just went to change.”
Ryder froze in the doorway. Stefan was on his feet in a blur, his power surging around him, instantly prodding mine awake. Beneath all of the swirling elements, the cruel skin-crawling, ethereal touch of my brother oozed from the doorway and permeated the air.
Ryder raised his hands and stumbled back into the living room. A resonating growl rumbled from Stefan. Ice dusted my lips and nipped at my skin. My fire butted up against the protective barrier the symbols provided. Remembering Akil’s earlier actions, I calculated it’d take me a few seconds to reach the nearest picture and tear it down, freeing my power.
“Sister, do not move.” Val’s obscenely seductive voice rooted me to the spot. He came through the doorway, Jenna clutched against his human form, dagger pressed against her throat. “Wrath, subdue your element, or I bleed this whore.”
Stefan’s fingers flexed. From my position, I couldn’t see his face, only his back, but the swell of glacial forces pushed against my human skin. He wasn’t restrained by the symbols as I was, but he wouldn’t risk Jenna’s life.
Behind me, near the door, Ryder’s bag of weapons waited. If I could summon my power and throw it all at my brother, it would