Wicked All Night by Jeaniene Frost

Author:Jeaniene Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

The world righted moments later. Ian and I were now in a small room with a slanted roof. The wooden floors, walls, and ceiling beams were aged but so well cared for that their rugged appearance added charm to the otherwise Spartan space. One combo desk and bookcase with a chair comprised the makeshift office next to a small, empty fireplace. A tiny table for two next to a set of cupboards was probably the former eat-in kitchen, and the single bed in the corner needed no explanation.

Groom’s quarters, Ian had called this place. Soft neighs coming from nearby would’ve told me we were next to the stable even if the faint smell of horses didn’t permeate from the very walls. But no groom had lived here for a long time. I knew that more from the feel of the place than the dated furnishings. A fastidious cleaning service might’ve kept the room dust free, but abandoned places all had a certain stillness to them, as if their space grieved the loss of those who’d once lived there.

Ian pulled out the chair from the tiny office, turned it backward, and straddled it while facing me.

“We’re down the hill from the manor, so we should have relative privacy here.”

Good, because I might scream from everything I’d been holding back. Judging by the still-dangerous look in his eyes, so might he.

I went first. “How do you have new scars when that should be impossible for vampires?”

“Used a relic with side effects,” he replied dismissively.

“That’s an understatement.”

Both our heads swiveled to the chimney, where Ashael popped out of the fireplace as if he were a demon version of Santa Claus.

“Get out,” Ian said at once.

“Only after you tell my sister what you really did,” Ashael countered. “No? Then I will. This numbskull—”

Ian’s fist swung. Ashael teleported away before it connected with his jaw. Ian teleported after him, still swinging. Ashael avoided him again. Soon, they were both teleporting in and out so fast that I could hardly track them. All the while, Ashael never stopped speaking.

“—talked me into letting him see my relic vault. I told him not to touch anything because all my relics are powerful enough to be deadly. I intended to trade some for information on how to turn one of Phanes’s people against him—”

“Which would’ve taken too long,” Ian snarled.

“—but this numbskull refused to listen, and what did he do with the most ancient, deadly relic this world has ever seen—”

“Shut your bloody face hole!” Ian shouted.

“You should have shut yours!” my brother roared back. “But like a naughty toddler sticking everything into its mouth, you took the most dangerous relic ever and ate it!”

My hands clapped over my face in horror. “What?”

“Ate it!” my brother repeated.

Ian swung again. Ashael teleported away at the last moment, leaving Ian’s fist to smash into the antique desk instead. Books and wood littered the floor.

“Too slow,” Ashael taunted as he avoided another swing. “What’s the matter? Have an upset stomach? You

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