Runebinder (The Runebinder Chronicles #1)(99)

“She fought well, my sister. So very well. But she is not used to killing anymore. No, no, that never was her joy. She let others do it for her. That was her mistake. Her big mistake.”

Tenn took a half step back. The roar in his head faltered, his heart thudding in his chest. With every step closer, the air around Tenn grew both colder and hotter, sending sweat and chills down his skin. He was weaponless, exhausted.

He was no match against Tomás.

“She’s not dead, of course. I couldn’t do that. What would they say? Tomás, Tomás, youngest brother, what have you done? Hah!” He did a little jump, and Tenn jumped back. “I saved the rest for you, little mouse. I saved you the best part.”

Tenn looked past Tomás, to where Leanna lay frozen on the ground. How was she still alive? Could the Kin even be killed?

“Ah, he wonders now.” Tomás’s voice was singsong. He paused a few feet away and cocked his head to the side. Tenn’s heart raged with fear and revulsion and desire. The damn incubus was still toying with him. “He wonders why. Why why why me? Why must I be the one who kills the beast? And how?”

Tomás shuddered, and his next words were terrifyingly sane.

“Thou art the reaper,” he said grimly, “and the world shall bleed at thy hands.”

“I’m sick of playing your games,” Tenn hissed.

“But we’ve only just started to play,” Tomás replied. His grin widened.

The next moment, he was on Tenn, forcing him to the ground and pinning his arms to his sides. The ground was cold and wet, but Tenn’s skin burned at Tomás’s touch. The Howl’s face loomed just inches from his own, only a few, delectable inches. Tenn gritted his teeth and looked to the side, to where Leanna was sprawled much like he was. In spite of the heat roaring off the incubus, the ground around them cracked with cold.

“Now he sees,” Tomás said, half to himself. “Now he sees my power. Now they all will see my power!”

“You’re insane,” Tenn said.

“Those who hear not the music,” Tomás replied, singsong. Another roar filled the sky and he chuckled, sitting back on Tenn’s chest to look to the heavens. Somewhere out there, Tenn heard the unmistakable sound of tornadoes. At least Dreya had made it to her brother safely.

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it,” Tenn said. He forced himself to look Tomás in the face, forced down the whirl of emotions that the damned incubus stirred in his chest. Oh, how he wanted to rip the man apart, just as much as he wanted to rip off his few clothes and make him scream in other ways. Tenn’s heart hurt as Tomás’s empty Sphere tugged.

“Kill you?” Tomás said. His head tilted to the other side. “Why would I kill the man who will rule beside me as king?” His words were smooth, remarkably sane in spite of the madness in his glowing copper eyes. He reached down and gently placed his hand against Tenn’s jaw. The movement was so intimate Tenn wanted to vomit. He wanted it to go further.

“We will be gods,” Tomás said. “Can’t you see? Consider this the day of your ascension.”

Then, before Tenn could grasp what he was saying, Tomás bent down and kissed him.

The Howl’s lips were cinnamon and fire, the bite of brimstone and ice. It sent ice through Tenn’s skin, traced waves of blinding heat down his spine. He wanted to resist. Wanted to hate the monster that had torn his whole world apart. He wanted to, for what Tomás had done—to him, to the twins, to Jarrett. He told himself he wanted to hate Tomás. He told himself...

But under the magic of the incubus, his resolve gave way. Every pulse was a roar in his veins, every second a floating eternity. His back arched against his will, his whole body desiring to be closer, to lose itself in an embrace that tore everything else away. The world around them faded, everything distilled to their lips, to Tomás’s burning hand on his face. The world was red and black and frosted like hell, and Tenn melted. The fear. The anger. The desire for revenge. All of it burned to ash.

When Tomás pulled back, he smiled down at Tenn with a smoldering light in his eyes. Tenn’s head swam. His lips tingled. His chest burned and heart fluttered. Tomás stood in one smooth motion and reached down, helped Tenn to his feet. Tenn didn’t resist. He floated in a world of static and heat. The ground beneath his feet was light as clouds. He let Tomás guide him over to where Leanna rested on her bed of ice. Her dark hair stuck to the ground, frosted around her head like dead veins. There was a hole in her rib cage, but it didn’t bleed. It didn’t repulse him. Her dull eyes flickered. They were skimmed over, cloudy, but they fixed on Tenn and widened.

“Do it,” Tomás whispered, his lips brushing promises against Tenn’s ear. Tenn’s heart soared. “Her broken Sphere is the only thing keeping her alive. Rip it out.”

Tenn knelt at Leanna’s side, Tomás’s hands on his shoulders. Leanna tried to open her mouth, but her lips were frosted shut. Her skin was dusted with white.

He could feel her twisted Sphere. Air still hungered in her throat, still tried to steal the breath from his lungs. He reached down in a haze. Her flesh was colder than ice beneath his grip, but he barely felt it, not with Tomás so near. The incubus burned like a sun, and Tenn floated in the heat.