Page 79 of Lethal Souls
He marches around the desk, trying to take it out of my hand. I close my fist and lean back in my chair, reeling my arm back. Every time he reaches, I shove him away.
Huffing, he takes a step back and glares at me. “Look,” he says, clearly irritated. “I know you don’t trust The Regals, but you are my brother and I am not letting you kill yourself or drive yourself mad because you’re scared right now.”
“I’m not?—”
“You’re scared, Caz! Just admit it. I’m scared too!” he yells, and his eyes start to glisten. “Did you see the shit that was in Hassha’s memories? And Selah tried to kill both of us as soon as she saw us on that island. There is so much going on, and we’ve faced some insane shit, Caz, but this takes the fucking crown, I gotta tell ya. This fight is so much bigger than all of us, so it’s okay to be scared. But it’s not okay to take the shitty way out. You may survive the quish, but your mind will be utterly fucked. So just…hand me the bag right now. I’ll toss it into the fire.”
I shift my gaze to one of the shelves.
Then I sigh.
Fuck.
He’s right.
I’m not thinking straight. Quish has properties that open your mind, and it allows you to suppress all your fears, your worries, and your heartaches so you can embrace all possibilities.
I’ve heard stories that the Gilded and Mythics become more powerful after taking it, which is why I want to. If I could become more powerful, I could stop Selah in her tracks and end this before it gets worse. Weaken her, at least.
I figured if I took just one, I could tap in with this Yuri character and figure out exactly what I’m capable of. But there are downfalls to quish, and though one of the major problems is what Rowan explained, a bigger one is the addiction to it.
Once you have one and survive it, you want another. And another. And another. It becomes an endless cycle until one day, you’re like the Vanorian guy Rowan mentioned who cut out his own heart.
“Fuck.” I dump the quish back into the bag and toss it on the desk.
Rowan blows a sigh of relief and picks the bag up. “Vakeeli’s sake, Caz. You’re scaring the shit out of me lately.”
“Yeah.” I drop my eyes to a stack of papers. “I scare myself too.”
“Wait until I tell Killian. He’s going to punch you in the face for even considering that,” Rowan laughs.
Though I don’t want to, I smile and rise from my chair. Before I can respond, there’s a loud thud from a distance.
Glass shatters followed by thundering deep voices. One of them stands out more than the others and when he yells, “WHERE THE FUCK IS CAZ HARLOW?” I cut my eyes to Rowan, and we storm out of the office.
FORTY-NINE
CAZ
Simpson is bleeding.
I spot the blood gushing from his nose as soon as I round the corner. His back is pinned to the wall, and a burly man in brown is pressing a knife to his throat.
Rowan withdraws his gun and points it ahead just as I turn my attention to the cluster of men standing in the middle of the tavern.
A sigh escapes me. And here I thought there was real danger. Turns out, it’s only Devlin and his Rippies.
“Just say the word, Caz, and I’ll blow his fucking head off,” Rowan rumbles, standing next to me.
“Blow my head off?” Devlin snaps, taking a large step forward.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You take another step, and I won’t just blow your head off. I’ll cut it off with a guillotine and feed it to my wolves.”
Devlin stops, his jaw setting as he stares at me.
“Why are you in my territory?” I demand.
“Are you really going to stand there and act like you don’t know what’s going on?” Devlin clenches his fists at his sides, his face reddening.