Rage and Ruin (The Harbinger 2)

“Only a little.” He grinned, lifting the material.

When I realized he was holding a tie, I started to ask for more detail, but the buzzer on the intercom went off. “Expecting anyone?”

“No.” Zayne jogged to the doors. “Hello?”

“It’s me, your new best friend forever.” The all-too-familiar voice floated through the speaker.

“What in the Hell?” Zayne muttered.

“Is that who I think it is?” I rose onto my knees.

“If you’re thinking it’s Roth,” he replied with a sigh, “then you’d be correct.”

“Are you ignoring me?” Roth’s voice came through the speaker once more. “If so, I’m going to have a sads.”

My lips twitched at that. I guessed Roth’s parting words the day before exemplified the demonic talent of making a normal statement sound like something a serial killer would utter.

A moment later, I felt the warning of Roth’s arrival, and then the elevator doors opened.

“Yo,” I heard Roth say, but from where I was sitting, I couldn’t see much of him.

“Two days in a row?” Zayne said. “To what do we owe the honor?”

Roth chuckled. “I’m bored. That’s the honor.”

“And you decided to come here?”

“I was in the neighborhood, so, yep.” The Crown Prince strolled through Zayne’s living room like it was a common, everyday occurrence. As he drew closer, I saw that he was slurping something from a white foam cup. There were red letters on the drink, but I couldn’t make them out. Roth spotted me and grinned. “Hey there, Angel Face, you look like you’re praying. I hope I’m interrupting.”

Angel Face? “Sorry to disappoint but no.”

“We were about to do some training.” Zayne followed the demon, his expression a cross between exasperation and reluctant amusement. “We’re kind of busy.”

“Don’t let me stop you.” Roth winked at me as he lifted his free hand and twisted it around. Next to the couch, the oversize chair I’d never seen Zayne use slid around so that it was facing the mats.

Well, wasn’t that a neat ability I was only a little jealous of.

Roth plopped down in the chair and hooked one denim-clad leg over the other. He took another drink.

Zayne stared at him as if he didn’t know quite what to say. I imagine I had the same look on my face.

“Where’s Layla?” Zayne finally asked.

“Girls’ day with Stacey since it’s Saturday,” he answered, and Hell, I’d had no idea it was the weekend. “They’re going to lunch and then out to some shops. Or something. Whatever girls do.”

A tiny ball of jealousy formed in the center of my chest. Whatever girls do. We hung out. We shared desserts and appetizers. We talked about stupid things and we shared our deepest, darkest moments. We reminded each other that we were never truly alone. That’s what girls did.

I missed Jada.

“You know, Layla and Stacey would love for you to join them,” Roth continued, almost as if he were reading my mind. “As long as Stony would let you out of his sight for a few hours.”

Yeah, well, I wasn’t sure hanging out with not one, but two girls Zayne had messed around with was my idea of fun times.

“Trinity can come and go as she pleases,” Zayne replied dryly. “I’m guessing Cayman isn’t around, either?”

“Nope. He’s working. You know, trading pieces of human souls for frivolous things.” Roth waggled his brows at me. “Does that offend your angelic senses?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Not like he’s out there persuading humans to do it. They’re making their own bed, so they get to roll around in it.”

Roth tipped his cup at me. “Not a very angelic thing to say. You should care. You should be affronted.”

“I’m affronted,” Zayne muttered. “By this unexpected visit.”

“The lies we tell ourselves.” Roth looked between us. “Lucky me. I get to see a Trueborn and a Warden fight—well, play fight, if you two are actually going to do anything other than stare at me like you’ve been blessed by my appearance.”

I bit down on my lip to stop from laughing, because I had a feeling it would only antagonize the demon and annoy Zayne.

To be honest, I was glad to see Roth. Zayne and Roth might be stuck in a weird rivalry and have fundamental differences, but they were still friends, and since I’d been here, other than yesterday, no one had come to see Zayne. Not even members of his own clan. Everyone needed a friend, even if said friend was the Crown Prince of Hell.

Popping to my feet, I turned to Zayne. “I have no problem with him watching us train.”

Zayne looked like he wanted to say that he did, but he simply shook his head and stepped onto the mat.

“So, what’s up with the tie?” I asked, and Zayne stared down at it like he’d forgotten he’d been holding it.

“Now that is a question I was dying to ask,” Roth commented. “BDSM, Stony? I am shooketh.”

My cheeks flushed as Zayne shot Roth a withering glare before refocusing on me. “Remember when you wanted to learn not to rely on your vision during a fight?”

“Why would you want to do that?” Roth asked.

“Trueborns’ eyesight isn’t like a Warden’s or a demon’s at night,” Zayne explained. “Since most of our patrolling is done at night, you can fill in the blanks.”

I had no idea if Roth believed him, but I picked up on what Zayne was saying without giving too much away. I nodded.

“I figured the best way to practice is to force you not to use your vision, which is why I have the tie.” Zayne dangled the material. “Sorry to disappoint, Roth.”

“Blindfolded training. Not nearly as sexy as I was thinking, but still vastly entertaining” came the comment from the one-man peanut gallery.

“That is a good idea.” Anticipation swirled in my chest. “Let’s go.”

“This should be fun to watch,” Roth declared.

“Can you not talk?” Zayne snapped as he walked to where I stood.

“I don’t think that is a promise I can make.”

I pressed my lips together as I reached for the tie, but Zayne stepped behind me.

“I got it,” he said. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

In other words, let him know when I was prepared to be completely blind. I wondered if he remembered how I’d freaked out the night the Community had been attacked and he’d folded his wings around me, blocking out all sources of light.

I hoped I didn’t freak out like that again, especially considering we had an audience.

Drawing in a shallow breath, I shook out my arms. “Ready.”

A heartbeat later, I felt the heat of Zayne at my back. I held still as the tie appeared in my vision. As it drew close to my face, already blocking out most of the light, my heart started pounding.

I didn’t like this.

I didn’t like this at all.

Which made it hard not to stop this whole thing as the tie touched my face and blackness settled over my eyes. By some kind of super willpower, I allowed Zayne to secure the tie.

The material was surprisingly soft and not completely opaque. I could see vague shapes in front of me, and the longer I stared, the more clearly I could see a tiny dot of light.

Was this how it would be once the disease had taken its toll? Nothing but shapes and a pinprick of light?

Panic exploded in my gut and I reached for the tie, wanting to rip it from my face and burn the material.

This is what you wanted.

Telling myself that was the only thing that stopped me from tearing it off. I could deal with this. I had to. I just needed my heart to stop pounding like it was going to throw itself out of my chest, and for the choking feeling in my throat to ease up.

Zayne’s hands landed on my shoulders, causing me to jerk. “Are you okay?” His voice was soft, and I had no idea if Roth could hear him. “We can try this another day.”

Another day as in never again sounded like a wonderful idea, but another day meant I was one day closer to doing this all over again. I was eventually going to run out of days.

I took another breath and focused, breathing in and breathing out—

Oh my God.

All at once I realized why Zayne wanted to put the blindfold on. He’d cut two minuscule holes in the tie, and somehow he’d lined them up perfectly with my pupils, and I’d just been too panicky to notice. I couldn’t see much with such restricted vision, but if I focused, there was still a tiny amount of light, like there’d most likely be once retinitis pigmentosa ran its course. Zayne must’ve done some research on that laptop of his, and that meant the world to me.

Emotion clogged my throat, but those nearly insignificant holes helped me breathe easier. “I’m fine.”

Zayne squeezed my shoulders. “Let me know if that changes.”

I nodded.

“I stand corrected,” Roth said from the sidelines. “This is sexy.”

Zayne sighed from behind me. “I wonder what Layla would think about that.”

Roth snorted. “She’d probably want to try it out.”

“Thanks for sharing,” I muttered.

“You’re very welcome,” Roth replied. “Angel Face is way more polite than you, Stony.”

“Call me Angel Face one more time, and I’ll show you how polite I am,” I warned as I felt Zayne move from behind me.

“That would be scarier if you weren’t standing there blindfolded.”

Zayne snickered. “I’m in front of you.”

Before I could tell him that I could vaguely see that, Roth spoke up. Again. “Doesn’t telling her where you are defeat the purpose of this?”

“Shut up,” Zayne and I said in unison.

A laugh came from the general direction of where Roth sat. “You two are on such the same page.”