Damien kneels beside Dorian.

“You’re a little too old to be blaming Father for all your problems. You want someone to fuck with, next time, come directly to me,” he says in a chilling tone, even as the room’s temperature heats significantly.

“I’ve got chills in the best possible way,” I confess, truly gobsmacked to see Damien so powerful for the first time in ages.

It’s like seeing their skill levels back in the day when we were kids, when Damien’s talent was so far beyond Dorian’s reach it was laughable.

“I wouldn’t have,” Dorian cries out, welts showing up on every piece of skin visible. “I was just scaring her! It was just the bloodlust and maddening spirits of sin from Pandora’s Box that time. I swear I wouldn’t have done it, Damien!”

Ice forms on the floor beneath me, and Vance grabs my arm and Emit’s dragging us back down to our seats.

I was just scaring her…

“Who the hell is he talking about?” I say between clenched teeth, even though I know the answer already.

Violet’s office was wrecked.

Damien’s phone was dropped and broken.

All the important Morpheous members are in attendance for a challenge they knew would be accepted.

Amos looks terrified.

Damien fed off Violet enough to send Dorian to the ground.

It’s a damn good thing she can’t die, because he clearly took more than he’s ever taken from one source so quickly.

The only thing that would spur him to take such desperate measures, is—

“I know you wouldn’t,” Damien tells Dorian, even as he fists his hands. “But she didn’t know that, and you used it against her. Because of that terror I smelled all over her, I’m done feeling sorry for you. It’s time you see the difference in our power, so you’ll stop dreaming of beating me. Next time, I’ll show no mercy.”

Dorian’s next scream echoes all around, and my mind travels back to the past, idly remembering all the times he must have been holding back.

That son of a bitch really felt pity for Dorian all this time?

“Someone explain to me what’s going on right now? How did he penetrate Dorian’s mind so easily?” Zuela growls over his shoulder.

Damien’s been keeping secrets.

“As the firstborn, and the most enraged at the sight of Idun’s death, Arion encompassed the blood-thirstiest spirit,” Vance tells him.

“I’m aware,” Zuela bites out.

“As firstborn, I encompassed the wildest, most savage spirit,” Emit says on a quiet, thoughtful breath, as we watch Dorian’s body begin to writhe.

“As firstborn, I encompassed the most prideful, valiant spirit, the moment I stepped in to temporarily play a hero,” Vance adds.

My eyes flick to Dorian. “As firstborn, Dorian encompassed the most sexually deviant spirit from that box. He’s the most physically powerful.”

“But as firstborn Morpheous, Damien inherited the strongest mind. He was groomed for that role. We’re ignorant fools for never considering it before now,” Zuela says in frustration and understanding.

“He was ashamed to feel sympathy for a man like Dorian,” Vance states on a hushed whisper, similarly echoing my thoughts from earlier.

“And we’ve spent centuries thinking they were nearly on the same level, all because Damien wanted Dorian to have hope,” Emit murmurs so quietly I almost miss it.

A soft, barely noticeable, yet very familiar scent catches my attention, and my gaze darts to the top. Then, after I spot Violet standing in a viewing box, her eyes wide and hands pressed against the glass, my gaze darts across the way to spot Idun.

The bitch is in her seat and watching with unwavering attention, and clear lust, as Damien tears Dorian apart from the inside.

Our girlfriend is going to expose all our secrets at this rate. She really does attract too much bloody attention.

Chapter 6

VIOLET

Dorian’s screams tear through the air again, the sounds so broken and tormented that I honestly believe Damien is doing far worse to him than Dorian did to me. And it looks like it’s killing him to do it.

My heart breaks, as I watch Damien fight back his own tears, even as his eyes burn with fury and anger.

I feel my breath catch in my throat when two hands are suddenly on my waist, and after a blur of motion, I’m soundly seated in a vampire’s lap.

Vance gives me a worried look.

“Violet, put us at ease,” Emit says without looking in my direction. “How far did Dorian push you?”

It’s becoming clear that they’re all wound really tight, and my hands tremble just a little. I quickly recover.

“He really wasn’t going to do anything? It was all for show?” I ask quietly, my gaze drifting back to the arena.

Dorian screams again, his eyes completely white, as he foams at the mouth and begins writhing. I spot a familiar face in the crowd just behind them, and my own jaw grinds.

It’s their father.

“Pandora’s Box is a glorified term for the banished sins and spirits. Demons led us into battle that historic night, because we fucked with the dark consequences of blood magic,” Zuela says on a frustrated breath, surprising me when he’s the one to answer my question so semi-directly. “In the name of immortality, we never stopped to consider what monsters we’d forge in ourselves. Dorian was a weak, kicked pup. He’d have been an ideal target for that particular demon.”

I get the gist of what he’s saying. Dorian was just a vessel that night. Now he has the worst reputation, for his was the most unforgivable sin of all.

“Damien wasn’t allowed to feel sorry for his brother,” I whisper in realization.

I glimpsed only small fragments of their past. At first, Damien was proud he was better. Then, he was worried about Dorian.

“Dorian hates Damien, because he envies him that much for how much better he’s always had it. And Damien hates himself for not being able to give his brother a better break,” I add, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces.

I came here desperately hoping to see Damien thoroughly destroy Dorian, because he made me believe it wouldn’t be any problem. Just before I passed out, because I didn’t realize until now, that feeding Damien is actually a big task, when he’s fueling up for a fight.

But he took selfishly. Just as I asked him to.

And I was able to give him all he needed.

I’m enough.

I didn’t realize until now how much I needed to know that I’m enough for him. Because he’s decided to be faithful, and he genuinely has to start feeding more regularly, since Idun is a passive-aggressive bitch who uses pawns to do her dirty work.

“Dorian loves her,” I state in agitation, my gaze swinging up to find her staring directly at me.

She narrows her eyes, even as a sinister smirk lines her lips.

She’s not playing pretend anymore.

The game is finally changing. She’s going to come after me with everything she’s got, and they’re going to get caught in the crosshairs every time she does it indirectly.

Like today.

“What laws did she extort to convince him he could get away with this?” Vance asks.