Read Online Demon's Curse (Imnada Brotherhood) by Alexa Egan - Free Book Online Page A

it when I see it.” He took a deep breath and paced a few steps away, running his hand over a scarred tabletop. Bent to pluck a torn page from the floor by the hearth, his gaze narrowing. He shoved it into his pocket, but not before Bianca recognized the identical crescent symbol she’d noticed in Adam’s journal drawn there.
    “And why are you here?” he asked.
    “Pardon?”
    “What brings you to Adam’s house alone and taut as a cocked pistol?”
    “I suppose I hoped I’d find some clue or hint to the murderer’s identity.”
    “And have you?”
    “I found you. Does that count?”
    “It would if I’d murdered him, but I’m as innocent as you of that crime.”
    “I’m glad at least one person thinks I’m innocent.”
    “Of murder, at any rate,” he answered, a light hovering in his knife-blade stare. “The rest remains to be seen.”
    Fear and something else—something dark and forbidden—knotted her stomach and shivered like fingers up her spine. She lost her nerve and looked away, her eyes traveling over the wreckage of Adam’s belongings. “Who could have done this? Thieves looking for trinkets to pawn?”
    “Too much that could be sold remains. This was a search, plain and simple,” he answered. The captain stepped closer, his body radiating heat like a blast furnace. “Did you ever see Adam with a book? Worn leather cover. Leaves and flowers pressed within it. A bookmark of ragged blue cloth torn from an old coat lining.”
    She clutched the strap of her satchel like a lifeline, unable to move. Unable to think.
    “If you’ve seen it or might know where he kept it . . . I’d not ask if it weren’t important.”
    She stared up at the flop of unruly, raven-black hair, the slash of dark brows. Noted a tiny white scar just beside his temple. The jump of his pulse at the hollow of his jaw. “What’s so important about an old diary full of plants?” she asked, impressed at the steadiness of her voice.
    “Only my life,” he replied as he lifted a hand to her cheek, his fingers hovering bare inches above her skin. His eyes blazed a path over her face as if he might devourher, the space between them shimmering with expectation. “ Un fieuyn commdedig at neira, ” he whispered softly, his green-gold gaze vibrant as the sun upon the sea. “So beautiful. So cold.”
    His slow, seductive way of speaking moved like sugar through her veins. Desire jumped along her nerves. Wholly unexpected. Completely terrifying. Would he kiss her? Did she want him to?
    Pulling free before she made a fool of herself, she cleared her throat. “I have to go.”
    He raised his arm as if he might catch her sleeve, but she jerked back.
    “I’m late.” She grabbed up her skirts, wheeling away. Away from his masculine strength and his grim, sorrow-filled gaze and a grief she’d felt welling from wounds she’d long cemented over. Grief echoed in his harsh, stony expression.
    “Wait,” he called.
    She made it as far as the landing before staggering to a halt at the top of the stairs.
    Three men climbed toward her, wide and solid as tree stumps. One with flabby hound-dog jowls and a smile gappy as a pitchfork. The second with a fire-scarred face, chapped lips pulled into a permanent grimace. The third, and most terrifying, with milky-white eyes, an expression empty as death. Two gripped long, ugly knives in their meaty fists; the third clutched a deadly-looking pistol.
    “Here, now, what’s yer hurry, pet?” Hound-Dog jeered as she retreated back into the parlor.
    “Get behind me.” Flannery pressed granite-hard against her back, breath warm upon the chilled flesh of her neck.
    When she remained frozen, he put hands upon her shoulders, guiding her unresponsive body. “Now,” he said firmly as the men bellied into the room.
    Hound-Dog smirked, kicking aside a broken drawer. Stomping on the chipped edge of a bowl until it smashed as he herded the captain and Bianca ahead of him. “Bludge, Snips, and I want