The City of Crows by Bethany Lovejoy (great books to read .txt) 📕

sort of man you dated before. Now you two have done and got me mixed up in your bullshit, ripped out of my bed and beaten with a lamp at two in the morning, not a word given to my girl or anyone else.”

“And again, we’re sorry—”

“Stop saying you’re goddamn sorry. Sorry isn’t going to fix these fucking bruises on my face! Or my broken nose, ribs, and teeth!” Landon spat, his feet stomping. “Sorry is what you say for little bullshit, accidentally tripping people and shit, not leaving a bar knowing fully well that you’re letting me fuck myself over! That’s not sorry, that’s not a forgivable offense, that’s god damn—"

“I swear we didn’t know. And now that you’re entangled in this, the question is, are you going to help us or not?” Leo asked impatiently, recovering from their interaction just seconds before. “Because we really need—"

“I don’t care what you need,” Landon leered, a motion that would have been far more intimidating if he wasn’t sniffing back blood. “Wouldn’t have told you anything if I knew you were a human. I don’t even know why this girl trusts you. As Rowan so kindly reiterated to me, humans are no good, and you’re all waiting for an excuse to get a hit in. I’m not going to tell you anything.”

That was enough. “You’re going to tell him everything,” I countered, shoving Leo out of the way. My wand was withdrawn, its tip sitting right on Landon’s artery. The sensation of my wand against his skin was a threat, a far more viable one than from afar. Distance gave spells time to weaken, but when pressed against the skin, anything I did was as good as lethal. “Please,” I couldn’t help but flinch at my motion, knowing it to be necessary but never having the guts to do something like this before.

“Some kind of friend you are, huh?” He was unimpressed and unafraid. He even reached up to his collar, pulling it down so that I could see the vast expanse of his neck, two distinct purple bruises were on either side. “Do it then, if you think you’re so tough. Newsflash, honey, someone already beat you to the fucking chase. And after what I went through? I don’t give a shit. Make Autumn cry, see if I give a shit, the girl’s annoying as hell anyway. Weird one too.”

“You take that back!” I yelled, jabbing my wand further into his neck. “Don’t say something like that, she loves--”

“See a little bit of yourself in that?” Landon snorted. “Wondering if Rowan ever gave so little shits about you? Sorry to break your heart, kid, but there were hundreds like Autumn, and there will be hundreds more. You weren’t that special either.”

“Lyra!” Leo warned at my snarl, the temptation to do something growing far too overwhelming. His hand reached for my elbow, pulling it ever so slightly back. “You need to understand, he’s just upset.” Leo turned to Landon once again, his voice struggling to remain even, a hint of fear laying underneath it. “We’re not the ones who hurt you, and we didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I would have never talked to you if I knew, neither would Lyra. But now…”

“Yeah, I heard,” Landon taunted. “Mind telling the class what’s fucking wrong with you?”

A small wheeze escaped the man as I jabbed my wand harder into the base of his neck, irritation getting the better of me. It wasn’t his place to comment, Leo was the one who had to live with being cursed.

But Leo minded far less than I did. “So you’re really going to help the guys who beat the pulp out of you? Lyra and I haven’t so much as raised a finger before this, and yet you’re steadfast on aiding them. We didn’t even know what we were doing talking to you, it wasn’t our intention to get you in trouble.” He paused before adding, “You know if you were smart, you would have left town.”

“Ain’t no leaving town when those vultures are watching you everywhere you go,” Landon declared. “I so much as imagine leaving, and the boys will be at my doorstep. It used to be easier, but now Rowan and those fuckers are apparently in line with Pat Lobdel, there’s no moving around this city. Not when them and his lackeys are waiting in every corner, pressuring you to--”

Color left Landon’s face as he realized his mistake, he practically knocked my wand out of my hand as he moved to cover his mouth, swollen eyes showing far more white. Sweat, if the man could sweat more than before, dripped down his face. He grunted, a loud and pained sound.

“I didn’t say none of that,” Landon groaned, eyeing the door behind me. Unfortunately, Leo slipped into his view, reminding him once more of his mistake. “You two are trouble. Definitely the sort of people who shouldn’t have met, not for the good of the rest of us.”

“And yet we did,” it wasn’t an exasperated sigh that Leo made, it almost sounded happy. I guess in his case, that made sense. He stepped behind me, once again pulling at my elbow, but this time using it as leverage to gently move me out of the way. Then he was standing there once more, directly in front of Landon. It seemed like such a stupid idea, yet Leo didn’t seem to be worried. “You want to hear a secret, Landon?” He asked with a glint in his eye, somehow luring the man’s full attention back to him. “I don’t care about any of this. I really don’t. I just want to fix my situation, and then I’m good, I can leave. You don’t have to tell me what you don’t want to, just tell me how these people are getting more magic; Pat Lodel and whoever else in this city be damned.”

“You think it’s easy,” Landon breathed.

“I want it to be easy,”