It was as black as night.
Not so good.
Daimon’s eyes leaped to the arrowhead pendant that hung from the black thong around Esher’s neck. The stone was tranquil blue. Daimon breathed a little easier with the knowledge that the moon was on his side at least and not affecting his brother. When the moon was full, Esher’s pendant turned black, a sign that it was messing with his power and his mood, pulling on him as strongly as it did on the tides.
When that happened, Esher had to be locked in the cage.
Daimon hated placing him in it, but it was the only way to suppress his powers and keep the mortal world safe from harm.
He rounded Esher, keeping his distance. When he could see Esher’s face more clearly, relief bloomed even more sweetly inside him.
His brother’s eyes were blue.
Not red.
His other side wasn’t fully in control.
But shit was still liable to go south at a moment’s notice.
It had been a long time since he had seen his brother this bad.
He glanced at the unconscious daemon. He needed to get his brother to release the male so Cass could cage him, but he wasn’t sure how to make that happen. The wraith was Esher’s trophy, the reward of a hunt that must have been intense judging by the state of his brother. If he tried to take that prize away from Esher, his brother would attack him.
He needed to convince Esher to release him.
Easier said than done.
Esher’s blue gaze didn’t shift from the wall at the other end of the room. Blood dripped down into his left eye, turning the white red and his iris a strange shade of purple. He didn’t blink it away. He just kept staring.
Locked in a battle with himself.
Daimon had seen it enough times to recognise it.
His brother was still under the influence of his other side, was waging war with it.
There was a sharpness in his eyes, cold calculation and darkness. Exactly how he looked when his other side was in control.
Daimon motioned at Cass to stay where she was and to keep quiet.
And then risked it.
He stepped into the path of his brother’s gaze, his nerve barely holding as he did his best to look unthreatening.
Esher still didn’t look at him.
“You’ve been gone a while. I was worried about you.” Daimon knew better than to mention we and everyone when Esher was so far gone.
He needed to just talk about him and Esher. In the singular. Man-to-man.
Bringing up his family was liable to send his brother into a tailspin that would end with him attacking anyone he viewed as a threat to it.
Daimon was deeply aware of Cass as he braved a step closer to Esher.
Esher’s gaze tracked him this time. His brother eyed him closely, that calculating edge to his gaze sharpening further. Daimon felt as if he was looking at another person—a cold predator weighing up its potential prey.
Was his brother really in there?
He kept his steps slow as he rounded his brother, hoping to draw his focus away from Cass’s direction, aware that if he moved too fast he could provoke a reaction from Esher.
Priority one was convincing Esher to release his prize and to secure the wraith before he woke up. His gaze flickered to the daemon, a glance he had hoped would be quick enough that Esher wouldn’t notice.
Esher growled and bared fangs at him.
His grip tightened on the wraith’s ankle.
The daemon moaned.
The male was alive, which was good. He could use that. Esher had clearly managed to retain enough control to convince himself to spare the wraith so they could use him for information on their enemy.
“You’ve done well. I have the daemon. W—I’m safe now.” Daimon hid his grimace as he subtly braced himself, hoping Esher hadn’t caught the fact he had almost said we’re. “I was worried about you. You have to rest now. Take care of yourself. Let me take care of you. Remember how I used to?”
He searched Esher’s eyes, hoping to see that he did.
Emptiness stared back at him.
“You’re my big brother and I was always the one who took care of you when you got into trouble.” Daimon slowly reached a hand out to Esher as his cold eyes began to brighten, losing their intensity. “Come on. Let me take care of you now, Esher.”
His brother’s expression darkened at the sound of his name, a frown knitting his black eyebrows together and causing the onyx crust that ran down one side of his face, from his hairline to the scruffy beard that coated his jaw, to crack further.
“You remember me. You know you do.” Daimon kept pressing, feeling he was getting somewhere. “That’s why you came to me. We’ve always been close, always had each other’s backs. That’s why you came. You’re safe here. I’ll take care of you.”
He reached a hand towards the one Esher gripped the daemon’s ankle in.
Big mistake.
Esher snarled and twisted, dropping the wraith’s ankle to step between Daimon and his prey.
Daimon backed off as his brother advanced, flexing black claws as scarlet ringed his irises.
Cass was swift to act on the opening she had been given.
Green light burst from her palms and wrapped around the wraith, forming a circle of shimmering light around him.
Esher turned on her with a roar.
“Go!” Daimon grabbed Esher’s arm and pulled him back, cursing himself as ice spread across his brother’s skin.
He grunted as Esher elbowed him in the face.
Cass disappeared in a flash of crimson light.
He grappled with Esher, struggling to keep hold of him as he snarled and elbowed him again. Stars winked across Daimon’s vision as he took a hit to the nose, as blood streamed
