Iscariot

She is gone but she used to be mine.

"What is it?" Sam asked as he climbed the tower stairs, seeing the expression on Erik's face before his brother ducked his head to hide behind his bangs. The gesture was a lost cause. The soft golden glow shining through Erik's coppery-pink hair was a dead giveaway.

"They're together." Erik paused on the landing, closing his eyes to hold back the light. Leaning against the wall, he caught the breeze from one of the tower's windows. The cool air was welcome as his body suffused with heat.

"Come on, you knew what would happen, Zae. Fucks sake, you sent them to your bedroom. If that isn't an invitation to use it... Hell, I'd do it," the brute admitted, trying to make light of the situation as the incubus made a small noise in his throat.

"I didn't think it would be so... evident to me," Erik answered, almost breathless as his heart began to pound. "The bond keeps getting stronger. They have feelings for each other and I can feel hers, now."

"Not new news, bro," Sam answered grimly.

"There's a difference between knowing it and experiencing it." Erik looked away. He could block her from feeling him but he didn't want to shield Mika's feelings. He wished he could...

What? Join them? Erik thought bitterly. Damien was jealous enough as it was.

What then? Steal her away? He couldn't be more cruel. Raestrao had thought it of him with Ezaeur, but this would actually be doing it. The incubus side of him rose, greedy, the idea starting to gain legs when Sam's hand came down on his shoulder.

"Hey," The brute grabbed the back of his neck and tugged his head down, making Erik meet his gaze, ignoring the pull of the gold. "Is she happy?" Sam asked, completely serious.

"What?" Erik tried to focus, tried to fight the pull, the call. He could hear Mika in his head, hear her moaning. Her energy pooled warm and low in his belly as it grew, leaking through their bond and into him.

"Is she happy, Uzaeris?" Sam clearly enunciated, speaking his brother's demon name, forcing Erik to focus. "Is Mika happy with Damien?"

"Yes." It was exhilarating to sense Mika's passion through the bond and yet painful at the same time, knowing it wasn't him making her feel that way. Damien was good for her. His tenderness, their trust, the comfort she was feeling, Mika needed it all. It made Erik wish it was his to give. "She's happy," he admitted. There was no doubt Damien was, too.

Treat her well, my brother, Erik thought fiercely. For both of us.

"Then you need to focus on something else," Sam instructed, pulling him back from the sensations coming through the bond and pushing him up the stairs. "Come on, you'll go nuts otherwise."

Erik looked back at his brother as they reached the top of the stairs. The hint of gold in Sam's eyes told him the brute was skimming from Mika's energy, too. Most of the castle denizens could feel her, now. But for Erik, it wasn't hunger, it was want. Mika's energy was already feeding him through the bond before Damien took her to bed.

"I should leave." He tried to slip past, to go back downstairs.

"You're not going anywhere, except in here. Someone else needs you." Sam pulled the heavy door open, but rather than his usual shove, he gently ushered his brother in first.

The two stepped into Raestrao's sanctuary. Tristan looked up from where he sat on the floor at the foot of James' bed, his soft singing abruptly stopping. "My Lo-," his voice cracked on the word, going hoarse as he hurried to stand, his face lined and aged from the wraith's attack.

"We both know I'm not your lord," Erik snapped before the spy could say any more.

Tristan flushed, casting a nervous glance at the bed. "It's true, I serve your brother but I have served you as well, my lord. To the very best of my capabilities." He made a deep obeisance, remaining bowed.