Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) by Briana Gaitan, Brooke Kennedy Page A

she had thrown everyone’s futures off. She was terrified to know that Leon had asked the Elders to leave.
    She reached out to grasp the cloth of Leon’s shirt as she looked up at him desperately, “You cannot turn them away. You will be cast out and made a fallen for protecting me.”
    His eyes opened in shock, grabbing her arms with his hands, just as the mortal had when he had awoken. Her eyes slammed shut with the memory, wanting to erase it from her mind. She was ashamed of herself, for stabbing her kind in the back. Leon….
    “What are you talking about?” he insisted, his grip getting tighter on her arms.
    She opened her eyes, begging him with them to remain calm, “I raised a soul, Leon, one that I was supposed to take.” Her breath caught in her throat, scared to hear his response.
    He let her go, stood up from the bed, and walked across the room. She watched as his hands went up to his head to rub it, his wings rigid with tension. She had seen this gesture before, one that had never been directed at her, and she dreaded what would be said next. It showed that he was very agitated. He turned back to her, arms crossing in front of his chest and looking down at her, “Why would you do that?”
    Annalise slid off of the bed and onto the floor, moving over to where he was and wrapping her arms around his legs and letting the tears fall from her eyes. She had to show him how very sorry she was, that she regretted bringing this mortal back to life, even though she wasn’t sure what had gotten ahold of her. “I do not know. I have no excuse. Please do not hate me. I could not stand it.”
    She felt him kneel down to where she was, curl his fingers into her hair as he pulled her close to hold her and whispered softly, “I could never hate you, but you should have come to me.”
    It bit her to the bone, the way his voice went from concern and caring to that of irritation and anger in two short sentences. As far as she could remember, he had never been angry with her. He was always understanding and caring, the only one in their realm to really get her. Still, she couldn't explain this turn of events herself, so why did she expect him to understand?
    She felt hurt, so she moved away from him and stood up. After she took a few steps back, she crossed her arms around herself. “I did not come to you because I knew you would be like this.” She tried to keep her face neutral .
    “Did you go to Finlay about this?”
    “Yes…” she whispered, unsure of why that was an issue. He was their friend after all.
    Leon pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, clearly conflicted.  “Do you realize what kind of trouble you are going to be in if this continues?”
    “I am quite aware of that, Leon, and I thought that perhaps you would care enough to help me stay out of trouble. Apparently I was mistaken,” she stated and lowered her eyebrows to scowl at him. They had never fought before, they had always gotten along. He was the one person who understood her, and he should know that she would never do such a thing on purpose. It was that keeper, she was certain; he had performed some kind of alchemy over her.
    Taking a step towards her, her counterpart reached out to run a finger down her cheek, but she stepped back. She could see the sudden sadness in his eyes as she did so, never brushing him off in all of their years together.
    “Anna, don’t be upset with me. We need to get you some help, figure out why you would do such a thing. You have never ignored your duty before. I am just trying to understand.”
    “You are doing no such thing. You are judging me. You have no idea what I have been through trying to deal with this except that your name might be looked down upon because your counterpart made a mistake!” Annalise threw her arms down at her sides and glared at Leon. She had never been so upset with him in all the years they had worked together. This anger inside of her was intense and overpowering,