He cursed over their comm-links. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Because you’re one of only two males alive who hasn’t disappointed me. Now move it!”

Tweedle cursed again.

Jayne laughed in spite of the hell raining down on them.

But really, this wasn’t funny. “You’ll be behind me?”

“I’m not going to die and leave you alone. You get into enough shit with me here. I cringe to think of the trouble you’d find without me.”

Kissing her sister’s cheek, Jayne unfurled her wings and took off.

But not before she heard the most precious words from her sister’s lips. “I’m getting you out of this life, little bit, if it’s the last thing I do.”

Chapter One

FOUR YEARS LATER

Jayne sighed heavily as she waited for Eve to arrive. Heartbroken, she read back over her rejection.

So much for getting herself out of this wretched life . . .

So much for dreams.

She should have known better. Luck had never been her friend and her family was absolutely cursed.

Sitting down, she stared at the bottle of Tondarion Fire with lust and craving. More tempted than she ought to be, she refused to go there. Alcohol had ruined her father.

It’d ruined their childhoods and she wasn’t going to succumb to those demons.

“I’m creating my own.”

And she was, sadly. Maybe that was the curse of life. Period. Either you repeated the demons you knew were bad, or you summoned all news ones to come and torture you.

Why make more for herself when so many were already alive and well in her gene pool?

Just as she was about to give in, her door opened without preamble and Eve rushed toward her.

Her sister’s light eyes were full of sympathy as Eve pulled her in for a tight hug. “I’m so sorry.”

Jayne nodded. “Me, too. It was the last school I applied to. No one wants me.”

“I want you.” Eve tightened the grip she had on her. “It’s not fair or right!”

She appreciated her sister’s righteous anger on her behalf, but it changed nothing. “When has life ever been fair to us?”

Eve pulled back and wiped the tears from Jayne’s eyes. “The day it sent Jinx to me.”

Okay, she’d give Eve that. But really? Throwing a high-ranking League assassin into her life who could be killed for even speaking to her sister wasn’t exactly a bene they should count.

It, too, seemed more like a curse.

While she loved Jinx, she, like Eve, was well aware of the dangers involved with having a relationship with one of the League’s soldiers. Assassins were strictly hands-off.

The only way out for an assassin was death.

And still nothing could keep Jinx from protecting them. From loving her sister and doing anything for her.

Especially not something as trivial and rare as common sense.

“Why are we cursed?”

Eve shook her head. “We’re not cursed.”

Jayne scoffed. What else was it? Everyone in their family failed.