I couldn’t help but laugh at that, scoffing a bit. “That’s the quickest and most confusing summary I’ve ever heard, but tell me next how going to visit them is the best move for us. How would anyone there know how to train me any better than the lessons I’m receiving here at DIA or me figuring it out more on my own in Ordinarius?”
She held her pointer finger up, determination making her eyes slant slightly as her brow knitted. “Well, for one, the archangels are rumored to be some of the most powerful beings of the realm. They will defend you as their family, because you are mine.”
Now that was the type of matter-of-fact statement I could get behind. My lips pulled into a smile as warmth spread through my chest.
A second finger popped up alongside the first. "Two, if the curses are following you, it gets them away from DIA, which I know is a big concern of yours.”
I offered her a single nod of concession. That was true.
“And my personal favorite reason,” she practically sang as she extended a third finger and smirked at me, “my aunt Zurie was an outsider her whole life growing up. Just like my mom. Just like you. Just like me. We’re all different, and that’s something she will love about you. She will fight for you and help find you a teacher there. I know it.”
Damnit, she knew I had a soft spot for outsiders. That was just playing dirty, making me love her Aunt preemptively.
A heavy sigh came from behind me in the seconds before Kylo spoke up, dragging our attention to him. “While I do understand the sentiment, why are you so sure someone in Divinus can teach Alexandra? And what’s to say that if Zurie did find someone, that they would actually help?”
I couldn’t stop myself nodding along to those questions as my brow rose. They were fair, bringing me back down to the logical headspace I needed to be in.
Alora’s voice was clear and confident in return as she turned to face him directly. “We know for a fact that no teacher here at DIA understands Alexandra’s powers. That’s because her gifts came from Divinus. Pandora’s box was created by a god, which most likely means that only the beings of Divinus understand the extent of her powers.”
“Fair assessment,” Elwin murmured.
“Also, you don’t stay alive for thousands upon thousands of years without hearing things. They gossip just like everyone here and in every other veil of existence. Someone up there knows more than a book in the library here at DIA, and I know my Aunt Zurie won’t stop until she sniffs them out.”
The conviction in her words moved me, and I found myselfactuallyconsidering her plan for the first time. She made valid points about me being able to draw the curses away from DIA, while also buying myself more time to possibly train with a more powerful being.
“Sniff them out?” Lucien scoffed, humor lacing his tone. “What is she, a hellhound that somehow found her way into Divinus?”
A bellyaching laugh belted out of me at the look of utter offense on Alora’s face at that particular joke.
“No, she’s a hybrid mix of a reaper and a ghost, and quite proud of that as the only one of her kind, so I suggest not making that joke to her,” she warned. My mouth dropped open to ask the burning question that sprang to my mind, but she cut my line of thought off instantly. “And don’t ask me how it’s even possible to fuck a ghost—my mom told me when she finally found the courage to ask Zurie’s mom about the details, she wished she could bleach her mind.”
Honestly, that was more than enough of an answer for me. I had to bite down on my bottom lip to keep from bursting into laughter. I felt the heat of Elwin’s gaze on the side of my face, and I released my captured lip with a smirk.
How was this my life? And to think that I once thought I was going to live a mundane existence in Ordinarius.
The hilarity of the situation consumed me the more I thought of it, and tears streamed out of the corner of my eyes as I doubled over. My hands rested on my knees as my body shook with laughter. All eyes were on me, but slowly each of them joined me until the fear that saturated our home turned into an energy that felt more like hope to me.
I wasn’t sure if it was my exhaustion, fear, or the thought of someone fucking a ghost making me absolutely lose it right now, but damn, it felt good to have a moment to not focus on my absolute dread at the reality facing us.
And suddenly, the obstacles in front of us didn’t feel so insurmountable as I looked at each of them smiling. I could get through anything as long as I had my family.
With the promise to reconvene when Alora had an answer on how to get us to Divinus, we headed to our respective bedrooms. She didn’t leave us waiting for long.
A shrill screech that echoed from Alora’s bedroom across our small home and into my own had me giggling and holding up my hand for Kylo to slap from where he laid next to me. Guess she’d seen her ripped dress finally.
Glancing to the clock on my nightstand, I huffed out a smug sound of victory. We’d officially crossed ten minutes since she’d gone to her room.
Unsure of what the outcome of her call would be with her mom in regards to helping portal us to Divinus, we’d agreed to hold off on deciding anything until we got that answer. There was no sense in debating Divinus if we couldn’t even get there. That left us with some time to kill and a chance for my anxiety to begin to take hold of my heart again.
“Pay up, suckers,” I purred, smirking up at Lucien from where I laid between his legs. I turned my eyes on Elwin, who lounged in my hanging chair in the corner, rocking slowly back and forth with his feet.
His eyes were entirely trained on me, and as I took a short breath, my smirk faltered at the sight of the heat in them.
Lucien groaned, breaking the spell over me with his words, “I really thought she would freak out right after she walked into her room. She’s so obsessed with her wardrobe.”
“Same,” Elwin admitted, cocking a grin at me like he didn’t care in the slightest he’d lost the bet. His new favorite game seemed to be trying to fluster me with his looks.
I dragged my lip between my teeth, biting down into the soft flesh and loving the way he instantly stiffened as his gaze narrowed on me. I’d pay for that later, but only in the best way possible.
