“Piss off.”
“Get over yourself and spill, Stalker Boy. Because if you die, it affects the quintet—and it’s going toreallyaffect my mate, so I have the right to ask, and you’re going to fucking answer. How old were the past stewards when they burned out?”
Cocksure prick.
But he’s correct that my inevitable demise will affect the quintet, so I sigh. “On average, thirty years old.”
“Shit.”
“Well-put.”
He’s quiet for a long moment before glancing at the bed. “She didn’t shower.”
“Don’t you dare wake her for that.”
“No shit, creep. Imeant, she didn’t have that delayed reaction where she starts to get uncomfortable about all the touching and scrubs her poor skin raw in the shower when she thinks we aren’t looking. If you’re still helping her with that fucking phobia of hers whenever she’s asleep, it’s helping.”
I have been, but I shrug. “She still can’t stand touch from anyone outside the quintet. Perhaps she’s just growing accustomed to knowing we’re hers.”
“I like the idea of that.”
As do I.
He lays back down with a dramatic sigh. “Anyway, no hard feelings about tonight. You were obviously just doing Maven a favor and saving the best for last. Like a dick appetizer.”
It’s incredible, the things this shifter chooses to let leave his mouth.
His ego is far too fucking loud, so I kick his leg to send a jolt of my power through him, too, sending him into a deep sleep.
25
MAVEN
Few thingsin my not-life are as thrilling as the moments before a battle.
As we walk toward the outer ring of the Sanctuary, all of us dressed warmly, I check all the daggers on my person and try to tame my smile.
It’s no use.
Meanwhile, my quintet is not as thrilled.
“I understand this is exciting for you, but your eagerness to fling yourself into danger isn’t helping our nerves,imasangfluir,” Silas sighs.
It’s early in the morning as we stop in front of the second invisible magic door, but the endless deep twilight overhead remains just as it has since our arrival three days ago. The unsettling dimness reminds me of the Nether.
Outside the Sanctuary, enemies will be waiting for us. It’s inevitable because Parker let them know we’re here, and Douglas also probably tracked Silas’s transportation spell to Alaska. Since our enemies can’t get into the unbroachable, invisible Sanctuary, they’ll simply wait for us to emerge.
And since transportation spells, coming or going, don’t work within the Sanctuary, here we are. Ready to emerge.
For a fight.
I can’t fucking wait. I used to dread the death matches in Amadeus’s arena, but now I miss regular combat.
The Sanctuary acolytes were happy to see us go. Meanwhile, the Garnet Wizard couldn’t get out of bed because his curse was acting up, and he was somewhere in his early hundreds—but he sent Ross to see us off.
The caster is behind us, fidgeting nervously. “I could help fight if you would like. I would be useful, as I’m nearly a fourth-level acolyte.”
“Or you could fuck off, and Maven can stay in here while we take care of things,” Everett mutters.
