Everett is busy rearranging my plate to substitute the meats with other foods. “He’s right, try it.”
With a sigh, I eat the stupid avocado toast. Surprisingly, it’s not horrible, despite the way it looks. I also like the ‘mixed berry medley parfait’ he makes me try next. Finally, Baelfire seems satisfied that I’m enjoying the meal and digs into his own food, as do the others—aside from Crypt. He isn’t sitting at the table anymore, instead leaning against one of the distant pillars to smoke.
I wonder again if his curse is hurting him.
But my thoughts take a sharp turn when my stomach begins to churn. The nausea is so sudden that I freeze, confused. I don’tget nauseous—not unless I’m having an episode. But my shadow heart isn’t hurting me.
Instead, my stomach seizes painfully as dizziness sweeps over me. My mouth goes dry while the rest of my body flushes, fingers and toes tingling. My head starts to pound.
This doesn’t feel like an episode. It feels more like…
Fuck.
My matches shout in alarm when I leap up and lurch away from the table, barely managing to make it to the edge of the open-air dining area before falling to my knees to puke my fucking guts out.
22
MAVEN
I hearCrypt swear before he’s holding my hair back. Someone else rubs soothing circles over my back.
Three rounds of heaving later, and I’m ready to repeatedly stab the prick who caused this. When my stomachfinallystops trying to escape through my throat, I wipe my face with a shaky arm and straighten to see four pairs of eyes pinned on me.
Everett is beside me, his hand still rubbing soothing circles on my back. Baelfire and Silas are close, standing guard, and Crypt hasn’t let my hair go as he stares at me with a…tender smile?
What the fuck?
I’m confused by their strangely intense, happy expressions until I hear Everett whisper a quiet prayer of thanks to Koa, the god of fertility.
Yikes.
Talk about jumping to conclusions.
“You’ll feel bad for smiling in a moment,” I inform my overly pleased, very mistaken matches.
Baelfire beams, his golden eyes misty. “My mate is pregnant. How could I not smile?”
Oh, gods. I guess we’ll have to talk about that.
I sigh. “Calm down. It’s not pregnancy. It’s just poison.”
Nightshade, to be precise. It’s not nearly as potent as its root powder, but those were unmistakable symptoms from a potent batch. It’s a good thing that I was forced to build up a tolerance to a wide variety of poisons, including nightshade, or I would be dead and reviving right now.
My quintet stares at me for a moment as they absorb my words. Then all hell breaks loose.
“What?” Baelfire booms, going from emotional and thrilled to murderous in an instant.
Silas swears furiously as he storms over to examine my plate for the culprit. Crypt goes deceptively still as Everett scoops me up like he thinks the ground might try to hurt me next.
Being swept off my feet doesn’t help with the dizziness my body is trying to combat. I pat his chest, swallowing down more bile.
“Set me down. Now.”
“Who the fuck is trying to poison you?” Baelfire snaps, blue fire flickering under his skin. “Ross? I’m going to fuckingkillthat guy.”
“Right after we make him beg for mercy that he will never get a fucking ounce of,” Crypt agrees, vanishing in the next moment.
“It’s not Ross,” I protest before the incubus can slip away unseen. “He thinks I’m important somehow. It was probably?—”
