Maven is thoughtful. “If that's what DP is, I had a dream about it once. Does it stand for double penis?”
My blood blossom is adorable.
I know I am,Maven’s voice says in my head.You don’t deserve me.
“Shh,” I silence the voice that I’m almost certain isn’t real.
Luckily, my shushing is covered by Kenzie’s cackle, which can probably be heard all the way from my quintet's apartment. “It means double penetration. And again, if you do it, use lube—in fact, before everything went to hell at Everbound, I actually bought a ton of new, unused toys and flavored lube and stuff like that. I think it’s still stashed in my quintet’s old apartment, so maybe I can track something down for you. Anyway—take your time, and don't rush. And it'samazing.Top-tier. Seriously, one time when I was sandwiched between Dirk and Luka, Dirk kept doing this thing where he reached around and played with Luka’s?—”
Maven throws up a hand. “Got it. No more details, or I won't be able to look your quintet in the eye anymore.”
“You know, Dirk might prefer that. Even after watching you go all demigoddess on TV, he’s still spooked over your Undead joke.”
“Good,” my keeper smirks.
Kenzie swats at her playfully before getting serious again. “Seriously, go get ‘em, monk. Besides satisfying all that horniness you’re pretending to ignore, it might help with getting your bond back, right? You mentioned that you bonded yourself to them after being intimate before because of your holy magic. Can’t that happen again?”
Maven reaches up to rub her chest through her dark, oversized clean clothing. “It would if I had a heart for them to be bound to.”
My breath catches as that sinks in. Gods above, how have I not thought of this? Her heart was ripped out and replaced by a shadow heart, but if that's gone and she’s mysteriously returned…
She's Undead,a voice in my head decides.You cannot sleep with a zombie.
She’s a devil. A wicked trollop.
Heartless,a final one whispers.
Kenzie looks just as surprised. “Wait. I thought you had a shadow heart?”
“Not anymore.”
“Then…uh, not to be blunt, May, but how the fuck are you alive right now?”
Maven rubs her chest again. “My best guess is, I'm keeping myself alive with holy magic, kind of like a preservation or life extension spell. Or maybe it's something to do with people revering me—turns out, I get power from worship. Whatever it is…I’m not sure how long I can sustain it.”
My throat starts closing in.
If she's being kept alive solely by her own magic…that's unstable. Dangerous. There’s a reason life extension spells are considered so faulty.
It must be weakening her, too. What if she uses too much power at once, runs out of fuel, and drops dead again? Gods above, how close did she get to overextending herself during her awe-inspiring display of power in Manhattan?
No more. I refuse to leave her existence in this mortal world up to chance. I turn to leave, catching bits of their conversation echoed in the hall as I step over a slithering mass of glowing orange worms. Ducking under more cherubs, I quickly make my way back to our quintet apartment.
The second I burst into my keeper's room, the words are already leaving my mouth.
“Maven is heartless.”
An absolute bitch,my father's voice agrees.
Other demons in my head chime in, complaining over one another loudly. The ringing in my ears increases in volume as I try to get my eye to stop twitching.
“Beautifully so,” Crypt muses from where he sits, rolling freshreveriuminto cigarettes at a desk.
The torn state of his clothes and a smear of blood on his neck tell me he put up with the dangers of Limbo to get the herb that will hopefully ease his pain and Maven’s concerns.
Come to think of it, he's been merely smoking the substance. If I meddle with it, test it in spells or potions…
Perhaps I could amplifyreverium’seffects for the incubus. Anything it takes to not see my blood blossom on the verge of tears again.
