“And whatexactlydid you swear to do this time?” Crypt demands, his violet eyes hard as they search mine.
“If it puts you in danger, I swear on the fucking gods…” Everett trails off dangerously before shoving his seat away from the table and standing to pace.
Silas’s red stare is inescapable as Baelfire tosses aside the broken spoon, all traces of his smile gone. Their angry scrutiny doesn’t budge as the oven timer goes off.
“I don’t remember. Yet,” I add, like that one word is the good news.
“Godsdamn it all, Maven,” Silas sighs, exasperated. “You can’t keep doing this to us.”
“At this point, I’m going to make you make a fucking blood oath to stopmakingblood oaths,” Baelfire grits, storming back to the oven to turn off the timer.
Their reactions are justified. Considering the hell I’ve put them through, I’m a little surprised they haven’t tried tying me up in one of the rooms to make sure I never step foot outside the door again. But as irritated as I am that I can’t remember what oath I made, I do know one thing.
“Whatever happened in Paradise, I chose you four,” I tell them quietly. “I would never swear an oath that would put you in danger.”
“Us?You think we’re worried aboutus?”Baelfire growls.
He pulls a casserole of some kind out of the oven with his bare hand before slamming the oven door shut and whirling to stalk toward me again. I forgot how impressive Baelfire’s temper is, but…gods. He can be kind of scary when he’s this mad, with blue fire flickering ominously under his tanned skin.
“We’d live for you. We’d die for you. We’reyours—so do whatever the fuck you want with us. That’s not the problem,” he snaps. “The problem is, you’re too fucking self-sacrificing. You literally went through hell to get humans you didn’t even know out of the Nether. What if your blood oath had to do with getting back here, huh? How much more would you choose to suffer just to return to us?”
“A lot more,” I agree without missing a beat, getting off of Crypt’s lap so I can stand and glare up at my furious, towering shifter better. “You’re right. I would have done anything—excepthurting you four. So whatever price I agreed to pay, it would have been with full intent to stay here with you. It worked, because I’m back and we’re bound and so fucking help me, nothing and no one will stop me from finally enjoying a long, peaceful life with the men I lo?—”
I catch myself and press my lips together.
Shit. I’ve told each of them individually, but saying it out loud in front of my complete, bound quintet is different.
Silas raises his brows, his frustration starting to dissipate as he smirks at me on the other side of the table. “Yes? The men you…?”
“You know,” I mumble.
“We know, but we’d like to hear it,” Crypt grins. “Come on, darling. Confess.”
I decide this conversation has been productive enough and turn to study the food Baelfire just made. Whatever it is, it has potatoes and cheese in it and smells amazing. “That masterpiece is going to get cold.”
“How is it possible that you fell from fuckingParadiseto get back to us, and you still think it’s weird to say the‘L-word’out loud?” Everett asks, baffled.
Before I can pretend the potato casserole has my full attention, Baelfire envelops me in his strong, warm arms. He kisses the top of my head, sighing as his shifter temper subsides as quickly as it was riled.
“You know, Cutie Pie, it’s really fucking hard to stay mad when I know you just do stupid shit out of love. But if you get all your memories back and we find out this blood oath is going to cause you pain, I’ll...” He stops, considering.
I tip my head back to smirk at him. “I love a good threat, so go ahead. You’ll what?”
He makes up his mind. “I’ll only serve you green Jell-O for the rest of our lives.”
Now that’s just cruel.
37
SILAS
Being boundto my blood blossom is different this time.
It’s the difference between being bound to Maven’s shadow heart and being bound to heractualheart. I doubt our stunning demigoddess is even aware of the effect it’s had on the rest of us yet, but the difference from our last bonding is staggering.
Before, it was incredible. The best thing to ever happen to me.
This time, when the bond snapped into place, it instantly became an unrivaled, ethereal epiphany. A divine lightning strike directly to the soul, sealing my heart and fate to Maven’s.
