Holly’s jaw clenches. “Yeah. He doesn’t want me challenging upperclass students in the arena. Thinks I’ll get hurt. Says I need to be smarter.”
She sneers, grabbing the bottle and taking a long swig. “Like I can’t handle myself. I can take a hit. I want the hits. That’s how you get stronger. He clearly doesn’t believe in me. He wants me to play safe, and that’s not who I am.”
The room crackles with her anger.
And guilt slams into me. “I didn’t even know you guys were fighting.” My throat goes tight. “Ugh. I’m a terrible friend. I make everything about me—dumping my problems on you, and I didn’t even notice you were—”
“Stop.” Holly cuts me off, sharp but not unkind. “You’ve got the whole damn council breathing down your neck. My drama with Sly isn’t even in the same arena as your crap.” She shrugs, though her knuckles are white around the bottle. “Besides, I’m fine. I’m mad, not broken.”
“Yeah,” Tabby adds, faking a deep tough voice. “She’s Wrath. If someone breaks her, she’d just break the person back.”
That earns a short, humorless laugh from Cleo… but a glare from Holly and I ponder if maybe it’s time to get the delicate Gluttony girls away from my raging roommate.
I sit down on my bed, still chewing on guilt. “I just… I want to be there for you. Not just spiral in my head.”
“Then drink with us,” Tabby says, shoving a cup into my hand. “It’s the common tradition. You fight with your boyfriend, you drink with your friends, you get over it.”
I will not turn down a night with my friends, not after all they have done for me.
I take a large gulp. Then finished my drink. Then had another. The burn in my chest eases a little, reminding me of being back home on the cliffs with Sadie and Peter, drinking our cares away with stolen goods from Apex Arena.
The laughter between us bubbles up again, silly and reckless, until the words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them:
“…Maddox made me a potion.”
All three whip their heads toward me.
“Wait! The potion?” Tabby asks, eyes glinting.
“Nooo,” I admit. “He’s still not sure he can get that to work. Apparently, this is more common, easy…”
“So…” Cleo prods. “What does it do?”
I groan, covering my face. “It’s supposed to make me… confident. Sexy. Like, lower inhibitions or whatever.”
Holly and Cleo break out laughing, no doubt picturing me trying to be sexy.
Tabby gasps like I confessed murder. “Arwen! Are you planning to seduce someone?”
“No!” I squeak. Then mutter, “…Maybe. If I have to.”
Cleo chokes on her drink. Holly smirks, all teeth. “Oh, this I’ve gotta hear. It better not be Atticus’s dumb ass.”
“Not Atticus. Maddox was very firm about not using it for Atticus.”
My cheeks are blazing. The alcohol isn’t helping. “I just—I’m not good at that stuff. The whole flirty, effortless-girl thing. And if the onlyway I stay here is by… trying to move one of my bonds forward, then I don’t have time to figure it out naturally.”
My voice drops. “God, I just want this to be over—powers awakened, the constant pressure gone. Every day shouldn’t feel like a trial. I just want… something to change.”
I swallow hard. “I want normal. Dumb drama. Fights with boyfriends. Hangovers. Not… a death deadline hanging over my head.”
For a second, silence.
Then Holly leans forward, eyes still sharp but voice steady. “You’ll get that. But until then—don’t you dare count yourself out.”
“Yeah,” Tabby adds with a wicked grin. “And if you don’t, we’ll slip that potion in Ryker’s drink and see if he starts pole-dancing on the lunch table.”
Cleo snorts into her cup, and soon we’re all laughing until our stomachs hurt.
