I gnaw on my bottom lip. I don’t know why he did that for me, and I don’t like knowing he was close to death. It seems like I’m the first one to wake up, and I can see the heirs all on the floor by the fireplace, blankets covering them. I wince as the flames flicker, but I carry on telling them everything, and when I’m done, Elizabeth rubs her face. Ayan storms off to make food for Reed, making sure I know it’s not for me, and Elizabeth watches me. “Are you really okay? You look spooked.”
There is a reason for that. Him. I saw the look in Reed’s eyes, tasted the sheer amount of magic he used to save my life. It felt like he was willing to die for me, and it doesn’t make any sense. I can’t tell Elizabeth all of that. “The Maiden goddess spoke to me, and she was creepy about my future.”
She leans her hip against the sofa arm. “Whatever happens, you will always have me at your back. I know I’m not your best friend, but you are the first female friend I’ve had, and I won’t leave you. No matter what happens.” She touches the mark on her wrist, and I touch mine back, nodding. I’m lucky I chose Elizabeth; turns out that she is awesome.
Elizabeth leaves me to make food for us in the kitchen with Ayan, knowing damn well he won’t be sharing anything he makes. Oddly, I’m not hungry, and I’m not hurt anymore. I look at my legs, where there were claw marks from the golem, but there are none. Even my clothes are repaired, and there are no more holes. Orion’s shirt is still hanging off my small frame like a dress, and I’m not giving it back to him. It smells too good. Now we are alone, I let myself look at the heirs.
The firelight dances orange across their faces, and even sleeping, they are too exceptionally attractive. Reed stirs first, rolling to his side and facing Orion. He blinks, and sits up sharply, his shoulders dropping in relief when he sees me. The same relief is thick in my own chest when I take in his warm complexion and the lack of injuries. He nearly died to save me. Blackfire did the same in the Maiden test when the rocks fell, and now, I can’t stop the feelings from overwhelming me and demanding I listen. I feel. Something passes between us in the silence. Something unspoken about what just happened there. “Meredith?—”
I’m kind of glad when Blackfire wakes like an angry bear, throwing blankets around and huffing as he stands up. When he sees we are in the cabin, he growls low. “Why the fuck are we still here?” He pauses mid-pace. “Wait, how is our home still in one piece?”
Our home. He feels the same about this cabin too. Elizabeth and Ayan come back, and she answers his question. “It was never destroyed. You just vanished.”
Orion wakes slowly when Reed shakes his shoulder, and Ayan rushes to Reed to give him the sandwiches he made. Elizabeth hands me a plate, all cheese sandwiches and grapes, and I smile thankfully at her. Reed shares his food with Blackfire and Orion, and we eat in silence, everything a little too raw to discuss.
That wave felt real to us, and it was terrifying to me at least. I wonder how Reed felt about it when his magic is water and it still swept him away. When I’m done, I rest back against the sofa and close my eyes for a second. I only see the cabin shattering to pieces under the tidal wave of water and magic. That’s all it was. Magic. A pretend something that they made us feel was real. Maybe it was in some kind of way, but our home is still fine.
Home. I’ve got to stop calling it that.
Elizabeth takes my plate and nods to Ayan. “We haven’t left the cabin, just in case you came back, and our wolves need a run.”
“Don’t go far,” Reed protectively warns them both, and they soon leave, their wolves howling in the forest a few minutes later.
I flinch again when the fire flickers, and before I can make an excuse to go to my room, Blackfire waves his hand over the fire, and it goes out. Orion grumbles he wants more food and leaves the room. The smell of smoke fills the room as we sit in silence until Blackfire growls. “We are the last four alive, so why isn’t this over?”
I wonder what happened to the other chosen and how they know it’s just us. Still, Blackfire sounds happy to go back to his uncle, and it irritates me. “Are you that desperate to return home to your sweet old uncle?” I bite.
Blackfire looks down at me, and his red eyes are burning pits of anger. “That place has not been my home for a very long time, and he is my uncle and alpha…I have no choice but to respect him. There is nowhere else for me.”
I don’t know what to say about that. I’m kind of glad to know that he doesn’t think that his uncle is someone he wants to go back to live with and bow to. He still will do though, when this is over. We are getting closer to the end of Folkland, and my future has never been this uncertain. Tannith will be turned back, and Idoubt the Crone alpha is going to let me just wander back to my apartment in peace. The alpha’s plan of whoring me out fills me with terror. I need a plan, and fast.
I’m actually glad to see Orion when he comes back in holding five bottles of whiskey. The very expensive kind. My boss at the pub only ever had one of these bottles, a much smaller bottle, and he charged a fortune for one shot of it. “Our reward from the Maiden goddess, it seems.” He sits down on the floor, places all the bottles in the middle. “Let’s play a game with the human. Truth or dare.”
“I’m not in the mood.” Blackfire continues to pace.
Reed shakes his head. “Really? Drinking games after everything that just happened?”
“Well, they obviously left it here for us to do something with, and I think getting pissed might help all of our tensions over what just happened,” Orion points out.
“It’s not actually a bad idea.” I could drink enough so that I will not have any trouble getting to sleep and the nightmares will stay far away. I could never afford to drink myself silly that often at the pub, but sometimes my drinks were paid for by customers. They didn’t know about it, but then again, they were rich and I was not. I was an alcoholic version of Robin Hood.
I sit down next to Orion, knowing that agreeing to anything he said is like poking a snake and being surprised when it bites back. Reed looks at me in shock, and I roll my eyes at his expression. Blackfire grumbles and sits on my other side, and Reed eventually joins us, sitting opposite me. Orion hands out bottles until we have one each, and he downs half the spare bottle while I watch him with wide eyes before he puts it in the middle. He is going to be sick and drunk in minutes. I’m sure my worry is written all over my face, because Reed adds, “Orion can drink all of us under the table, and wolves burn off alcoholmuch faster than humans. Even whiskey this strong won’t make us sick. I’ve never had a hangover.”
“I had a hangover once. Do you remember the six-day party on the lake for the summer starfall?” Orion laughs, and Reed grins back at him. “You passed out with two girls, and I drank over fifty bottles of wine until I couldn’t feel my face. Or tongue. A shame for the woman who was sitting on it and—” Reed kicks Orion to shut him up, and Orion grunts. “Alright, to the point. Let’s play.” Orion looks over at me. “Sure that you can keep up, human?”
“I have told you several times now that I worked in a pub with drunk men all of the time. Of course someone made me play truth or dare more than once.” I laugh, but they don’t. All of them tense, and I frown, wondering what I said that they didn’t like. I shake my head at their weird antics, and I pull out the bottle’s cork, taking a sniff of the whiskey. Damn, it’s strong. I drink only one mouthful, and I feel it burn a path down the back of my throat.
“You only drink if you don’t do the truth or dare, Mere,” Reed reminds me. I like when he calls me Mere. It’s better than little human.
I shrug. I’ve also learned that drinking means that you feel warm and confident, so it’s quite useful when I’m alone with three gorgeous heirs. “Who’s going first?”
“Me.” Reed jumps in before Blackfire or Orion can claim the first spin. Reed spins the bottle with one hand, and it lands on me, of all people. I tense, meeting Reed’s eyes. There’s a smirk on his handsome face. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he somehow controlled that bottle to land on me. “Truth or dare, little human?”
“Truth.” I do not trust this man to dare me. I’m not sure what he would suggest, but the way he’s looking at me right now, I’m not taking any chances.
“Tell me about the men you’ve been with. Who did you play truth or dare with? Did you kiss them? Tell me everything that you’ve ever done with a man.” I blink in surprise, and the silence that stretches around us feels like a sizzling current.
My mind immediately goes to my monster and what we did. I’m not telling them about my monster, because I suspect they won’t react well. I’m strangely protective of my dream-orgasm friend. My stomach flutters as I debate how to answer this question. Reed raises his eyebrows and waits for an answer. I could drink and not answer, but I don’t want to back down from an answer. “There was one human I kissed a few times, but it never went further because…well, I don’t really let people get close to me, and I was focused on other things in my life. Tannith mused that no one dared to ask me out because I gave off a hostile vibe. I also ignored men when they spoke to me because…well, they are men.” I shrug again.
