Shredded.
Ripped.
Assimilated.
Pieces.
It was hard to believe that they were talking about me. It sounded like they were talking about a rag-doll.
“I don’t like this,” Yael snarled, beginning to pace.
Try being me, buddy!
“None of us do,” Coen snapped back. “And I bet she hates it even more than we do.”
Correct, for once!
Rome laughed. “No shit. She doesn’t even seem to realise that she’s a dweller. There’s not an ounce of accepting or obedience in her.”
The others smiled, momentarily, before the stormy expressions rolled back over their faces.
“We need to do something.” Aros spoke up, his silky voice thoughtful. “Maybe we can sneak her back into Topia.”
“It’s too risky.” Coen shook his head.
Aros grunted out an agreement. “Well, maybe we can get a message to Brina. If anyone is going to be able to reverse this curse, it’ll be her.”
The others nodded, and then they all seemed to fall into a thoughtful silence.
“Have you hidden the cup?” Yael finally asked, looking over at Coen.
“Of course,” was the bland reply.
“Think he’s noticed it missing, yet?” Aros asked.
“Of course.” This time, the reply was delivered with a flashing smile. Coen’s eyes glinted dangerously, a laugh falling from his lips. “If he could curse us again, he’d do it. But you know D.O.D.” He laughed again, shaking his head. “He’s probably trying not to be proud, because we finally managed to beat his sneaky ass at something.”
Their laughter slowly faded away, and no matter how tightly I tried to hang onto it, it evaded my grasp, dwindling into soundless night as sleep dragged me further away. After that, my dreams were normal. I dreamt about sleeper bugs the size of my face, and tables piled high with delicious sol food. I even dreamt about Rome’s bare chest, for a little bit. I tried not to judge myself as I then moved on to think about the others and the various images that they had planted into my poor little dweller brain.
When I woke up in the morning, it was almost a relief, and I didn’t feel restedat all.
I supposed that there was another way that Rau’s curse had changed me.Anothertruth that I was hiding from the Abcurses. But they didn’t need to know about the way my body misbehaved every time they touched me. I mean … nobody really needed to know about that. I shot up in bed, trying to wipe the guilty look off my face.Please don’t have heard my thoughts.Luckily, Siret was still asleep on the couch. I swung my feet to the ground and padded over to him, poking him in the shoulder.
He didn’t stir.
I huffed out a nervous breath, sitting down on the low table beside the couch, notching my chin in my hand and poking him again, although the movement was pretty lazy this time. His gold-tipped hair was swept to the side, curling slightly against the pale pillow beneath his head. He was actually kind of beautiful, when he wasn’t insulting me. He cracked one eye open, the cat-like irises flashing with warring green and yellow-gold. His other eye cracked open while I just stared at him, trying to dredge up the words to explain that I hadn’t just been sitting there, watching him sleep, like a creep.
His arms shot out, curving around me and pulling me off the table and onto his chest.
“Go back to sleep,” he muttered, his voice gravelly.
“Er.” I turned my head to the side, so that his chest wasn’t smothering me. “No.”
He reached around my face, holding his hand over my mouth. “Yes. Shh.”
I tried to wiggle out of his arms, but Rome decided to choose that moment to barge into the room. Siret cracked one of his eyes open again, and I twisted around just enough to see Rome’s eyebrows inching up, his massive arms crossing over his chest.
“At least you’re not naked,” he said to me, before turning his eyes on Siret, his expression melting into a glare. “Let’s go, we need to be at the arena in three clicks.”
