The second Cypress stepped away from Vesper and backed into Mazz, who pulled her further away, Bellamy rushed into the room.
“Why isn’t it all gone?” she demanded, slamming the door behind her and interrupting the reader. Everyone turned to look at her. Cypress cowered behind Mazz. Bellamy rolled her eyes as she stomped past them back to Vesper’s side, examining her arm more closely.
“That is what I was explaining before you interrupted,” the reader’s melodic voice startled Bellamy. She looked up and was met briefly with black eyes before they changed to pink.
“Deliya was just saying that it is all gone, but the imprint might be permanent. She thinks the magic absorbed into my skin and sort of became a part of me,” Vesper explained, looking at the reader—Deliya—for support.
She nodded sagely. “I believe that is why it started to protect you. The magic was somehow able to acclimate to your body, mistook you as the proper ‘host’ so to speak. There is very littleremaining now. It is not a large enough amount of magic to harm you, even if it wanted to.”
“So,” Bellamy looked back at Vesper’s arm, mentally tracing the pattern of the imprint. “Can you use your magic, or is it Dampener magic?”
“It would not be Dampening,” Deliya said, then frowned, studying Vesper’s arm again. “But I cannot say your Energy will reach this part of your body anymore. It should not be affected elsewhere though.”
Vesper’s brows furrowed. Her eyes narrowed in on her arm, and she flexed her fingers a few times, concentrating.
“There!” Bellamy gasped, pointing at a break in the stain on her middle finger. A spark popped weakly along the line leftover from the conductive string, crawling away from the blackened part until it surged into the air and dissipated immediately.
Vesper focused again and more sparks came pouring out of the break in the stain that cut through her fingers and palm like an Energy waterfall. Vesper groaned and slammed her head back on the pillow.
“I can’t make it take form. It’s just fucking there,” she complained, letting more sparks pop out and flutter uselessly toward the ground until they faded away.
“You still have your other hand,” Mazz interjected, shrugging. “Besides, I thought you didn’t want to be an assassin forever. Your contract has, for all intents and purposes, been destroyed. You can do whatever you want now.”
Bellamy had spent the last week so distracted. She hadn’t even considered that. Everything they’d ever talked about doing flashed before her eyes. They could go to so many places now. They’d be free, whatever they wanted to do…
Fuck. They didn’t have any money.
Vesper caught Bellamy’s eye and gave her a smile that she couldn’t help mirroring. They’d figure it out, together. Bellamy had the offer to go work for her dad after all. Thatwas better than nothing. She’d go talk to Ro after Ves got out of the hospital. That would pay well, and they’d be together.
And she still had to pay back her gambling debt too. That was a whole other issue. That wasn’t something she needed to think about now though. Now, she could just bask in the relief of their freedom.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
Vesper
Bellamy stormed into their apartment, and Vesper looked warily up at her. It had been a week since she’d gotten out of the hospital, a few days since Bel had gone to work with her brother, and exactly one hour since Vesper went to see Mazz to ask if she could work with her to dismantle the Embunuh Organization.
So, Vesper had a pretty good idea why Bel was spitting venom. Not like they hadn’t spent the last week arguing off and on anyway. It was taking longer than Vesper preferred to get back to how they had been before everything happened. Then again, they might never get that back. There had been so much destroyed trust over the years.
“If you’re just gonna go right back to the whores then I might as well go kiss Cleric’s ass to get back at a table!” Bellamy yelled, slamming the door shut behind her.
“Come on, Bel. It’s just a job,” she pleaded, setting her book on the shelf behind her and pushing up to a sitting position. Her body still ached, and her magic was sporadic at best. Turns out dying is hard to recover from.
“With fucking Mazz!”
Vesper rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. She shouldn’t letBellamy bait her into a fight, but she’d been feeling antsy today, hence going down for a job. Still, this was a bad idea. “It’ll let us travel more,” she tried, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
Bellamy stomped over until she was standing over Vesper, glaring down at her. “You just want to keep them close,” she growled, crossing her arms over her chest.
Vesper lunged upward making Bellamy take a step back as she crowded her space. “You know what, Bel. If you’re so fucking bothered by that, why don’t you go fuck them and get over it,” she hissed, pushing past to grab a water from her kitchen.
She was so fucking sick of the same shit over and over. It wasn’t like either of them could change the past. Maybe it would get Bel off her ass about it if she felt like she could get back at her. As if the years of gambling and fucking them over weren’t already recompense for that.
“You know what,” Bellamy sniffed, following Vesper. “Maybe I will.”
Vesper rolled her eyes. “Good. Enjoy. Maybe I’ll come watch.”
“You wouldn’t.”
