He turned back to the crowd.
Voices roared around me, too many to pick out a single one.
Brit and Everly stepped to my side.
“Well, that was something,” Everly said.
I stood, still blinking at the arguing dark sea around me. “I thought that was the safest question I could ask.”
“I don’t think it mattered what you asked. They would have twisted it.” Everly’s gaze drifted toward the box her family sat in.
I slipped my arm around my friend. “Let’s get out of here. You’re staying with me, right?”
Everly grinned.
A smidge of disappointment wrinkled my nose. Ezra and I were definitely not doing anything tonight. But that was fine. I had one more trial, and then I would be back at the castle where I wanted to be… I hoped.
I left The Pit with the McDonald venom still echoing. The world hadn’t ended. No thunder. No collapse. Just cold air biting at my skin, like a warning.
Teivel hadn’t struck. Not yet. But he would, and I wasn’t nearly as ready as I wanted to believe.
The McDonalds thought they could twist my words into chains. Decide where I belonged.
They were wrong.
But the truth no longer felt like a shield. It felt like something fragile I had to protect.
Chapter 33
Ezra
Ilayonmyback with Brit, Quinn, and Everly’s giggles coming from the tent next to me. Although it was Joe and Brit’s tent I lay in, a solid glare had been enough to get my big enforcer to make other arrangements for the evening. Hopefully, he’d be gassing Silas out of his tent. I wasn’t much for petty revenge, but this time, I’d take it.
Although I wished I had Quinn in my arms, her joy was enough.
‘How’s Quinn?’my lover pressed for the tenth time.
‘Happy,’I responded immediately.
‘I meant with today’s test,’my lover amended.
‘Same adjective,’I responded. Maybe it wasn’t quite that simple, but I didn’t need to add to my lover’s fears.
‘Sometimes, I don’t know why I love you.’
I smirked.‘But you do love me.’
My heart pounded faster. Quinn loved me. She would come back to my home. It was that simple. Well, maybe not that simple. The McDonalds were idiots, but today’s circus had reached a new low. It proved nothing. Worse, they hadn’t capitalized on the moment.
I didn’t understand what was going on here, and I hated it.
Instead of dwelling on what I couldn’t control, I listened to the trio discuss what the Westwaters might have planned. They knew little. The cage was back in place around the ring. Brit and Ravana were convinced it was some sort of combat.
The chatter shifted. Rumors about Quinn’s Majekah fixing fertility were spreading fast, even through Everly’s family, giving her the perfect excuse to stay close.
“I mean, I should help, right?” Quinn asked. “Maybe I should just touch everyone who asks.”
“That will work at first,” Everly responded. “But what happens when two women come up to you at the same time, or three, or ten? You can only use your Majekah on one thing at a time, right?”
