“And how do you know?”
“Because when I went to fuck him, he got all bloody intense.”
Intense? Intense was going to be Lenna’s punch in Arabella’s disgustingly perfect face.
Despite the storm building up inside her, under a controlled surface that could break any second, Lenna’s voice was a sea of calm and composure. “You went to…fuck him?”
Arabella hummed distractedly, pushing a wavy, blond strand behind her ear. “I know lately he was all over you, but he and I had a good time together decades ago, even if he was hypocritical and said he didn’t.”
“Do you think Jake is someonehypocritical, Arabella?” Lenna asked her.
“He might not benow. But believe me, once upon a time, he was a different man.” Arabella sighed, scratching the side of her hand. “Anyway. He said his heart had been stolen by a goddess, but what he still had control over—his body—would only ever be touched by whom he'll never deserve again.” She shook her head as she pursed her lips. “May the Fifth control the intensity of that man.”
“May the Fifth show you the way out of this House very fucking soon, Arabella.” Lenna was not smiling anymore. She turned around and pointed directly at the massive metal spears leading outside, only to see angry golden sparks jumping around her own hands. “It’s that way.”
Arabella’s green eyes stared at the golden sparks around Lenna’s fingers for a long time, and then she looked directly into Lenna’s eyes.
“Control that magic before it controls you,” Arabella said, and without looking back again, the sound of her heels vanished as she walked away.
To the East Cardinal’s credit, the East House was the building-personification of the Harming power. No wonder the goddess had countless scars on her face, and no wonder the Cardinal had thought Jake, impassable against pain of any manner or form, would be the most appropriate Ruler of this House.
During the five minutes of walking around the House trying to find said Ruler, Lenna had observed different people passing by, and noticed three common patterns. No one established eye contact or made any type of reaction acknowledging another being a few feet away. Everyone walked way too fast. Every person seemed in a constant-shitting-themselves state.
By the time she reached a double metal door with spikes that smelled strongly of Jake, Lenna had had enough of the House and fully understood, excused, and respected why every person living here must have centuries’ worth of trauma.
She didn’t bother knocking on the door; she just pushed it open with her palm, flinching as the spikes opened different wounds on her skin. She halted mid-step, her blood frozen when she saw the space in front of her.
The circular room was illuminated by wide, perpendicular lines of fire magically ingrained on the wall. It appeared as if the entire room was on fire, the flames illuminating the space in the middle with oranges, yellows, and reds Lenna knew all too well.
The last time she had been surrounded by fire, she had burned. The last time she had burned, this crackling sound had been the last she heard. The last time, it had been the man in the center of this room who had saved her. It had also been him whose skin had scarred and who had refused for Lenna to heal him, so the scars would forever remind him never to take forgranted how lucky he was to be with her.I’m fire-cursed, she had said.You’re my fire-blessed, he had replied.
This is another man, she reminded herself. The man sitting on the metallic table in the center of the room had his arms crossed, his silver eyes narrowed, an eyebrow lifted, and very little patience.
“You’re a disgusting mess, Brachyan. What have you done?” he asked.
“Spears and swords randomly falling from the ceiling, arrows appearing out of nowhere and shooting from wall to wall, smooth floor transforming into a pool of shards of glass…” She crossed her arms, immediately regretting it as her open wounds flared with pain at the movement. “What haveIdone? Or what has your aggressiveHousedone?”
“Guests aren’t meant to give me work.”
Lenna resisted her jaw dropping and instead, bowed with a flourish. “Oh Ruler Gracious, my most sincere apologies for the misunderstanding. Worry not, your Very Busy Ruling Ass will not have to do any work.”
Jake took his sweet time staring from her toes to her hair, as if no further explanation was needed. “But I will. You walking around bleeding in so many places and with all your little clothes ripped open is going to make people talk.”
“I can sort myself out,” she snapped. When she looked at herself, she realized what a mess of textile, skin, and blood she was.
“You can’t. Not the Healing part, unless you Harm someone at the same time. Otherwise, you will end up fainting or dizzy—”
“And give you even more work.”
He nodded. “Exactly. This House has ancient furniture and relics. Guests are meant to look at the decorations, nottouchthe decorations.”
“Even if the decoration attacks me and is spiky as fuck?”
“Especiallyif the decoration attacks you and is spiky as fuck.”
Lenna let an exhale through her nose, looking at the fire-wall. “An ancient House full of hostility for a hostile, ancient Ruler.”
Still at the table, Jake made a circle with the open palm of his hand, and navy sparks floated to every open wound of Lenna, merging separate edges of skin together, drying blood up, fixing her broken body.
