“Exxxxxcellent,” Khol hisses softly as he winks at me. He heads back to the bedroom to get Fidget without expounding further.
“Anyone else concerned with his excitement over being left to his own devices?” Tiernan says, as he arches a brow.
“Uh, me,” I mutter. “But I don’t have the spoons to baby-sit anyone but myself on this trip. I’m supposed to be looking for feystag shit and working on my magic. If Khol wants to get into trouble, he’ll do it no matter what.”
The basilisk in question walks in with my bat perched on his hand. “He absolutely will and you should all remember my ears work just as well as yours.”
“Your attitude gave us cause for concern,” Dezi remarks mildly. His glass of dark red blood is striking as he sips from it, and when he catches me watching, his eyes flash red. “It was as if you hadideasand wished to execute your plan without interruption.”
“Perhaps I have nefarious plans, but they’d only be to ensure our girl is safe and happy.” He lets Fidget hop on the counter, then opens the fridge to get the special formula. “If I get to have fun while I do it… so be it.”
Tilting my head back, I look up at where the sky would be if we weren’t trapped in a testosterone-filled fuck wagon. If the goddesses can help me keep these a-holes in line without ruining the tour, I will owe thembig time. After a small internal plea, I look at the men who are going to be with me for the rest of our long lives seriously.
“I appreciate that you all want to protect me. Hell, I don’t even mind if you’re running around putting out fires before I have to fucking punch someone. But…” I lean forward on my elbows and arch a brow. “You realize I can take care of myself, right? I can walk and stab and punch and snark at people who need it, too. If you don’t let me put people in their places occasionally, they’ll mistake me for some wilting flower who needs dudes to protect her. That’s not me and it never will be.”
Khol checks on Fidget as he eats, then walks over to grab my hand and scrapes a fang over it. I shiver a little as he licks the blood drop off my fingertip. “Sassy, we are well aware of that. Trust me, watching you beat someone’s ass gets me hard as hell. But we also want you to feel safe enough to let us in, so… be patient with us, too.”
Son of a bitch. I’ll never keep up my badass exterior if these dickheads don’t stop saying that kind of shit.
Iknow a little something about living under a death threat. Since our mother died, Khal and I have been underour uncle’s thumb. We didn’t know our father; he died in some lab cockup before we were born. As I got older, I suspected it was a purposeful ‘accident,’ but I’ve never been able to prove it. Krystos is my mother’s step-brother, and he grabbed the reins of the family business so fast those who blinked missed it.
It’s easy to convince people that a heavily pregnant basilisk who just lost her mate isn’t fit to run a criminal empire.
Thus, I’ve always known Khal and I are in danger if we don’t appear to be laboring for my uncle’s organization like loyal servants. Twins means there’s an ‘heir’ and a ‘spare,’ so he could conceivably kill one of us to prove a point without being mutinied. But he’s eying us every second of every day, waiting for the moment he can take us out before people question why we’re adults and haven’t been handed the keys to the kingdom yet.
Fiadh may not haveknownshe and Fluffy were in danger consciously, but I think her magic knew they needed to keep a low profile. I think it protected her as much as that amulet hid her sister’s true nature. Their parents had secrets, and they were determined to ensure if something happened to them, the girls were taken care of. Now that the truth is out, it’s much harder to keepthat secret under wraps.
I’ve been studying her tattoos as we play in the bedroom for signs; I think that’s where it’s hidden.
Sassy will be pissed for a bit when I finally admit my suspicions, but I don’t want to worry her more than she is already. She thinks her magic simply took time to emerge; that’s safe for the moment. Much like her sister’s amulet breaking during the Ascension to reveal a wolf, I believe the sigil used to hide her powers is slowly coming unbound. The Prince would know more about this, I’m sure, but he’s unable to keep his yap shut.
I’ve sketched all the marks from her skin—there are fucking plenty, which is hot as hell—and sent the drawings to the same contact who’s checking into the sigil she and Fluffy are hunting for. Something about my hunch feels right in my gut, and my gut instinct is almostneverwrong. Either her folks wiped her memory of having the mark put on, or had her compelled to put it on herself. I’m leaning toward memory bending because they clearly handled other memories that she should have as well. If they were on the run, she’s likely forgetting some places they lived between her birth and Briarvale.
There’s just no other explanation that makes sense.
“What’s on your mind, snakelet?” The vampire is staring at me, and I realize I might have drawn the wrong attention to myself.
“Nothing. Just thinking about the bedroom setup.” I mock a leer, hoping to lure him off-track.
He arches a brow and shakes his head. “I think not, my friend. That expression was one of deep contemplation. Don’t make me ask again; the movie she’s watching with the Prince and his guardian safely distracted the witchling. Tell me what is on your mind.”
Pressing my lips together, I look at him for a moment before answering. “I was theorizing. You can compel people, right? How different is your method than, say, magic users who can mind bend? Is it more permanent one way or the other?”
“An interesting query. No wonder you looked so thoughtful.” He sips the bloody drink Sassy mixed for him, tilting his head. “Why are you considering such a heavy topic now? Do you have a lead you aren’t sharing with the group, perhaps?”
I grunt, rolling my eyes to the ceiling. Of course, this asshole isn’t going to tell me without a reason. Vampires are so ridiculously secretive about their shit. They’re only rivaled by the Fae and I have to deal withbothof them.
“Fine. It occurred to me that if their parents lied about Fluffy’s heritage, they may have lied about other things. Our girl’s heritage, all their running from whomever, why her magic never worked… the whole tamale. And in my experience, something that long standing and comprehensive has to be a compulsion or a mind bender—which means one of her tats could be a sealing mark to help prevent the spell from weakening until the right moment.”
He taps his chin as considers my words. Dezi Ruby is deceptivelylaissez-faireabout many things, but I think that’s because he’s ancient. His reactions are measured not from being dispassionate; no, he’s playing the three-dimensional chessboard in his head. It’s similar to Revelin, though the Fae is much more externally emotive about it. When he finally nods, I let out a breath.
“I believe you could be on to something, snakelet. It would explain why the girls were so surprised by discovering their parents’ deception. Whatever the Morgensterns did must have dulled their perceptions and intuition—in fact, it may well have also repelled othermagic users to prevent their gambit from being revealed. A well crafted spell sealed by a high-level witch or mage with mind bending powers could have been actively pushing people away from the girls.”
Wincing at the thought, I shake my head. “That’s gonna hurt Fi. From what she and Fluffy have shared, they’ve been bullied and made outcasts their entire lives—including that big ceremony that should have been their acceptance into the magical community. It’s a big source of trauma for them.”
The vampire sighs, giving me a serious expression. “When you have children you care for—even acolytes, as vampires do—it is hard to protect them from the world. You do everything you can and perhaps, at times, you overreach. Fear of being hunted for their powers or lineage or both would be a great motivator to go over the line of sensibility.”
“Of course it is. I think Feray will understand that better than our girl, though.” I smirk a little, shrugging as I imagine her raging out over the decision that was taken from her. “Sassy is so much more fragile than she will ever admit because of all the rejection and malice. Knowing the two people she loved deceived and alienated her to protect her will feel like an enormous violation of trust. She’s gonna struggle, old man.”
