And maybe I was the only one who noticed, butnoneof them took it badly when they were told that. They didn’t make some testosterone-riddled scene that even though they couldn’t do shit magically, just their presence would be enough to keep bad people in line. They just looked worried for them, sat back down, and told them to be safe.
Lola and her people were on one side of us and Ivar and his team were on the other. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but, apparently, Lucian could. Some guy, who Ivar could have honestly broken in half, went storming over like he was going to get his justice.
Lucian jumped between them with red eyes and bared fangs. He hated all the connotations that came with being Vlad the Impaler’s reincarnation, but he was willing to use it to stop violence.
“I’m the only one here who is willing to admit I’m awake. I’m the original vampire and I haveallmy magic except the one I don’t really want to learn. You’re going to sit down and let us bring this back to the reincarnations that know what they are doing or I’m going to make you.”
Liam strolled up and joined him.
“Headmaster Mykene took my blade, but I can make a shiv out of a condom and dried thyme. I can also ask those bears that are waiting in the trees over there to eat you. If I’m feeling plucky, I can just wait until we get back and murder you in your sleep. I’m not awake but I was raised by the Irish mafia, so I suggest you get your knickers untwisted and sit your arse down.”
“Do you know who my father is?” the man snarled.
“Don’t care. Mine’s the fucking Godfather.”
“Mine’s the king,” Lucian smirked.
Shit. That was hot and it should have been a really big red flag. Liam and Lucian joined us, and it was Lucian who held his fist out this time.
“Okay, we bonded.”
Liam bumped it.
“I knew you loved me.”
“Drain hair is still more appealing. Shut up. I’ve been listening. I can hear everyone, I just have to focus it. Ivar and Alexios are talking about finding proof they didn’t do this, and Ivar is translating for Ari, who also wants to prove their innocence. I don’t know who else has hearing like mine except for vampires, but they aren’t saying all that to discredit Lola because ifyoucan’t hear what they are saying, then none of those people near her can because they are further away.”
That made sense. And they weren’t even pressing the issue that whoever was awake could have messed with her head. Probably because it would have made them look guilty because that was extremely convenient.
“What’s Lola talking about?” I asked.
“She’s recounted what she went through and the crazed look in their eyes when they were hurting her. Hey, we’ve been thinking Lola’s mind was the one that was messed with, but how do we knowtheirswasn’t? They said Thor was a protector, but got swept up in battle lust with his enemies.
“What if they were all made to think she was a threat and then forget they hurt her after? They would all be right. Lola experienced them beating her and they want to prove they didn’t because they had their minds raped and don’t remember.”
I felt like thebiggestasshole. I hadn’t even entertained that notion before I immediately went to Lola being the big bad. I didn’t want to be the person who looked for every excuse not to believe a woman who’d been hurt and I’d totally done that. What did that say about me that my mind didn’t even go there? Someone could have tricked them into hurting her just as easily as they could making her think it was someone else.
Still, if Lola wasn’t the one messed with, then why did she lie about how she ended up on their team? These guys were completely comfortable hoofing it outside.
Why would they have begged her to be on their team when they seemed like outdoorsy guys who could handle the tent and rations just fine?
This was all so fucked up and chaotic. And we had aknownchaos god sitting over there comforting Lola. Set was the god of many things, but he was a bit of a trickster and chaos was one of his powers. He was also a war god. Set was the instigator of confusion and that was what we had right now.
As far as I knew, Set didn’t have mind control, but did anyone actually know the full extent of the old gods? We’d been operating under the assumption that whoever was awake was working with a friend. Mazen and Radames were both Egyptian, but I doubted they knew each other before anymore than they knew me.
Mazen said he grew up in the slums and Radames went to private school. Based on their accents, they lived in completely different areas of Egypt. Coptics were the minority in Egypt and usually stuck together. If Mazen was working with anyone, I didn’t think it was Radames.
“This is chaos,” I said.
“It’s not even thefunkind of chaos where you find out some rich bloke is a terrible person, so you fill their pool with millions of oil beads and then record the fallout when they go for a swim,” Liam said.
“Um, okay? Set was a god of chaos and war. We’ve got chaos and everyone wants to fight.”
“Yeah, but Mazen wants to fight most of all,” Sage said. “It’s hard to read people when they are close to Lola, but when he steps away, I can sense it. The only fight he would win is if he gets Alexios alone. Ari and Ivar are never apart and if he goes after them together, he’s going to trigger Ivar’s battle lust and probably end up dead.”
“He’s a war god, so he’d plan it better than that,” I argued.
“He’s a war god with no training. Right now, he’s a hothead who thinks a very tiny girl got the shit beaten out of her by three massive men. I don’t know what to tell you. When he steps away from Lola, I can practically see how the fight goes down. He’s legitimately pissed enough about this to fly off the handle and possibly die over it.”
