“We let a bunch of bad guys escape and nearly got some people killed on our last assignment.” Scotty let out a huff of air and flopped back in the chair. “Kynan is so pissed he’s making us train with Dad for two weeks.”
“Ouch.” Aleka winced. “Youreallyscrewed up. That sucks.”
One could say that too.
“We just spent all day in the arena. My hip is burning from a Memitim fireball, my leg hurts from being hamstrung, and I can barely move my arms. I don’t want to do this for two weeks, and it’ll only stop if we can all put this behind us.”
“How are you going to do that?”
The hell if I know.
“That’s why I’m here. I need some ideas. I mean, this is why we made that pact in the beginning. To prevent exactly this.” Scotty shook her head, unable to comprehend the mess they were in. She and the guys had been a solid trio, a well-oiled unit, for as long as she could remember, rarely going more than a few hours without touching base with each other. Which made what she was about to say almost inconceivable. “Maybe we need some time apart. I don’t want to break up the team, but right now, we can’t work together.”
Aleka picked up the cup, but instead of drinking, she gazed thoughtfully into her flower broth. “Oh, I know!” she chirped. “Maybe you should sleep with Mace and make it even.”
Scotty rolled her eyes. “Very funny.”
“Sorry,” Aleka said, still looking a little amused. “I’ve never been in this kind of situation, so I’m not sure what advice I can give you.”
“Yeah, well, sleeping with one of them is what caused this. I don’t think doing it again would help.”
Aleka thought on that for a minute, finger on her chin the way she’d always done when she worked on puzzles. Word puzzles, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles…Aleka loved them, and she always did the finger thing.
“You know,” Aleka said slowly, “I was kidding about sleeping with Mace, but honestly, what could it hurt?”
Scotty gaped at her utterly dense sister. “What could it hurt?Are you serious? That could destroy our friendship.”
“It’s already in jeopardy, Scotty. Do you honestly think Mace will get over it? I don’t know him that well, and even I can tell you he won’t let this go.”
Aleka was probably right, but there was more to consider.
“And what do you think that would do to Blade?”
“Well, let’s look at this from his perspective.” Aleka set down her cup. This time, theclinkwas louder. “Do you think Blade wants you? Romantically?”
“Ah…” Scotty really hadn’t thought about that. Seemed unlikely, given their oath—their broken oath. “I don’t think so.” Which, she had to admit, kind of hurt, even if it was for the best.
“Then he shouldn’t be jealous if you sleep with Mace once.”
“I guess…”
“Look,” Aleka said, “Blade hasn’t been his normal self, either, right? He probably feels guilty about what happened.Youprobably feel guilty. If you sleep with Mace, no one has any reason to feel guilty or left out. Everything will be equal and fair.”
Okay, maybe her sister had a point. Actually, the more Scotty thought about it, the more sense it made. She, Mace, and Blade had always shared everything. There were no secrets between them. They’d all been equal in every way.
Until now. Maybe the way back to the status quo really was to sleep with Mace.
What’s the worst that could happen? Their friendship could be put in jeopardy? It already was.
The best that could happen, though, was that things would go back to the way they needed to be.
She could practically hear her father demanding she calculate the odds of success, as one did before any conflict.
Okay, she was game. She pooled all her knowledge, all her data, everything she knew about Mace and Blade…and she got her answer.
The odds, she figured, were fifty-fifty. It would be a coin toss.
And for some reason, she never won those.
