I resisted rolling my eyes at this fated mate bullshit. Kallie needed to tone it down and stop being a bitch.
“I wanted to tell you, but how could I have the words?” Marcus asked. “My brotherdied, Kallie. I didn’t know if you’d understand how that felt.”
“I know perfectly well how devastating it would be to lose your twin,” Kallie said. “I wish you would’ve trusted me, Marcus.”
He stared at her. “My choice to tell you things is exactly that.My choice, Kallie. I’m not obligated to do anything. The rules that apply to your culture don’t apply to witches. You’ve always had my trust, even when I didn’t want friends. But sometimes, I need your support more than I need your judgment on how little you think I care about you.”
Kallie’s expression softened. “Of course. I’m sorry, Marcus.”
There was an awkward pause, one I didn’t want to get any worse with how strained things were between them, so I asked, “Does that mean Dean would’ve been a demigod, too?”
“Well, identical twins in the Miriamic Coven are rumored to share a soul, so I think so. But I also believe Dean maintained some of his demigod powers even though his soul transformed into this new body,” Marcus stated. “Rishi was able to fuse himself with my magic down in the Infernal Underground and use spells of his own.”
Oberi crawled over to where Rishi lay and began licking his ears. Rishi’s eyes scrunched up as his chubby face was squashed by Oberi’s tongue.
“I knew there was something off about that cat,” Kallie commented. “He’s just as weird as Marcus.”
“I’m not weird, I’m eccentric,” Marcus objected. “Don’t act like you don’t think it’s hot.”
Kallie let out a— too loud— laugh. “You, hot? Those are two words that shouldn’t go together in the same sentence.”
“Aw, your flirty banter is so cute,” I said.
“Huh?” Marcus gaped. “What do you mean?”
“Look, if you guys want to kiss or something, we’re not going to care, so you might as well do it,” Charlie teased.
Kallie wrinkled her nose, and Marcus blushed a deep red. “Huh? Why would we k— kiss?” Marcus stammered.
“You two like each other. It’s time to get it over with,” I insisted.
“Ugh. I’m not going to kissMarcus,” Kallie grumbled.
“Yeah, guys, quit being weird,” Marcus said. “I mean, we only did itone time, and that barely counts with the situation that we were in.”
“Oh, yeah.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “That was after you gave Kallie CPR when you pulled her out of the siren lake when you two tried to break out during our first semester, right?”
“What?” Marcus blinked. “That wasn’t how it went.”
“Marcus, shut up,” Kallie growled.
“Uh,no. It was the other way around.YougavemeCPR, after you pulledmeout of the lake after I threw myself in to save you from the sirens, thenyoustarted kissingme,” Marcus accused. “That’s why you owe me a fae life debt. Because I made myself bleed to distract the sirens and stop them from eating you. And pulling me from the lake when I was going to drown doesn’t count, because you put me in danger in the first place.”
I found it funny Kallie would lie about that. She liked Marcus more than she would admit to anyone. Kallie mumbled something indiscreet, and Marcus opened his mouth again to argue about it, but they were cut short when my parents and Alana walked into the room.
They were followed by Maverick. His eyes got wide as he surveyed me on the bed, looking me up and down. He was utterly quiet, remaining glued to my dad’s side at the head of the room. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back the way he came.
“Hey, Mav. I’m so happy to see you,” I rasped.
He didn’t say anything back. Mama gave Daddy a worried look.
“Go say hello to your sister,” Mama said, and she gently gave Maverick a push, but he refused to take a step forward.
“I… I don’t want to,” Maverick said, and he stared at the floor.
I felt like I was falling inward as he stood at a distance. He was clearly so uncomfortable.
Charlie stood from his chair and stuck a hand out. “You’re Maverick, right?”
