I yawned sleepily.
“It wasn’t my plan to show her immediately,” Malum said to John. “I went to Sadie for advice, and she said to surprise Arabella with our project as soon as I could. She said she’d like it!”
I pursed my lips.
Moisture built behind my eyes as my throat closed, and I asked hoarsely, “Sadie really wanted to do that for me?”
“Are you serious right now?” Scorpius asked.
Malum made a choking noise. “Why is it sweet when she does it but traumatizing when we do it?”
I wiped a tear out of my eye. “Because you’re men, and you’d just showed me your house for the first time. Do you know how creepy that is for a woman?”
“No one’s paying attention,” John complained. “I can’t do this. Luka, you’re going to have to go on without me.” He went to sit back down, but Luka grabbed his arm and stopped him.
John grumbled but kept standing.
“Good work. I love your performance,” I said, sleepiness was making me more sarcastic than usual.
John glared. “That is just hurtful.”
Luka punched him in the shoulder and ordered, “Take off your shirt.”
Scorpius made a harsh noise, and I nodded in agreement. “Now, that is what I’m talking about. That’s a good present.”
Both twins pulled their shirts off.
I sat up straight and mentally prepared myself for a lap dance. I just needed to find some coins to throw at them and I’d be ready.
They turned around.
The pipe fell from my lips.
That did not go in the direction I thought it would.
If I were a fainter, I would have passed out cold on the floor. Unfortunately, I stayed fully conscious.
I couldn’t breathe.
Ice spread across my fingers and up my forearm.
“WHORE” was carved into their skin, exactly the same letters and font on my back.
I felt queasy.
Snow drifted around the room faster.
"This isn’t funny,” I whispered, squeezed my eyes shut, and prayed to the sun god that I was hallucinating.
“Put your shirts back on right now,” Malum barked. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you just explain to her what you did?”
The men argued.
It snowed harder.
I lay down on my back as I hyperventilated.
It was all too much.
“The knife that was used on your back was a blood enchantment,” John said quickly as he knelt above me and cradled my face. “You can only reverse blood with blood—it’s a tenet of the natural world. Enchantment removal is an ancient practice still used in the Olympus realm. You won’t feel pain anymore—I took the cursed enchantment from you.”
I opened my eyes.
Holy sun god.
When I kissed Malum earlier, I hadn’t felt any pain.
“But will you feel it instead?” My stomach knotted with fear.
“No.” John flashed his dimples. “It hurt like a bitch for days after getting it, but then it healed. My blood neutralized yours.” He smiled like everything was fine in the world.
My head spun.
He fluttered his fingers. “Surprise.” Dimples flashed.
I turned my head to where Luka hovered behind him. “But then why is your back also—” I breathed quickly as I tried not to think about how they’d mutilated themselves.
Luka’s expression was hard as he said, “Our aunt discovered that there was a second enchantment in the blade.”
“What?” I asked numbly.
“The enchantment restricted your ability to fly.” He shook his head and frowned. “Your mother was a heinous bitch. We didn’t want to tell you until our wounds had healed because we wanted to make sure the process worked.”
I asked cautiously, “Did it work?”
Luka nodded and said gravely, “It did”—everything tunneled out, and his lips moved in slow motion—“you should be able to fly now.”
This time…
I passed out.
Chapter 63
Corvus Malum
HOARDING
Pulchritudinous （noun）： physically beautiful.
I carried my sleeping Revered against my chest. Her curls were disheveled, pink lips pursed, and brow furrowed like she was thinking hard.
We shouldn’t have brought her to the woods so soon after the war.
We should have given her more time to recover.
It had been stupid, but we’d been eager to show off. Even Sadie had thought it was a good idea. We’d been stupid.
Arabella was powerful, but not innately vicious.
I stroked my thumb gently over the purple bruises smudged beneath her eyes. She said she would have hunted the fae down herself, but I’d come to know her over the last few months.