Page 82 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

“Come on. We need to find the others.”

“Why?” Hawk asked. “Worried you might have second thoughts?”

I paused with my hand on the handle and looked back at him over my shoulder. “No, just worried that I might bend over and tell you to rail my ass.”

I walked out to the sound of what I guessed was a string of Romanian curse words, laughter on my lips and a skip in my step.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Raevyn

Ares continued to watch me, but I don’t think it was lustful. It was more like there was something telling me that he knew something that I didn’t. I wanted to ask, but that would mean going over there and well… the guy was scary as fuck. All muscles and death glares.

His ridiculously bright green eyes held mine with serious intent. I just couldn’t decipher his meaning. Urgh. I was going to have to go over there and ask the guy. Maybe that was what he wanted all along.

The others were captivated by the brutality that was going on in the arena below. Ares had brought us to his suite which had a bird’s eye view to the ring below. Apparently, the fight tonight was between a daimon who’d stolen the souls of homeless women and a Vampire who’d killed his donor. I was fascinated for all of ten minutes when the fight started. I’d never seen a vampire up close, and I don’t know, I just expected something a little… more. I suppose I did have my own Moroi, and he was more of everything. If it weren’t for the Moroi the vampires wouldn’t exist. According to legend, the vampires emerged after the Moroi spilled blood onto a battlefield of dead mercenaries. The combination of their potent blood and the savageness of the mercenaries led to the first vampires rising from the dead. I didn’t know if any of that were true, but I’d always been fascinated by vampires. Something about the way they moved, the lives they led, I guess it was always down the way they’d been romanticised through culture, but hot damn, they had always set something alight in my blood.

Apparently, the king of the vampires was down there somewhere. I hadn’t caught sight of him yet, but Nox said the guy was an arrogant asshat. Couldn’t say I expected anything else from a king. I mean, Hades was a king, and he was a dick. But maybe all kings weren’t the same and I was being unfair tarring them all with the same brush.

“Ambrosia?”

I flinched as Ares came to stand next to me. For someone so large I thought he’d make more noise.

“Thank you,” I said taking the glass from him. I took a sip and let the warm taste fizzle along my tongue. A pleasant little hum left my lips as I swallowed, and something sparked in Ares’ green eyes.

“Please, join me.” He pointed to the sofa tucked into the shadows and the room and walked away without even waiting for my answer.

I looked at the guys and saw that they were still fascinated by the fight happening in the arena. Korbin cocked his head a little and I knew, by that one tiny movement, that he was keeping an eye on me.

I felt safe here, even though Ares was an unknown, I knew Korbin, Rook, and Nox would protect me. I wasn’t sure what had happened to Casimir and Hawk but I could hazard a guess. A smile crept up my face at the thought of them finally giving into all that tension. Sometimes it was so thick you could slice through it with a knife.

I tucked myself into the corner of the sofa next to Ares. He huffed a small laugh as if he found it amusing that I was trying to keep my distance.

“You know, it’s rare that I sit and converse with someone like this,” he said, his voice soft despite his large size.

“Oh?”

He hummed in response. “Yes. Usually, I’m either killing or fucking someone.”

I blanched at his curt words but collected myself quickly. “Well, you won’t be doing either of those things with me.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.” I fixed him with a stern look over the rim of my glass, hoping that I managed to look at least a little bit intimidating.

He laughed again but it was a lot warmer than the previous one. “I like you, little necromancer. You’ll definitely go far in this world. I understand you’re after a favour that Varujan is keen to call in.”

“Varujan?”

“Your Moroi. His name is Varujan Cel Tradat but I always called him Hawk for short.”

Huh. Wasn’t expecting that. I just thought the guy’s name was Hawk. Yes, it was unusual, but so was Raevyn. I wondered just how intimate Hawk and Ares had actually been.

“I can see the cogs turning in your mind, and you are free to ask any question, just don’t expect an honest answer.”

I scoffed. What a ridiculous thing to say. The more time I spent with actual Gods, the more I was starting to think they were all fucking pricks.

“Look, I just want to know if we can cash in the favour that you owe Hawk.”

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