Page 113 of Gemini Wicked

“Bloody hell, Zeph, are you daft?” I burst. “She doesn’t trust you. None of us trust you! And for damn good reason—”

“No, wait,” Neo says quietly. “Please let him finish, okay, Ronin?”

It’s so rare for our Red to interrupt anyone that I slam on the verbal brakes and we all stare. Our bookworm gives me a look of total understanding through those big green eyes of his, then hops down from the gunwale and reaches for Zara’s hand.

She’s crackling with static, but she dials down the voltage and lets Neo take her hand.

Zeph, who’s no fool, gives him a careful nod. “I sense that you grasp the essence of the matter. Will you not speak for me, friend?”

“Babe, you need allies,” Neo tells our girl gently, but he’s talking to me too. “You need a crown. You basically need as much power right now as you can grab. Plus you’re already conflicted about leaving Ash to fend for himself back in Avalon. Even though you don’t wanna admit it. So I think you should listen to Zephyr.”

Vasili, finally dressed but still barefoot, zips his fly ferociously and glares at poor Red like a basilisk. “No one asked you to weigh in here, Mercury. If you want to help Zara find allies, I suggest you start by recruiting your senatorial father to the Gemini cause.”

I expect Neo to feel hurt at getting verbally kicked in the nuts like that. But he gives V the sweetest look. “Dad’s on his way back to the Senate, where he can help Zara the most. We talked on the landline this morning. But that won’t be enough and we all know it.”

To my alarm, Lucius gives a slow nod like he’s actually buying this load of codswallop.

Meanwhile, Zeph’s gotten with touching distance of Zara, but he knows better than to touch her while she’s all pissed and bristly with her hair floating around her shoulders and the electric charge of lightning crackling in the air.

She tilts her chin to lock onto his stare with her own look of challenge. Which is how I realize he’s actually a hair shorter than her.

He’s not physically a big guy, but you tend to forget that because the whole Dark Fae King vibe he projects is so intense.

“What Neo Theodophilus Mercury says is the truth.” Zephyr speaks so softly I can barely hear over the slap of the sea on the rocks, so I sidle closer for a listen. “I shall give you a crown no mortal witch or warlock can steal. I shall give you power the like of which these mortals can scarcely dream.”

Zara nibbles her lush lower lip in a way that makes me want to bite it for her. But the look she gives him through her big Betty Boop eyes is brimming with a blend of challenge and vulnerability that makes my chest ache.

“What about your heart, Your Radiance?” she breathes. “Aren’t you gonna tell me you’ll give me that?”

“That you have already.” His silvery whisper turns husky. “Do you not know?”

Her thick lashes flutter and her voice gets tight. “Yeah, I thought I did. But ten weeks is a long time to ghost a girl, you feel me?”

A furrow digs between Zeph’s green brows.

“I have explained my absence. Although it grieved me to be so long apart from you.” His hand twitches like he’s aching to touch her.

But Red gives a little head shake that tells Zeph to wait.

Very clearly, our bookworm’s on his side.

Wisely Zephyr hesitates, then clasps his hands behind his back instead. “Also, there is Ash. If you will not aid him for his own sake, my bride, aid him to add a Seelie Prince to your list of allies.”

Instant annoyance flashes in Zara’s turquoise stare.

“Look, I don’t need a political reason to help Ash, okay? I’m gonna do that anyway.” She taps her toes on the rock and frowns. “If I’m sidelined here anyway, maybe now’s that time. Just a quick in and out. Go to the Ball, get my crown, make sure Ash is okay, and get out. Just in time to nab the Horn of Ceres and put Cleo back in her place.”

“Dear fuck.” Vasili’s hunkered down to lace his combat boots. Now he looks up in patent disbelief. “Am I hallucinating in this tiresome heat, or are you actually considering this Unseelie moron’s absurd proposition?”

“Right, it’s not like popping down to the pub for a pint, is it?” I agree with mounting heat. “We’d be starting after the Horn at least a day late, and it could be a lot longer. Just look what happened the last time you followed this prick to fairyland.”

Zephyr shoots me a blazing look that nearly sets me on fire and pulls in a harsh breath. My own breath roughens and a rush of adrenaline lights me up like a Beltane fire.

Yeah, mate, bring it on. Every cell in my body rises to meet his silent challenge.

But Zara raises a cautionary finger to silence the lot of us before all hell breaks loose.

“Like I said before,” she says firmly, “I’m not going anywhere unless we all agree. We’d only stay for the Ball. And this time, you’d all have to come with—including you, Lucius. I know you’re supposed to be proctoring finals, but—”

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