Page 92 of Dating the Dealing Demon

Ugh, and we’re back to my problems. “ATheo douses me with healing potions and mating magickind of burn. Although he threatened to take me to the orc in the infirmary this last time.”

“That sounds bad,” Meg says. “You shouldn’t be going to this fight if you can’t use your magic. That’s part of why Leander doesn’t want me going above ground to join the battle there. Our magic is stronger in the labyrinth.”

Oh no, I can’t be the only magical reject around here. “Didn’t any of you have side effects from mating magic?” I stare at my bestie, daring her to say she found a way to manage her newly discovered powers with her planners.

Ava shakes her head. “Mine was bound magic. Once we unlocked it, sure I’ve had some learning curves—a couple of sea storms, one small cyclone, and a whirlpool that took out a shipwreck on the ocean floor. But the mating magic actually helps control the other if I concentrate on my connection to Seb and not thesea witchpart of it.”

Not helpful. “You were born magical. Meg? Any weirdness?”

The redhead shrugs, and her sweater dips over her shoulder to reveal more pink paint in what looks to be a brush stroke—or a tail stroke. What did our inter-realm conference interrupt between Meg and her minotaur? “The freaky sex magic does its thing, and I don’t get it in its way. It’s like when art inspiration hits and you need to make a new character for a game. I think of Leander, plop Oggie in my lap for a demon kitty cuddle, and create.”

Yeah, none of that connects except the sex magic part. “Rosemarie?” I plead with my gaze.Please don’t let me be the only one.

“No issues we’ve noticed so far,” Rosemarie admits as though she’s apologizing for being perfect. “The magic comes through the Bridge and the runes my guys painted on me. I just let it flow through me the same as I trust intuition with tarot readings. Perhaps some part of you fights the magic. If so, then maybe you need to embrace it.”

“Or that could leave you crispy fried,” Meg says. “Since it’s demon magic shoved in you and unlocked by some super old contract and you’re not a demon.”

Ava shakes her head, her ponytail bouncing. “Don’t go to the haunted house. Let Theo handle this.”

“Like y’all let your men handle your fights?” I let the question drip with sarcasm because I know full well none of them did. Hell, their mates would’ve lost their realms or at least their castles if it hadn’t been for my friends. “None of your guys had to kill their sister. I’m too worried about Theo to send him off to do this alone.”

“Can’t anyone else do it for him?” Rosemarie asks. “Someone less…family?”

“No.” I wish I had a less awful truth to share. “It has to be him after that dumbbring me the traitor’s head to win thethroneedict his father handed down. Theo needs to take the crown. No one else will do as good of a job keeping the hell dimensions in line as he can.”

“Then I guess you have a couple of weeks to figure out how to control your magic,” Ava says. “If his sister’s coming for the human realm’s full moon.”

“I need to mark it on a calendar since I can’t even see the moon from Shadowvale unless I ask the castle,” I say. As if performing on demand, the castle unwinds a fancy scroll and marks the date for me.

“At least it’s not the Valley of the Gods where they always have a full moon,” Meg adds. “We don’t have a moon in the labyrinth.”

“We have a spare in our realm,” Rosemarie says. “Wanna borrow it?”

I giggle despite the seriousness of the conversation because who would’ve ever believed my friends and I would be the warriors saving the world one realm at a time? “Two weeks. I can straighten my magic out before then. No problem.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Theo

Family poker night isn’t the same with only three of us around the table. For starters, Nic, Mother, and I aren’t playing poker because my baby sister insisted we wait until Val is here once she discovered my mate has never played.

We shouldn’t have allowed Nic to pick the game. Here’s hoping the giant handful of cards she’s holding will remind her of her bad choice next time.

If we all make it past the battle with Gilly to have a next time.

Thinking of my other sister makes me even grumpier than my already foul mood.

“Your mate will kill herself if she keeps using her magic,” Mother says. “If she invokes it again, you might not be able to heal her.”

I study the cards in my hand, swapping them to find matches easily without giving away what I hold. “Val swore she won’t use magic until we figure out how to protect her from its adverse effects.”

“There isnoway to manage it.” Mother fans a full set of Queens face-up on the table in front of her. “That’s precisely why I hid it in a human.” She glances to her left. “Your turn, Nic.”

My sister toys with her cards. “Theo, you have any Fours?”

“No.” I heap sarcasm onto my words to remind hershepicked this dreadful game. “Go Cthulhu.”

She reaches to the top card in the draw pile. Tentacles wrap around her wrist, snagging her in their hold and delivering whatever psychic nastiness the Cthulhu has in store for her. Her eyes flash violet before settling into their normal scarlet.

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