Page 132 of Living Legend

Reese grabbed her shoulder and shoved her farther away from him. “She saw when that shadow thing took hold of it and turned my arrow on me, so she wants to shield my weapon from others' magic. Yours too, actually. I told her that was totally fine.”

“She didn’t really give you a choice, Blondie. Actually, you just nodded and silently handed it to her because I’m pretty sure you were just staring at her tits,” Elise said, boredom lacing her words.

Reese rolled his shoulders, his hazel eyes glinting in the sun. “It's not my fault we have a connection. You wouldn’t understand.”

Elise muffled a laugh behind her hand. “Aconnection, right.” She let her tongue drag along her top teeth. “That would make sense if she was actually into men…" She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Or idiots."

Reese and I both stopped breathing for a minute and stared at her. She blinked at us, a smug expression on her face. “Oh god. You guys are ridiculous. You think that girl is straight?”

“Well…” I said while Reese answered, “yeah. Of course, she is.”

Elise claps her hands together once and brought her joined digits around to the back of her head. “If you never trust me about anything ever again, trust me when I tell you that your High Priestess prefers the company of pussy and not cock. Sorry.” She wasn’t sorry at all.

I looked over to my best friend, who seemed to be trying to come up with something to say back. “She could be bisexual.” He said this with so much conviction, I wanted to laugh.

Elise scrunched up her mouth, as if she was attempting to think. “I’m bisexual and I don’t get a ‘shared love of both sexes’ vibe from her. Don’t believe me? Shoot your shot and see what happens, Blondie. I would love a good laugh.”

“I will shoot my shot, you little shit,” Reese spat back, starting to make his way past me.

I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. I personally needed to speak to Natalia, so his love life would have to wait. He gave me a look and I shook my head. “Not right now, my friend. I need to talk to Natalia about something. Can you hold your flirting in?”

Reese grunted, but nodded, looking over at Elise and narrowing his hazel eyes at her. I expected to find her staring him down, but she was actually looking at me again. She had that expression on her face, one that made me feel like I was stark naked in front of her.

I raised an eyebrow at her expectedly and she mirrored my action. I didn’t have time for her silent riddles, so I patted Reese on the side of his head and started to make my way to one of the shops to ask where the apothecary was.

“So, nothing happened between you two?” Elise was standing behind me, tapping her foot against the dirt.

I slowly turned around and looked down at her. “No.”

“You sure?”

“What the fuck are you asking?”

She took a long sniff into the air. “Ah, the smell of false innocence.” She angled her head to the side, studying me. “You may have stumped your blonde fool back there, but some of us already know the truth.” Her gray eyes shined mischievously.

Oh fuck.

"Don't worry, she didn't tell me. I'm just not stupid." She leaned in towards my chest and sniffed again. A smile climbed up her cheeks. “Oh, Nicholas. You smell deliciouslysatisfied.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but my mouth was too dry. A small sound came out, but nothing resembling the words I was trying to say. She brought her shoulders to her ears and dropped them with a loud sigh. “Hopefully, your little detour to sexual bliss was worth it, because whatever Lilith has planned is happening. They struck in your realm; not just a demon here and there, but a swarm. Like I said, it's too quiet. Whoever is helping her is waiting.” She pushed her index finger into my chest. "You need to be ready to fight whoever that may be, even if it's your precious Jonah. I was there when you stood up to him, but something inside of you still thinks he's good. It's kind of disgusting, but I see it."

"Seems like you've given this a lot of thought," I answered.

She pointed towards a path laced with cypress trees, ignoring me. “Apothecary is that way. It’s a large building with a black roof and white steam coming out of the chimney.”

She lifted onto her toes and ran her hand through my hair, gripping my dark locks in her slim but strong fingers. She whispered in a low voice. “You have her scent all over you. It’s comical. Just make sure she's back in one piece.” She let go of my hair and whipped around, strutting back to where she left Reese.

"How caring of you," I said to her back, mirroring her earlier words. She didn't turn around, but I noticed her shoulders tense up a bit, the muscles in her back stiffening as she continued to walk.

I started walking in the direction she pointed me towards. As I walked, I discreetly lifted my shirt to my nose and inhaled.

Fuck. I did smell like her.

The enticing smell of food started to dissipate and was soon replaced with the smell of herbs and other earthy smells that had me wrinkling my nose, but not enough for me to turn around. The dirt path was lined with perfectly sculpted rocks that seemed to sparkle in the light. The way I was walking brought me closer to one of the riverbanks, and the smell of water and wet grass filled my nose.

Elise was correct when she had said black roof and white smoke coming from the chimney. The smoke was billowing out, as if the fire underneath it was thick and wild. The building looked around two stories tall, covered in glossy white stones. The oval windows were tinted over, so I couldn't see much of what was inside. As I rounded up the stairs towards the front door, I turned my head to see Natalia sticking her head out and smiling at me.

"The door is open, come on inside." She ducked back into the apothecary.

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