Page 43 of Chaos
“This,” I said, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. An episode ofThe Golden Girlsappeared on the screen, dubbed badly in French. Blanche and Rose were doing their rendition of dirty dancing just in time for Dorothy and Sophia to walk in. Classic.
“Betty White offended you?” he asked with a smirk.
“Pfft. Not my Betty. Did I tell you we went on a date once? She was and remains an international treasure, thankyouverymuch.” I rolled my eyes and clicked over to BBC News.
“What am I looking at?” Chaos asked, standing and walking closer to the screen. “Is that a volcano?”
“Yes. But more importantly, it’s a signal. We need to be on the lookout for another attack. A Prince was released. Merri is in danger.”
“What else is new?” Malice said from the doorway.
“Get Grim down here,” Chaos said, his voice a dark rumble.
“No need,” he said, stepping out of the shadows. “I’m already here.”
“For your next trick, are you going to pull a personality out of your ass, or is that reserved solely for rabbits and hats?” I quipped.
A soft gasp dragged my attention to the redhead standing in the doorway behind Malice. Merri had a mug in her hands and pillow creases on her cheeks. “What happened? All those people...”
See? She wasn’t even technically human, and she still had empathy. That Jean-Marie guy was a right prick. The sadder part of that revelation was how much money he probably made by being one. Because if his shtick wasn’t getting him followers, then he would have dropped it a long time ago. When would the humans learn to stop rewarding bad behavior?
I couldn’t help myself. I crossed the room and reached for her, needing to offer her comfort. The moment my fingers brushed her arm, she stiffened and flinched away.
“Sorry,” she murmured, disguising her hasty retreat as an attempt to get closer to the television screen.
I narrowed my eyes as I clocked the move for exactly what it was. Why was she so jumpy this morning? Last I checked, we were good. Better than good.
“What does this mean?” she asked, looking from Grim to Chaos, then to Malice. Not me.
A pit began to form in my stomach. I didn’t appreciate the distance—physical or emotional—that she was placing between us. There was no way I was letting this BS continue.
Because of the plan. Obviously. Not because of thefeelings.
“It means the timeline is still progressing, and we need to keep up our sessions. Every time a Prince is released, we’re that much closer to you being found and taken.”
Malice wasn’t wrong, but in my eyes, we were little more than sitting ducks. We needed more in place if we were going to protect her. No one was going to take her from me.
Us.
Because of the plan, like I said.
Yes. The plan.
We needed her barefoot and preggers, stat. There was an apocalypse to end and a Prince of Darkness to overthrow. Or something.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. In all the upheaval this morning, I’d forgotten to grab my cup of coffee. I was feeling the lack of caffeine. Or my brain cells were. Neurons were definitely misfiring.
“Sin?” Grim said, expression serious as always.
“Huh?”
“I asked you a question.”
“Come again.” I glanced around the room, realizing I’d missed the entire end of the conversation. Merri wasn’t even in the room anymore.
“She’s not pregnant. You need to try again.”
I frowned. “How do you know that, weirdo? Does Death have X-ray vision now?”
