Page 18 of Until the End of Ever
By the time I was out of the shower, the whole place was pleasantly toasty.
I kept some clothes in her guest bedroom, as I stayed over fairly frequently. Nothing particularly nice, just the kind of things I might have worn to work: black or gray cargo pants and form-fitting impact tops, designed to protect the body during combat. I might spend half my time in the archives, but the other half was spent at the mercy of Aunt Hilda and other trainers. Dressing the part ensured I went home with fewer bruises.
These tops compacted my chest into a particularly awful uniboob. I certainly wouldn’t have worn them for an actual date. It’d do for a suitor on my mother’s approved list.
“Oh, you’re joking,” Silver gasped, handing me a steaming mug of heaven as I walked out of the guest bedroom. “Zenya will murder you if she hears you showed up in work gear.”
I sighed, recognizing the truth in her words. “Well, it’s that or the top I wore all day. Between Python and Apollo? It stinks of sweat and terror.”
Silver chuckled. “I mean, I liked Apollo. He seemed…you know, not nice, but cool, I guess?”
I stared in complete disbelief. “You’re hopeless. You, and Gideon, and that guy, Ronan, are all going to die because you see horrors and think, hey, it’scool!”
“I’m not as bad as Gideon,” Silver protested.
Yesterday, I might have agreed. Gideon could easily identify something as dangerous. The problem was, it didn’t stop him from engaging. Meanwhile, Silver had zero fear. But the fact that that extended to literal gods meant that she was definitely the most insane amongst my two friends.
“I mean,” she continued, “he was powerful. But I don’t think he meant to hurt us.”
I sipped the warm drink, considering her words.
I never had that certainty, at any point during the entire interaction. But thinking back, he was rather nice to Silver. He’d even left her his bow.
As I thought of it, my eyes were drawn to where it rested on her coffee table, just as shiny as before.
I could have sworn this morning it was gold with shining white filigree, but now it seemed to have switched, becoming mostly white with gold strands. Was it even the same bow?
“Part of me thinks we should lock it in the archives. But how would we even start to explain how we got it?” There was no way I was going to share the events of the day around town. For one, no one would believe me. “Besides, Lucian thinks no one else should touch it.”
I agreed with him.
“I’m not handing it over,” Silver stated, categorical. “And you should raid my wardrobe again.”
I wrinkled my nose. “No way.”
Silver had two kinds of clothing: practical, or gorgeous, like the dress I’d borrowed to go to Pan’s on Saturday.
I had no intention of looking gorgeous tonight. “I wouldn’t want to givemy fucking cousinthe wrong idea.”
“Ew.” She grimaced. “You’re really seeing Castor?”
Mother hadn’t confirmed it today, but I assumed so.
She shivered. “I mean, I know the old bloods in town have intermarried for centuries, but no.”
I nodded, in full agreement. “Well, it’s not like I would consider anyone on my mother’s list. They can all be summed up in three words: sexist, self-important, and seriously boring.”
“Then why let her make you go on these dates in the first place? It’s a bloody waste of time.”
“You know why.” I finished the drink, dropping down on her comfortable lilac sofa.
Silver grunted, falling next to me. “Bloody council.”
She could say that again.
People with a certain level of power were on a watchlist. This town might be full of supernatural creatures, but there were a few capable of blowing it all up in the course of a tantrum.
Like me.
