Page 100 of Until the End of Ever
At the door, I paused.“It’s strange to go separate ways after hanging out together nonstop for weeks.”
“I don’t like it," Lucian agreed. "Let’s not do it often.”
“We should have a cap. Once a week, maximum.”
“Fortnight," he countered, pressing his lips to mine again. "Go before I change my mind and lock you in the dungeons again."
I chuckled on my way out.
Ronan offered to drive us to the lifts heading up, and we gratefully accepted. Instead of getting cramped, the back of the carriage expanded to comfortably fit the five of us. Now, each side seemed to be able to fit three people rather than one or two.Founders knew what they were doing in terms of everyday comfort.
As the carriage travelled down King's Avenue, I found myself trying to prep for tonight. Perhaps I should be more worried about the report I was supposed to give my aunt, but I could talk my way through rune translations any day of the week. Defining feelings was another story.
“Stop stressing out," Silver said, eyes on my hands, fiddling with my clothes on my lap. "You know that man adores you. Anyone can see it.”
I groaned. “You didn’t hear what I said inCharybdis.”
“There should be a law that anything said at the brink of death cannot be used against you." After a second, Silver added, "Or post-orgasm. But whatever you said, he won’t care.”
"She's right," Ronan added. "I know the guy. You could literally set the manor on fire, and he'd simply offer to rebuild it for you."
I snorted. "Cassius would kill me first."
"Just offer him cupcakes and he also wouldn't care," Silver said.
I grinned at her, proud of my friend for working past her prejudices. “It’s funny to see you Team Dark Sorcerers when you were so suspicious mere weeks ago.”
"Yeah, well. I saw him walk between you and a snake larger than a plane. And then he fed me. I'm not a complete idiot."
Gideon coughed, and it sounded uncannily like "debatable."
He evaded the first kick she aimed at his crotch, but not her foot, stomping his, hard enough to flatten him if he hadn't been a half dragon.
Ronan blinked. "And suddenly, my friendships almost seem healthy."
43
KLEOS
The fifth body was another woman, this one around my age. Her name was Dona. From the picture stapled to her folder, I remembered her from high school, one year below Silver and me. Now she was dead and mutilated.
It could have been me. It could have been anyone.
This had to fuckingend.
I turned to the window in my aunt's office as I waited for her, my eyes looking past the several rows of handsome houses behind the arena, and straight at the temple of the god responsible for all of this.
The temples were greater than life, each one as tall as the Hall of Truce, and Zeus's, standing higher still, the obnoxious gold lightning bolt shining on the front facade. I remembered my rage when I first felt the claws of that spell tearing through my skin. I wanted to make the person responsible suffer. How did one go about punishing the king of gods?
In the distance, lightning cracked in the graying sky. It felt like a purposeful mockery today. Longing to return to the underside, I tapped my fingers impatiently.
The door opened before my aunt. One inch or two taller than me, warm, gold-skinned and with jet-black hair, paired withamber eyes, she was stunning, her bare arms and back packed with enough muscles to belong on the front page of a body-building magazine. She rarely ever bothered with sleeves, her skin naturally immune to cold.
"Kley!" she called out, with the smile she reserved for family. "How are you doing, sweet?"
I was taken aback. Auntie Hilda never treated Gideon or me any differently from any other Guard employee here. She was first and foremost the captain of the Guard, not our aunt or mother.
But I supposed I didn't usually see her in her office.
