Page 34 of Bonds of Blood
“Hate you,” Satchel grumbled, giving me another well-deserved kick. And then he shifted gears, flitting up to my cheek, pressing a quick kiss there. “And love you too, you big, weird idiot. If you think I’m going anywhere, you’ve got another thing coming. You’re stuck with me forever.”
“But you’re free, Satchel. Free to go anywhere, do anything.” I squinted. “Free to distribute clothes to the castle imps for — for free.”
He folded his arms and turned his nose up. “I thought we said that my small business was my business.”
“That’s not a business! You’re not making anything back. And as your biggest and only investor, I think it’s only appropriate that I — ”
Sylvain slipped his arm around my waist and chuckled. “I think it best to let it go, little human.”
“That’s right,” Satchel said. “The way that you let me go just now. Seriously, Locke. Thank you. You didn’t have to do that, but that’s awfully decent of you. Maybe Ember and I will go on vacation sometime. Somewhere warm.”
Ember perked up. “We will?”
“Ever been to the prime hells?” Cutler asked. “I could show you kids around.”
“Whoa. Okay. Up for discussion. No one is going to the prime hells. Yet. We’ll talk about — you know what, I need a breather. You guys are killing me.”
I didn’t say out loud that I kind of loved it when they did this. Maybe my love language was mercilessly getting ribbed by the ones I loved. I headed toward the open window, meaning to close it before we left for drinks, but also to catch a breath of fresh air. I wasn’t expecting to catch the death of me, mainly from the shock of seeing a tiny woman kicking her legs and sitting on the windowsill.
“Whoa. Um, hello there, Tiny Aphrodite.”
“Oh, sapling. That was a very cruel trick to play on your former familiar.”
“Honestly? I thought it would be a really good surprise. I thought wrong. Didn’t mean to hurt his feelings.”
“And now, as you’ve released him, so I release you.”
I flinched. “From what, exactly?”
“Oh, this and that. I’ve unravelled the mystery of what it is that makes you who you are, and I think I am satisfied. Rather, you’ve done all the unravelling for me, and I’ve had the privilege of watching from the unseen corners. From the grass. From the clouds. I think you might be seeing less of me over time. Yes.”
Something fluttered in my chest. “You know, I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me sad. Half the time, running into you is pretty unsettling and borderline terrifying. But you really, really have helped so much. More than you know. Except for when you’re unsettling and terrifying.”
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “Oh, you do have such a way with words.”
“Come on, Aphrodite. You know what I mean. Will this really be the last time I get to see you?”
“Well, you do still have my jewel, don’t you? And this time you can actually set the gem in its rightful place, now that the medallion is returned to you.” She stretched out her fingers to examine it. “Of course, it’s mostly decorative now, I should think. Now that its power is spent.”
“Aww, man. So that was it? Just the one time?”
“Who knows, sapling? If you call desperately enough, with plenty of plaintive longing in your voice, I might just answer.”
My spine tingled with excitement at the very thought of a goddess answering my summons. Calling on the unicorns was like rolling dice, seeing whether one or up to four of them might appear at any given moment. It sounded like the odds were far worse with Aphrodite, but to have a chance of summoning her at all? Gods above and below. And potentially right there on the battlefield, too, depending on her whims.
“Just remember to think of me always,” she breathed. “Every kiss you save for your prince of flowers is another prayer whispered straight into my ear. Every mind-bending orgasm that he wrenches out of your — ”
“Okay, Aphrodite! Got it. Goodness gracious. Thank you. Very nice. Yes.”
“Until next time, sapling, starling, little darling.” The goddess winked at me from her perch, then leapt out into thin air, drifting away on the breeze. From a distance, I heard her calling. “Tiny Aphrodite, away!”
Always with the theatrics. I shook my head and chuckled, shutting the window and drawing the curtains. Until next time.
“So, boys. Everybody ready to get absolutely hammered?”
The smallest of our friends threw their fists in the air, a little too excited about the prospect of cocktails. Sylvain narrowed his eyes as he draped his arm across my shoulders.
“Now just who is getting hammered tonight? That sounds unnecessarily violent, oh summoner.”
