Page 75 of Hex
“Ah, yes and yes.” Pierce raises his hand to his short hair and rubs at the strands, a sheepish slant to his boyish smile. “Our Dei is quite resourceful. We needed to heal you away from prying eyes. As for Danika, it was easier to bring everyone back heresince you were still out.” When he raises a brow at his last words, I understand.
“Angel steel.” On instinct, my hand pats my lower abdomen where I know I had a gaping opening, and it registers that my life was probably touch and go. As demons, the rush of life or death situations isn’t common. We often get hurt but we heal more quickly than most supernaturals.
“Yeah.” Pierce places a hand on my shoulder and I know he’s about to give me the hard truth. “Sage will be fine, I’m sure.”
“You’resure? Why does that sound like an opinion and not a fact?” Narrowing my eyes at Pierce, I turn to Slash so I can get the information I need without being treated like an unstable bomb about to explode.
“Spill, Slash.”
“Sit your ass down, first. I’ve had enough of the abuse for one day.” Fucking drama queen.
“Fine.” I sit then raise a brow, my hand sliding across the bed to twine my fingers with hers.
“I found you in Staten Island, gut open from side to side and Sage losing her shit. Knocked her out for a bit so I could bandage you up on the fly.”
“You fucking what?” I’m standing all over again, two seconds away from punching the consciousness out of him when Slay comes back in, leaning against the door frame. “Where the fuck were you two? I sent out an S.O.S.” I knew shit would go down and I don’t understand why Slash came alone.
“Well, if you’d let me finish, we could get on with this story. Fucking hell, Hack.” Slay ignores my question as Slash continues his tirade.
With a roll of my wrist, I get back into my original position, sitting on the bed, fingers linked.
“Anyway. Brought you back here when we told Dei Samhain what happened. He insisted, and we soon found out why.” I nodat Slash, not the least bit surprised. “It took a couple of days but our Dei found a harpy willing to throw someone under the bus to save her own beak-faced ass and that’s when shit went south.”
“You mean that’s when Sage got hurt?” I can’t help the way my tone goes into instant growl mode. It’s fine, they’re used to it.
“First of all, I’m the first victim in all of this. Well, after you, but you get what I mean. Second of all, I’m not a believer in secrets, you know this. She asked, I told her. Reluctantly, but still.” When he narrows his eyes at Sage, I can see it’s all a façade, the worry for her condition swims in his eyes. It’s the only reason he’s not getting punched in the face.
“Again, where the fuck were you when all of this was happening?”
“We were held up.” Fucking Slay. Yeah, like that helps.
“No, really. They were. When Sage showed up at the address I had for Danika, she found our favorite healer and the bearer of death—”
“I don’t bring death, you asshole.” I grin at Slay because he’s such a fucking softy under all that cold-hearted exterior. Like, deep down under. Many, many layers below.
But this interruption doesn’t faze Slash in the least. “—locked up in the…are you ready for this?”
“Fucking spit it out, Slash!” Pierce says exactly what I’m thinking.
“Rafi was holding them prisoners while he treated Danika like his own personal dress up doll and…everything else.” I squeeze Sage’s hand on instinct, knowing that Rafi has particular tastes, so no part of Slash’s sentence bodes well with me.
“Shit, how did you get out?” My eyes dart from one brother to the other when I catch the look that passes between Slash and Pierce. “What. Happened?” I grit out, tired of getting little snippets.
“MegaSage happened in all her explosive glory.” My entire body recoils. Not just at the mental image of my chosen blowing up in any capacity—which she obviously didn’t since she’s sleeping right next to me—but because the other option means…
“Please, for the love of the Moirai, tell me she did not—”
“Yeah, Rafi is just a splat on the very shiny floor of his gaudy house.” I stare at Slay as he gives me the final blow, because this is high treason. She killed one of the Thirteen and now she’s going to die.
“Did anyone see her? See you? Any witnesses around?” I’m in panic mode, this is not a drill. If anyone knows she’s responsible for Rafi’s death, the other twelve of the Thirteen will come for her. And they will demand her head on a platter.
“Not that I saw but, Hack? That place is crawling with little brunies and djinn hiding in the shadows. No telling who was there that we didn’t notice.” Pierce speaks low, his voice filled with compassion knowing this is not good. It’s one thing that she burnt down a bunch of evil assholes in Faloria trying to hurt us, but this?
“Fuck!” I stand abruptly, my hands on my head, my fingers digging into my scalp as I try to find a solution, any solution, to keep my Satapti safe. But I can’t see the horizon, all I see are obstacles.
“I had the building in Staten Island cleaned up, so she shouldn’t be stacking up the crimes.” For once, Slash is solemn, understanding the gravity of the moment.
“That’s good. Thanks. Slay, what are our options?” My brother always has a solution, he’s got to have an idea of some kind and since he adores Sage, he’ll think of something.
