Page 46 of The Price We Pay (The Path of Temptation 1)

Wraythe hugged me against his chest. "Because you are not a soft girl. Anver's good at weapons, he's smart, and he wants to be a protector more than anything. He doesn't feel like he can protectyou, though. You always end up protecting him. It makes him feel like less of a man."

"He's not old enough to be a man," I grumbled.

Wraythe chuckled against my ear. "We still want to be one. I don't feel like a boy anymore, Nari. I'm pretty sure Ela doesn't either. You're not exactly a girl. At some point, we do grow up, and that's ok. Anver wants to, as well. None of us want to be children forever."

"Do you?" Eladehl asked.

I shook my head. "I just wanted us to stay together."

Eladehl scoffed at that. "His loss."

"Don't," Wraythe said. "Seriously, Ela, don't make light of this. Nari's hurting."

Eladehl's face softened. "We're not going anywhere, ok? I'm sorry. It just makes me feel better to think that he'll be hanging out with that simpering little twit, and we'll still be, well, us."

"But Anver was supposed to be one of us," I reminded him.

Eladehl shrugged. "Was he really? Think about it, Nari. Anver started hanging out with us because we let him. Yeah, he was the first person we both kissed, but that just means he brought us together. It doesn't make him the glue that binds us. No more than a match makes a candle continue to burn. We can still be friends with him - "

I cut him off. "But he won't bemy guardian."

"You won't need one for the Path of the Word," he promised. "And if you're meant for the Path of the Body, then Zeal will find you someone better." He ducked his head to see my face. "Maybe you can ask for someone hot? I mean, since you seem to have an in with the master of temptation. I'm definitely rooting for a guy."

"I kinda am too," I admitted.

Wraythe groaned. "I was hoping one of those girls might start hanging out with us. I mean, I'd be perfectly fine if you wanted to pin Eladehl between you and another woman."

"But I don'tlikeany of the girls in class," I reminded him.

He poked me in the side. "And last year things were different. I'm just saying you should keep an open mind. Marinetta's grown up a lot."

"And she's not going to be a guardian," I pointed out.

Wraythe just dropped his voice to the deep rumble I liked so much. "Doesn't mean you can't play around."

"Still rooting for a guy," Eladehl grumbled. "Unless you're going to start noticing I exist, Wraythe."

The big guy laughed. "I notice you, Ela. Promise. I'm just not that impressed with your dick. Got one of my own I'd rather play with."

"Always better when someone else does the playing," Eladehl countered.

"And that," Wraythe told him, "is why we have Nari."

"Hey!" I grabbed his leg, just above his knee. "I'm good for more than getting you off."

"You are?" he laughed, jerking his leg out of my grasp. "Like tickling?"

And before I knew it, both of them had ganged up on me. I squealed. I begged. I flopped between them as hard as I could, but I could not get away. Somewhere in there, I also forgot that Anver had abandoned me too.

Chapter 19

Nariana

Working in the Temple of All Gods meant we had to wear the black robes. As acolytes, ours were made of dyed cotton. They were long, reaching down to my ankles, and mostly formless. A hood hung against my back, the sleeves fell loosely around my wrists, and it hid everything I wore underneath, except the red boots that Irila had bought me for my sixteenth birthday.

Because of that, I made sure to paint my face as seductively as I could. The memory of the first time I saw Amerlee guided me. She'd looked divine. Her lips and eyes had been so alluring. I now knew that her robe was made from velvet, but back then, I'd just thought she looked safe, beautiful, and like a haven I could run to. I kinda wanted to be the same.

At the assigned time, I gathered in the front entrance of the Temple of Temptation with the others in my group. There were only sixteen of us who'd be working for Intuition: nine girls and seven boys. Yet, wearing our robes, we all looked pretty much the same, or so I thought.

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