Page 73 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

“Ari, wait.”

She blinks at me. “Ari?”

The name is thick in her mouth, like she’s not used to it. “Is that what you call me?”

“Is it not your name?”

“Close enough.” She smiles and says it again. “Ari…. I like it.”

“When all this is over, you and I are going to have a very long talk.”

“It sounds like I’m going to have a long time to come up with answers.”

“I need your help. I have to speak to Cupid.”

“I can go to them and see if they will accept an audience….”

“No, I mean, I need to see them right now. Juun is going to have me killed if I don’t finish this task and get back to the spire before the sun sets.”

Ari looks like she could spit when I said Juun’s name.

“Juun is a meddling bitch who should leave the other gods and the ones they claim alone.” She lets out a sigh with a scowl so dark, menace radiates off her. “Okay. Let’s get you to Cupid and see what they have to say.”

The nun behind her objects… in the old gods’ tongue. Ari responds in kind and I manage to keep my ignorance of that to myself.

“They still think you’re a trick.” She takes a long breath and holds out her hand. “Come here.”

I do, because I may not know this version of Ari, but I know that she won’t hurt me.

When I give her my hand, she closes her eyes, whispering words I don’t understand and a tingling sensation sprouts over my skin… pricks of light start to form in my skin, and the nuns behind her gasp, stepping sharply backward.

“What the hell was that?”

“A visible manifestation of the Power.”

“How did you do it?”

She shrugs. “There are some spells that only need to be said in the old gods’ tongue, the speaker needs no magic of their own.”

Turning to the nuns, she puts her hands on her hips. “Happy now?”

“They don’t say no but I have a feeling they wouldn’t say yes either.”

Not that Ari gives them the chance.

She pushes past them, secure in the belief she’ll be obeyed.

Love Drenched in Lighter Fluid

The nuns follow us into the tiny water mill. There’s no one inside, no milling being done, just an enchanted doorway that each of the women slip through.

They are very careful to send Ari through second.

When I step into the cool dark of the nunnery’s stone corridor, I say, “I’m not used to you having bodyguards.”

“No?” Ari looks relieved more than anything. “It’s nice to know I’ll stop being a priority at some point….”

“What did you do to piss them off?”

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