Page 101 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

The gods don’t notice us at first, Juun is too busy watching Ester pull blooms from the cacti that now grow green and purple from the white sand and pale stones.

It’s not until Jack clears his throat and draws their attention that the gods seem to realise they’re no longer alone.

Juun turns to us with a scowl so hard it makes me step back, flush against the hard expanse of Jack’s body.

“My bride has fulfilled all of your tasks.” He says from above me. “Release her from your bargain.”

“Heim gave you their blessing?” Juun looks at me, sharply narrowed eyes drag over me. She doesn’t need to accuse me of lying, it’s all there in her face.

“We did what we had to do.”

“They tricked the trickster,” Ester says, pulling a tiny pink flower from the tip of the cat-ctus’ ear. “Did you imagine there would be no way to sway the bastard?”

Juun holds her hand out to the distance, and an orb sails into her hand. She watches it like a spherical television replaying everything we’ve done.

The ick I feel is indescribable, and Jack pulls me back against him, as if he can feel it too.

When she reaches Heim’s nod of approval, she drops the orb.

It cracks into a dozen pieces and dissolves to sand, filling the cracks in the stones.

Her disbelieving gaze falls on me. “Do you know what sort of power you could have had if you’d taken Heim’s first offer?”

“I don’t care.”

Juun steps back like I slapped her.

“Everything I’ve done since I returned to your domain was your fault. Your doing. I have what I want. It should never have been up to you to decide whether or not I get to keep it.”

My breath leaves me on a gasp as invisible hands tear me forward. Juun holds my chin in her painfully sharp grasp again, her eyes peering down into mine as though she can see straight to my soul.

When she lets me go, it’s suddenly, and I fall back. I would have hit the ground if Jack hadn’t caught me.

“Very well,” she says, as if she’s somehow granting me a favour. “You have my approval.”

“I don’t care about your approval. I just need to know if I passed your asinine tests.”

Juun watches me for a long moment, still as stone. And then, she raises her gaze to Jack.

“You may bind her.”

“Not until she wants to come back to me permanently.”

Something tells me agreeing to that would have been a different kind of trap.

“I’m bound to Jack by love and this child. There is no magic you can wield that would be more powerful than that. It is a choice. And it is devotion.”

Ester makes an impatient noise, but it’s clearly meant for Juun, not me.

At this point, I don’t care which of them is pissed at me. I would tear them both apart if given the chance. “You know what we had to do and you let it happen. You’re no better than her.”

Ester’s smile turns to a scowl and she vaguely gestures behind her. “I would be careful how you speak to me, child.”

My gaze follows the path of her fingers to the tree with two apricots.

“I think I’ve more than earned the right to be pissed off at both of you.”

Jack’s hands squeeze at my shoulders, and he says something I can’t understand. Rolling her eyes, Ester throws her hand at me, and the apricots disappear a moment before a sharp pain hits my stomach.

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