Page 86 of Anywhere

Before I could ask another question, the flames died down and the one atop the stone table extinguished. Gregory stumbled forward, but as experienced as he was to being chosen, he caught himself before falling over. Making my way around to him, I helped him to stand and looked around the circle to the faces staring back at me.

Unlatching itself from my chest, my king cobra hissed at all those in the room before slithering back down my body to once more become the large tattoo that took up my whole forearm.

In a single file line, we left the catacomb. Just before I crossed the invisible barrier, a hand gripped my shoulder. I turned to see bones. I stumbled back in shock, then looked down when I realized that something sharp was sticking out of my chest. A dark stain was forming on the robe as I stared at the spot where something had stabbed me. My eyes darted back up, but the skeleton was gone. I collapsed to the ground, unable to breathe.

“Rhys, Rhys, come on man.”

I blinked, and my head hurt with the glare of lights that seemed too bright. Remembering what happened, my hand flew to my chest, but I didn’t feel any wetness. I tried to sit up and sharp pain exploded behind my eyes.

“Take it easy. Ya gave us quite da scare,” Caleb said.

I licked my lips. “Where did da skeleton go?”

“We dinnie know what yer talkin’ bout,” Caleb said.

I managed to peel open an eye long enough to see him looking around at everyone who was staring down at me.

“What happened?”

“Din’t ‘ave a clue. One min, yer fine, and da next, ya were on da floor and shakin’. We got ya out of da ritual area as fast as we could, an da seizure stopped.”

Seizure?

“Did da ritual happen?”

“Aye, but nothin’ was said. Da spirits refused ta speak and den ya collapsed,” Caleb said.

Sitting up slowly, I looked around at all the worried expressions. I couldn’t say for certain why the spirits didn’t want everyone to hear what they said, but it could only mean one thing. There was someone in the family who was not to be trusted.

Rook

Fucking hell, I had the worst case of blue balls, which only added to my royally annoyed mood. I stubbornly chose not to relieve myself of the issue in the shower, but if it didn’t chill out soon, I was going to need to do something.

All fucking night, I tossed and turned with erotic dreams of Rhys and then Elewyen and then the two of them together. And finally, all of us fucking in this bed. I sat up in a cold sweat at one point, convinced that Rhys was in bed with me, his hand wrapped around my cock. I tossed the blankets off to find myself completely alone, and yet the feeling of his touch lingered like a memory.

This fucking triad was messing with every single one of my brain cells. I was a strong advocate for sex in general, but even I was starting to feel like it was all I thought about. That said a whole fucking lot.

Wandering down the stairs in my workout clothes, I followed the scent of coffee and was happy to see the full pot. It called to me like a glowing beacon of hope. Would anyone mind if I just put a straw in the fucking lid?

Finding the largest cup they had in the cupboard, I poured myself a cup and doctored it before moving to the table. A basket sat in the centre. Inside I found fresh bread, buns that were still warm, and whipped butter. Okay, my morning was looking up. I still hadn’t seen a single person cooking or cleaning and yet everything was spotless, and the most amazing food was always made. I was tempted to go on the hunt just to see if I could find these mysterious workers.

Grabbing a warm bun, I spread the butter on it and was about to sit down when I heard laughter. I looked out the glass doors to see Mari, Belle, and Elewyen in the backyard. All of them were holding a canne and were breathing hard as they leaned on the weapons.

I hadn’t seen Mari or Elewyen yesterday. Mari didn’t seem to be in the castle at all, good luck ever finding Belle, Gregory was at the ritual with Rhys, and Elewyen refused to leave her room. That left me in a massive castle with no one to talk to. Aces all around. I managed to get a lot of reading in, and the more I learned, the more conflicted I became. We were a powerful but ruthless bunch. There were things we’d done as a Faction that were brutal and I wasn’t sure I was down for. I had my kinks and pleasures but the stuff that I read was beyond sadistic.

Taking a bite of the bun, I leaned against the open doorframe, and my eyes lingered on Elewyen and her elegant features. Her thick hair had been pulled up into a ponytail on top of her head, and she was wearing knee-high leather boots that laced up the front. Looking at them was encouraging my hard-on. Add in the short kilt, tight T-shirt, and leather protectors around her wrists like the other two women, and I was full-on panting. The red and black colours suited her. It was like a complete transformation from when she’d attacked me in the woods.

It felt like a lifetime had passed since that moment. I shook my head in wonder and continued to watch as they began another round of mock battle as I ate my breakfast. Mari was in the middle and the other two women were trying to get a hit in, but she was incredibly fast. There was no move she made that was wasted and the look in her eye was as hard as steel. The smack of wood on wood was loud in the otherwise quiet morning.

If I hadn’t been watching Mari so closely, I would’ve missed the subtle wince she made that slowed her down just enough that Elewyen landed a hard crack across her back. Mari cried out and went down to one knee. Elewyen dropped to her knees beside her as her hands covered her mouth.

“I’ma so sorry. Me never meant ta hit ya dat hard.”

I’d seen her take harder hits than that and not bat an eyelash. Now my mind was whirring as I wondered where she’d been yesterday and what she’d done to hurt herself.

“I be fine. Jus’ hit a bruise me already had,” Mari said as she stared at Elewyen and then up at her sister.

Mari allowed Elewyen to help her stand, and she gave them a smile, but I could see the pain in her eyes from here. I filed the information away. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my cousin, but there were things she was hiding. There were things she and Rhys were hiding. I felt it in the way they looked at one another. It was more than longing. It was understanding. At first, I thought it had to do with them being in love, but that didn’t feel like the whole truth to me.