Page 8 of Wicked Thirst
“Look, twenty-nine, I don’t want to see you trip over your feet and die.” She turned to Cross. “They die that easily, right?”
He paused in his arrow-sharpening and brushed his hair from his face. He arched his eyebrow at her. “Mortals?”
“Yeah.” She nodded.
He snapped his fingers. “Like that.”
“I really don’t know how parents let you out of the house like that, all not prepared to die to defend yourself.” She paused as if thinking. “Feels like bad parenting to me.”
“You think either of us knows anything about parenting?” Cross gave a dark chuckle. “With our parents?”
Ophelia nodded at him. “Good point. I mean, I had to help kill my dad . . . and your dad . . . and threaten your mom.”
I watched this exchange between the two of them like it was a tennis match. My brain was not catching up to what she was saying. She killed her dad? And his dad? But the two of them acted like it was no big deal. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d actually dodged a bullet not having any parents at all, especially if these two got rid of the ones they already had.
Cross pulled a knife from behind his back and started sharpening it on his stone. “But you didn’t kill Zinnia’s mom, so bonus points.”
Ophelia nodded. “Yeah, I like her. She’s kind of like a second mom.”
He scoffed. “To all of us. You think when she had Zin she thought to herself, imma end up with like a dozen other kids and hope none of them die or kill the wrong person?”
“She has to think that, right?” Ophelia bit her bottom lip as though deep in thought. She turned back toward me. “At least she was good at toughening up Zin. Your parents sucked. They kept you so . . . delicate.”
“I don’t have parents.” I held my hands up and shrugged. When I was younger, it bothered me that no one chose me. I wondered what was wrong with me that not a single couple wanted me as part of their family, and I so desperately wanted a family. But the moment Piper and I decided to hang out, I knew we’d be the family both of us needed.
“Oh, lucky you.” She shrugged and turned back toward the tree, searching for an empty spot. There were none. “Your survival skills are seriously lacking though.”
She wasn’t going to change her mind, and neither was I. There was only one thing I could do to get out of here and to Piper. “Fine, then, train me.”
Her face lit up like I gave her the best Christmas present in the world. Cross jumped to his feet and shook his head. “Oh no, you don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Yes, I do.” I crossed my arms over my chest. If I was ever going to get off this island, I had to prove I could walk in their world.
“See, she knows.” Ophelia beamed at him.
“You really don’t, but at least she’ll have potions to heal you.”He backed away and turned toward the hallway. He took off sprinting down the hall, his magic seeping out behind him.
“Heal me?” My brow furrowed in confusion. “Where’s he going?”
“To get the potions for healing, duh.” Ophelia rolled her eyes at me.
Nervousness ran through my body. “Seriously? Like, he was serious about that?”
Ophelia’s arm shot out and a knife sailed end over end right toward me. It grazed the side of my cheek and thunked into a tree behind me. I felt the sharp sting of the cut on my face, and when I pressed my fingers to it, warm liquid covered my hand and ran down the side of my face. I slapped my hand to my cheek, feeling the warmth of my own blood on my skin. “You cut me.”
“Pain will teach you. And that’s how you’ll learn.” Her face turned serious.
Cross ran back into the room holding two handfuls of potion vials. “Damn it, O. You could’ve waited until I got them.”
She motioned to my face. “It’s barely a scratch.”
She pulled another knife that’d been hidden somewhere on her body that I couldn’t see. Shit. I might’ve gone too far but there was no going back now. I wiped my sleeve over my cheek, trying to brush the blood away. Piper, here I come. “Well, bring it on.”
CHAPTER FOUR
PIPER
“Iloved you the moment I met you.” Grayson fired the words out so fast my mind could hardly keep up. “I knew you would be it for me, and you always have been.”
