Page 54 of Seven is Swell

“Well, that’s terrifying.”

“You have nothing to worry about, love,” Ash says automatically. I jump a little because the endearment rolls of his tongue so easily. He tightens his hand on me, acknowledging it, and then moves on. “So, if you can reach the cursed, you’re to place a hand on them. If that isn’t possible, you need something that belongs to the cursed. Well, that’s easy enough.”

“Can I touch that gargoyle dick? Because I’ve got to tell you it’s fucking impressive. If my intentions towards that aren’t pure, then I’m a toad.”

“That good, huh?” August asks with a smirk.

I use my hands to show the size, then a shiver rolls through me at the memory.

“Doesn’t seem like it matters what exactly you touch, just something that’s a part of the cursed. So you’ll need to wear something that reflects your desire to be in the cursed’s life, something that will tempt them to you. Oh, that’s cute, completing this journey will irrevocably tie your souls together. Good thing you’re already mated and bonded, or that could be a deal breaker.”

“You see why we haven’t been able to help him?” Zac asks sheepishly. “Curses are hard to undo unless you know who cast them. In this case, I don’t think the caster is still alive. There’s something to be said that their descendent might be of use in the process, but their blood isn’t nearly as potent as the one that cursed them. At the risk of sounding cheesy, true love really is the best way for these things to be fixed.”

I accept this information and decide to take it at face value. Zac is a smart guy, he received a lot of education to be suitable for the headmaster position, so I’m going to accept that he simply knows more about this subject than I do. I’ve never had muchinterest in curses, so I don’t have the first clue where to start with them.

“What does that mean that I need to wear something that reflects my desire? Like lingerie? Would that tempt him out of a curse?”

“You in lingerie would tempt anyone to do literally anything,” Ash says offhandedly as he continues to read over the note. Ooh, that’s giving me a lot of power.

“Noted. So, when I want something out of you…”

He doubles back, seeming to realize the implications of what he said, but then must decide it’s too true and shrugs. “You need only ask."

“What’s next? How does she actually get him down from there?” Cory asks, moving us all along from our tangents.

“So you…set the offering near you and touch the cursed, and then you…no that can’t be right. Somebody else read this. I don’t think I’m interpreting this correctly. I don’t suppose this demon left a phone number we could reach him at? I think his instructions are faulty.”

“What does it say?” Adam reaches for the paper, and I’m wondering why I didn’t read the note more in-depth earlier because the way Adam starts smiling tells me eitherI’mgoing to love the next part orthey’regoing to love the next part. And I’ll probably love it as well anyway.

“The curse was borne out of jealousy, so to combat that, you need to prove that no jealousy exists in you.”

I blink at Adam, who’s holding the paper, while Ash continues to fidget against me. “What does that mean?”

Cory grabs the paper and starts giggling. “It means, my darling girl, that to undo the jealousy that created the curse, you must shatter it by sharing yourself with six people that aren’t jealous.”

“Six? Why six? That seems awfully convenient,” I say as I look around the room, noticing there are indeed exactly six people present.

“That’s the goddess’ number,” Cory says like I should know this. I mean, I guess I do, but…

“Share how?” Zac asks suspiciously.

“ORGY TIME!” Cory yells before throwing the paper on the table and doing a silly dance with their arms in the air.

“Yeah, further support as to why we didn’t break the curse earlier,” Zac says. “Maybe there are other ways to break a curse, or maybe this demon fellow is fucking with all of us and is secretly hiding in the trees with a blatant mashed potato fetish and this won’t do anything at all to help Leo and we’re just fodder for his sexual deviances, but I guess it’s up to you, Delaney, as to how we proceed.”

“First of all, I won’t ask anybody to do anything they aren’t ready for. Yes, Leo is important to me, but so are all of you. His salvation won’t come at the expense of any of your comfort. He’s been stone for this long, I’m sure he’ll understand us waiting if we need to.”

“Too late, already made the mashed potatoes.”

I blink up at Jackson as he plops a big bowl of whipped potatoes on the table.

Zac stands and yanks his shirt off, baring his chest which has a faint scale pattern sitting just under his skin, even in his human form, and it’s stunning. Blues and greens are suggestive as the light hits his skin, making the overall effect otherworldly. “I’min,” he says as he undoes his belt and whips it out of his pants with one hand.Fuckthat’s hot.

One by one, everyone starts pulling off their shirts and declaring they’re down to orgy, like some sort of fucked up vow that only my mates would say with emotion, until I’m severely overdressed and being herded into my closet for a change of my own.

I stare at the dresser, unseeing, contemplating what’s about to happen.

I know all these people are meant to be mine and the fact that the goddess picked them out for me is flattering as hell because they’re all so perfect in one way or another, and here I am with a dining room full of semi-nude men ready to fuck me for a higher purpose. Very altruistic of them.

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