Page 97 of Stone Seduction
Ha! I could take him and all his ancestors in a fight across the ages. Scrawny shit.
“Then fuck you,” Dane said. “We’re out of here.”
“We are?’ Tom asked, looking up at him.
“For now.”
Maren swam forward. “I demand to see my friend.”
Both knights yawned in her face.
She flicked her tail in warning. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with. We love Luke deeply and won’t allow these ridiculous restrictions to continue.”
A double helping of yawning followed.
The mermaid smirked. “Have you ever experienced the brunt of a fishy tail to the face?”
Vocal Guy pointed his sword at her. “Try it, bitch, and you’ll be sushi.”
“I am impervious to your threats, gargoyle. I think I’d like totry it.”
“Sod off back to the sea.”
From what Luke told me, Maren hated the water.
She levitated, shimmering with menace. Her red hair billowed behind her, that green tail capable of inflicting serious damage. “No one gets to control our friend. Stand aside or suffer my ire.”
No matter how much bravado she mustered, they’d make sushi out of her for sure. Not kill her but send her packing.
I stepped in. “It’s not worth it, Maren. We’ll find another way.”
She glowered at me, not moving, not speaking.
“My brother’s right,” Eden said.
Maren’s expression softened, her body lowering. “Brother? You are siblings?”
“Yes. I’m Eden.”
The mermaid frowned, introducing herself without much feeling.
Vocal Guy huffed. “Take it somewhere else. None of you are getting back in now. And you knights should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Surprisingly, his words failed to piss me off. He really wasn’t worth it.
For now.
“Luke…” Tom breathed.
“He’ll be okay,” Dane reassured, giving him a squeeze. “Let’s get you out of the cold.”
The air carried a sharper bite. A blend of pink and lavender painted the sky, dusk in its full splendor.
We left the knights to wallow in their knobheadedness, aiming for the bandstand opposite the tower and taking seats on the benches. Christmas lights glittered around the blue canopy, sparkling in the closed shop windows. Every lamppost boastedeither a snowflake or a star, twinkling away, failing to bring the festive spirit to the locked-down town.
Tom shivered, shuffling closer to Dane, my bestie’s hand firmly around him. “What are we going to do?” He summoned a cupcake to his palm—white frosting, a ruby-like cherry on top. He took a bite, looking so defeated as he chewed.
Eden’s jaw hit the floor.
