Page 83 of House of Pain
Alecto tugged his chin up, so his eyes were on hers. “If you stray too close you might get burned with the Tigers.”
Blaze’s eyes flickered. “Is that the sort of thing you’re into, Black? Violence and torture? If so, you’ve come to the right place.”
Alecto rolled her eyes, letting her hand drop away from his chin. She pushed past him, walking over to Jolene and Andro, who were inspecting the Book.
What the fuck she and Blaze were doing, she wasn’t sure anymore. They were supposed to hate each other. At least, Blaze had hated her more than anything since her first day at Venefica. But there was also something else there now.
Don’t ever do this again.
Back at the library, it was intoxicating, watching Blaze succumb to her touch, his face dark with desire. But Alecto didn’t miss the fear in his eyes.
She pushed those thoughts away, focusing all her attention on Andro and Jolene.
“What’s the matter?” Alecto asked when Andro furrowed his brows at the Book.
“It says here that we need to usebloodmagic for this spell to work,” he growled. Then, he turned to Val and spread his arms. “Does anyone in this fucking group ever read the spells before we decide to cast them?”
“I do,” Jolene said. “We already talked with Val about it, and we don’t see a reason why we can’t use blood magic for this small spell. Nobody is going to know.”
The look on Andro’s face when he turned to Jolene was priceless.Alecto could have sworn Andro’s eyebrow twitched.
“You’re supposed to be the responsible one in the group,” Andro said accusingly, and Jolene snapped the Book closed. “You think the Dean doesn’t have spells in place that detect any usage of blood magic on campus?”
“He does,” Val agreed. “But I tested it on the night we summoned Rogue, and on a few more occasions, the signal only triggers when a certain threshold of blood magic is channeled. And this spell won’t go over that.”
“And even if we do go over and trigger the signal,” Blaze mused, smirking, “it’s not like we will get in any real trouble. We’relegacy, remember?”
Andro just glared at Blaze, his face stone cold.
“What is it? Afraid you’ll get in trouble?” Blaze asked. “It’s gotten even worse this year.”
“Well, maybe because I actually do give a fuck about what my parents will think of me,” Andro snapped. “I know it’s your thing to see how far you can push to piss your father off, and that’s your prerogative. But that’s not my game, so back the fuck off.”
A muscle in Blaze’s jaw ticked.
“Okay, boys, get over yourselves.” Val came to stand between them. “Blaze, light the tortollesc incense and candles. The rest of you, take your fucking places.”
Without another word, Blaze went over to the first candle while the rest each stood at the corner of each point, the black candles burning at their feet. Soon, the earthy aroma of tortollesc filled the air around them. When Alecto inhaled it greedily, her mind relaxed.
Gael entered the circle, settling in the middle on his knees. He opened the Book and set it on the ground next to the bronze bowl.
“Gael, lead the spell,” Val instructed when Blaze took the last place, and all of them were ready.
For a moment, Gael scanned the page and then nodded, rising to his feet. He took the bowl into his hands, moving towards Val. From one of his jean pockets, he fished out an athame with a sapphire-encrusted handle and opened it with a click. “Give me your palm.”
Without any hesitation, Val placed her palm in Gael’s hand, and he dragged the sharp tip over her skin, flesh parting and blood starting to drip.
Gael quickly fisted Val’s hand, squeezing it as he held it over the bowl, droplets of blood dribbling inside.
Alecto’s heart thundered, her muscles tensing at sight.Shit, she was so deep into this shit, there was no way to back out now.
When she came up with the plan to set the Tigers’ House on fire, it wasn’t only for the Game. Alecto was seeking vengeance for the memory orb. For the humiliation. For Matias thinking she was easy enough to use.
The Tigers probably thought Alecto was the weakest link.
Alecto wasn’t sure how far she was willing to go. Did her ruthlessness have any limits anymore? Right now it felt as if there wasn’t much she wasn’t ready to sacrifice or do to prove that she was just as bad as they were.
If not worse.
