Page 6 of House of Crimson Kisses
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“Red, you silly cow, wake up,” Bella’s voice drifts into my consciousness along with the most potent and rancid scent I’ve ever had the displeasure of inhaling.
“What is…?” I mumble, but my words come out jumbled.
“She’s had enough of that. Gods know I have, it’s vile,” Bella says.
“She needs to be fully conscious,” another voice I recognise says. I can’t place who it is, though.
My eyes flutter open. Bella’s curvy body is bent over me. I cop an eyeful of her tits and I’m pretty sure I saw nipple.
“Mother of Blood, Bella,” I say, shoving her back by the shoulders, trying to miss her cleavage. “What are you wearing?”
She glances down. “What? Remy and I were out for dinner.”
“And you wear that for dinner?”
“Well, no,” she shrugs, wrapping what I now see is a dressing gown tighter around her body, covering up the extremely skimpy lingerie I got an eyeful of.
“We finished dinner and were… having pudding… it was—” she starts.
“Please do not feel obligated to finish that sentence,” I say, rubbing a hand over my face. I’m in an apartment. I glance around. There’s a lot of glass and everything is clean and sharp, save for a messy office table in the corner with cogs and wires and a fuck ton of books.
Bella huffs at me and helps me up. Which is when I sort out who the other voice’s owner is. “Quinn. Hey.”
“How are you feeling?” she asks, waving a finger in my face and applying a daub of something gritty to my forehead.
I bat her hand away. Quinn and I aren’t close like Bella and I are, but she’s one of Remy’s friends. They all work together for the crown in this city, and Quinn happens to be a rather excellent medic. No wonder she’s here.
“I found you,” Quinn says, running a hand through her hair. It’s shaved on the sides but a mass of curls on top. “I called Bella down immediately. Scarlett’s outside, guarding the building block.”
“Where’s the rest of your gang?” I ask.
“Remy got called out on a RuneNet server break-in. She owed a guy a favour. Stirling has stayed at the palace in Morrigan’s place—because she should arrive at any moment.”
A knock at the door startles me. Quinn dances off to open it as a kettle clicks off in the kitchen. Bella shuffles to the kitchen and clatters about. A minty smell drifts into the room and a moment later, she returns and hands me a piping hot mug of the minty brew.
Then she rubs my shoulder. “You’re really shook up. What happened?”
“I fucked up, is the summary,” I say, blowing cool air on the tea.
“What’s going on?” Morrigan says, appearing from behind Quinn, who tuts at the tea and takes it out of my hand.
“Bella,” Quinn whines.
Bella rolls her eyes. “It’s only tea.”
“It is not just tea.” Quinn trots back to the kitchen, opening cupboards and making a racket before returning and handing me the now much cooler mug of tea. The colour has changed too, and it smells decidedly less appealing. I sigh and take a sip, and my mouth contorts at the bitterness.
“The fuck, Quinn?”
She laughs, “Drink it, and don’t be a baby.”
I do, and because it’s cooler, I can take big gulps.
Morrigan pulls two chairs over from the dining room table. Quinn grabs the other one, but Bella pushes me up until there’s space for her on the sofa. Then she takes my hand in hers and strokes the back of it as I slump against her.
“I asked you a question,” Morrigan says, her tone a little clipped. I’d almost forgotten how in touch with her power she is. Morrigan is, to my knowledge, the single most powerful magician in this city. Her arms, neck, and legs and probably other parts of her are smothered in Collection tattoos—a sorcerer’s marks that connect them to their buildings and enable them to wield magic. But aside from that, she’s also a princess who will be queen and have control of the most powerful palace in the city, too. Essentially, she wears the don’t-fuck-with-me-or-there-will-be-consequences type of pants. And aside from that, she reminds me a little of Octavia. She has the same dark-coloured hair, though Morrigan’s is blunt across the fringe, and she wears a lot of black.
