Page 17 of The Goddess is Angry
“Gotten into a lot of brawls?” Drake asked, cocking an eyebrow at my twin.
“Hell, yeah. My twin sister is a badass who could magically kick anyone’s ass but has big opinions about accidentally hurting people. I’m technically her big sister, so I’ve defended her honor and kicked some asses. George finds most shit annoying, but if she moves past annoyance, she’ll throw some magic at you and embarrass the shit out of you. I’ll make it hurt. I keep waiting to pair up with Kaylee in magical combat so her mom doesn’t get all malignant about it.”
I shot my sister a grateful look. Underneath all that posturing, big sister talk, and the threat to maim Kaylee when she could get away with it, that entire speech was meant for Drake. My sister wanted me to take the necklace off, but she’d never pressure me.
So, she tried to paint me as the kind of person who restrained themselves to avoid hurting people. Which was true, but I couldn’t say that without sounding like I had a fat head. Drake at least seemed to relax a little.
“Tell me about this big mission I’m supposed to be helping you on.”
“It’s the murdered witch,” I said.
“The one you thought I killed.”
Drake didn’t look angry. He seemed amused that I even went there.
“There was a weird wound on her neck and she didn’t fight back when her heart was being cut out. I thought Basilisk venom.”
Drake sat up straighter.
“Were there black spiderweb veins on her neck?”
“Actually, no.”
“Then it wasn’t a Basilisk. Our venom leaves behind telltale signs.”
“Sorry then. You’re actually the first Basilisk I’ve met, and we didn’t go over venom in high school. My dad actually went over some things I didn’t know in history. It was just a guess and I can admit when I’m wrong.”
“Um. Thanks. Most poisons that would have paralyzed her would have left something behind. They would have turned the wound black around the edges or had some kind of spiderweb. If she had ingested it, it would have been trickier, but if it was introduced through her neck, you could tell.”
“It didn’t look like a vampire bite and it certainly didn’t look like a needle, either,” Church said.
“I can’t think of a reason anyone would lay there while someone was cutting their heart out, but poison leaves behind signs,” Drake said.
“I don’t think it was a student,” Ren said. “It looked surgical. No one here knows how to do that. Healers have to go to another school to learn how to do that.”
“We need to talk to Azren,” West said.
“We definitely do,” Drake said.
Was Drake friends with Azren, too? Was Drake friends with all my boyfriends? He was much less hostile over breakfast. It was a start. Matilda and Mags were right. I still didn’t know what I was helping him with, but he was definitely willing to help us.
It was a start.
west
Sometimes, you just met someone and knew they were your people. Lions were super intuitive about that. When I met Oscar for the first time, IknewI had to sign for him. I clicked with Ren as soon as I met him. I knew George was my lioness almost immediately. I just needed to convinceherof that and do a deep dive into academy rules to make sure I didn’t have to be sneaky about it. I vibed with Church right away because he had insanely good taste in women.
And then there was Baby Drake. I knew we should adopt him as soon as Oscar brought him to our dorm room. He had that tortured soul with a dark past thing going on, but Drake was also very ginger, so I knew when he let go, he was going to be a lot of fun.
But there was the small problem of Drake and George. George didn’t think he was a serial killer anymore. She just thought he was insanely rude, though he was getting slightly better about it. George was being hostile right back. And I could fix all that so they could hate fuck and Drake officially became one of us, but I’d have to betray George and I’d never do that to her.
So, I’d been meddling and redirecting the conversation so they could get to know each other when we hit a snag trying to figure out who the murderer was. Because everyone knew about Drake’s mom except the one person the Fates said was going to get him those answers. Drake didn’t trust her yet, and I wasn’t spilling Drake’s secrets, either.Iwasn’t that person, but I was really good at making people comfortable enough to talk.
Like for instance, Drake just revealed he wasn’t just a really ginger dark soul with a twisted past. He was a fucking musician and composer. That was hot as fuck and I was very much only into women. It also gave me an idea.
“Did you bring any of your instruments with you?”
“I play a lot of them, but the violin is my favorite. It’s also the most portable and easiest to fit in a small dorm room. My roommate is a bit of a player and is rarely home, so I have a lot of time to play and work on my compositions.”
