Page 50 of Messenger of Death
“My primary language is Arabic,” Khalid said. “It basically means sinner.”
“Yes, but weren’t the old gods famous for having kids out of wedlock?” Ivar asked. “If we can all portal and Harami was banished several times, he could have picked up other languages.”
“Good point,” Professor Gefn said. “We were under the impression that the gods truly believed their origin stories, but this also goes back to Kallista’s theory about the gods being from another realm. They could have just made those up when they got here and been fully aware of each other. They could have known other languages, too.”
“That’s just making this more complicated,” Lucian said. “I’m finding it hard to believe two people hopped in that pool and woke up. Is it possible to wake up without that pool? Maybe they were awake before they got here.”
“Interesting theory. There are other pools around the globe. They either have schools like this built around them or they are protected and on tribal land. I suppose it’s possible to accidentally end up in one of those pools if you’re trespassing, but you’d have a hard time not getting caught.”
If you were a hiking influencer, I’d imagine you’d make a ton of money sneaking onto to tribal lands, both from people calling you a total shit and people who kiss your ass no matter what you did.
I was leaning more and more towards Lola being the reincarnation of Hemlock. Now that I had the void explained to me, the way it felt when she walked into a room was just so obvious. Lucian didn’t react when she was covered in blood and I didn’t think all of that was because she was dirty and he had exceptional control.
I wouldn’t have blamed him if he tried to bite her. He was brand new, and she was covered in blood. It wasn’t just the blood. It was the magic in the blood that fed Lucian and he couldn’t feel or smell any of it from her.
All of these people had been around Lola. Ari, Ivar, and Alexios briefly shared a tent with her. Headmaster Mykene had her alone in her office just as many times as she’d had all of us. Professor Gefn and Professor Kane had her in several classes bynow. Lola was fairly rude and made her presence known in all her classes.
All three of my boyfriends had been around her and Lola was all over Liam in potions.
Yetnoneof them were suggesting Lola was the reincarnation of Hemlock. I was fairly certain I knew how all of this went down. Lola, and whoever Harami was, were awake before they got here. Lola snuck off and Harami was the one who beat her to throw everyone off her scent. Whoever Harami was, they were lying low. They didn’t need some big ruse because they didn’t channel the void and didn’t give off feelings like Lola did.
I seemed to be theonlyone thinking this, and I didn’t want to bring it up because Lola had done a damned good job making sure no one would even consider her as one of the Forsaken Ones.
I was falling for all three of these men and I knew they’d protect me no matter what. I’d do the same for them. Theymightbelieve me if I said Lola was Hemlock, but Lucian already looked at her messages and didn’t find anything. Her phone died in the first attack and she didn’t get a new one until recently. None of her newer messages were suspicious. She’d been organizing meetups with groups of students and fighting with Mazen, mostly.
I literally hadnothing.Even the adults didn’t suspect her. They all said when the Morrigan had a feeling, they’d listen.
Exactly how far would that extend if I pointed a finger at one of the first victims?
Ididn’t want to wait until I fell asleep and shifted to go to Sage. Something was going on with her. We could all sense it, but we didn’t want to pressure her. Her past was a ticking time bomb and then we had everything else going on right now. It could be anything.
I didn’t usually make it a point to be out in public looking anything less than completely put together, but I walked to Sage’s dorm in a very expensive pair of sweats and a T-shirt. I wasn’t used to giving a shit about other people, but I just felt like Sage shouldn’t be alone right now. Morgana would be with her, but I couldholdher and it was weird I even wanted that.
Morgana opened the door when I knocked. I really didn’t want to like her, but I did.
“Wow, look at you using the door. She’s right this way. Now that you’re here, I’ve got witchy shit to take care of. Sage will explain.”
“Hey, Lucian. Morgana said witches can do a lot of things with names. Since they don’t have Harami and Hemlock’s original names, they can’t completely bind them, but she said they can fuck them up a bit. She was just waiting for you to get here, but you got here early and through the door.”
“Well, my being here was inevitable and I enjoy it anyway, so I decided to just walk.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. How are your vampire classes going?”
“The professor is a bit of a sniveling sycophant, but they know their stuff.”
“Sooo, have they taught you how to control your bite?”
“Yes, it’s actually quite interesting. My venom is based on my mood. If I don’t like someone or I’m in a bad mood, it hurts. I just need to be in a good mood and like someone for it to feel good to them.”
“So, I’d like to think you like me.”
“Well, yeah. I didn’t know why I asked to be on your team at first. I’m usually miserable on group projects because people are insufferable and incredibly stupid, but then it made sense because?—”
Sage just laughed.
“For such a brilliant guy, you completely missed me asking if you wanted to get a little naked and bitey with me.”
“Oh. I suppose I was slightly obtuse and should have gotten that. I’m not always great at picking up social cues.”
