Page 60 of Messenger of Death
“She went after Liam because no one expected him to be so monogamous in his life. He’s a fertility god and the dryads just expected orgies. Alexios and I both have foretelling abilities. If she makes me look like a jealous shrew trying to cage the Horned God, then I just look like an asshole if I accuse her of anything.”
“Bitch,” Liam swore. “Iammonogamous in this life. I wouldn’t mind bedding Khalid or the Prince of Darkness while Sage watches but they are way too hetero for that. I’ve made that pretty clear. Even the tree fairies get that.”
“I’m going to ignore you just said that, but Liam tells people who didn’t even ask how obsessed he is with Sage. One of the vampires who works in the kitchen with him is in my vampire class. He said if Liam isn’t being a menace, he’s waxing poetic about Sage. There’s no way she could have made it believable that Liam chose her over Sage and Sage is jealous,” Lucian said.
“You don’t have to room with him,” Elliot groaned. “He doesn’t shut the fuck up about Sage.”
“She was the one who hurt Erica. Erica was nice, but Erica and Lola didn’t get along. I didn’t like her like that, but Erica was into me. I didn’t see it then, but Lola was all over me trying to piss her off. Erica wasn’t the one I’m meant to be with, but Liam is right. I overlooked alotof red flags because I tried to fit Lola in that role.”
“You’ve got insider information. Can you think ofanyonewho might be her Harami?”
“Not really. I’m rooming with Radames and two sophomores. Radames was with me when I found her, but he’sweird.He keeps to himself and I don’t think he likes being around girls. I don’t think he’s gay, either. It’s not an asexual thing. It’ssome religious hang-up he still has after finding out he’s the reincarnation of a god or a magical creature.
“If any of us kick him out the dorm room to have sex, we get a sermon about it. She’s either with me or her sycophants. The only other man she’s shown any interest in is Liam. I thought it was just to make me jealous.”
“Harami might not be a man in this life,” I pointed out. “It could be one of her girlfriends. We can’t just assume we’re dealing with a man because of how badly she was beaten. We don’t know who Harami was before he was banished and what kind of magic he had.”
“What did she want with you?” Lucian asked Mazen. “It seems like she targeted you.”
“It’s almost like she wanted my baby. I can see it now. She was trying to trick me into getting her pregnant.”
“But you didn’t want that,” Liam said.
“No.”
“We need to play this carefully. They are lying low for now because of the witches’ binding spell. We can’t let Lola know we know the truth. It’s the only way we can find out who Harami is,” I said. “And we need to figure out how to get Khalid unstuck.”
Khalid whimpered and bumped my hand with his muzzle. I stroked his fur. I needed to get him to Professor Theron before Samhain.
“I can’t go back to her,” Mazen said.
I didn’t want him to. He didn’t deserve that. But why did Lola want Mazen’s baby so badly?
We didn’t have time to regroup. Samhain was upon us and Khalid was still stuck as a jackal. I’d brought him to Professor Theron, and she said it was an adrenaline thing. Khalid wasn’t going to shift back until he thought the threat had passed. And the threat wasn’t going to pass until we figured out who Harami was and dealt with both of them.
Liam and Morgana were translating since I didn’t speak jackal, but apparently, jackals were very vocal anyway. The fairies had made these elaborate masks for Liam and me, butsince I was with Lucian and Khalid, they made some for them, too. Khalid just couldn’t wear his right now.
I’d been feeling the veil thinning for days and I was pretty sure that was why Khalid was stuck as a jackal as well. It was fucked up. It was like the uncanny valley and diabetic retinopathy at the same time. There were these floaters in my vision. I’d checked my blood sugar repeatedly, and it was normal.
It hadn’t been in any position to mess with my eyes. I was planning to go to the healer, but the floaters were getting more and more humanoid and it was making me uncomfortable. I at least had peace of mind that this was a Samhain thing and not a diabetes thing.
They weren’t in my dorm room or anywhere near the doors and windows that had protection spells, but they were crawling all over the grounds. And I knew if it was settingmeon edge, then it was doing something to Khalid, too, because he was seeing things differently with jackal eyes.
Professor Gefn said wecouldhole up in our dorm rooms behind the black salt and protection spells, but she advised against it because shades had secrets and they used Samhain and similar celebrations to communicate them.
We wouldn’t meet our previous lives because their threads had been woven back intousbut shades rememberedalltheir lives. You only forgot when you were reborn. We might get visited by someone who knew who Harami was before he was banished to Fairy or had some kind of theory on how to fight Lola that wouldn’t have been possible thousands of years ago, but was now.
And it wasn’t Halloween in America, which I was always desperate to participate in and spanked if I ever asked. But I got to wear a mask, eat good food, and go to a bonfire, whichwas close enough. Maybe the shades wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe they would actually be helpful.
So, we set out for the bonfire. I was holding Liam and Lucian’s hand while Khalid walked in front of us in his jackal form. The shades looked less uncanny valley now and looked like actual ghosts. I could tell what they looked like before they died. Maybe that should have beenmoreunsettling, but it actually made me feel better.
The bonfire wassomething.Blue Matthew’s head would have literally exploded. I loved it. The witches and fairies were dancing around it and not all of them had their clothes on. People were scattered around the courtyard and there were more than a few orgies going on.
“Did you change your mind, Horned One?” a dryad who was getting railed by a werewolf called.
The werewolf didn’t even skip a beat. He smacked her ass and grinned at Liam.
“Wolves are polyamorous. I don’t mind sharing.”
