“It’s not an act.”
“That’s not the point.”
Narrowly keeping my wings out of the sticky mess my spilled drink made, I plop back down into my chair with little grace. “You’re insufferable.”
“And you’re a coward,” he bites back.
“If I weren’t so limited by my intoxication right now, I’d suffocate you just to have some momentary peace.” My threat comes out with very little enthusiasm, and somehow, he becomes even more haughty and disagreeable.
“Sure. Or, you could have just left the room. But you didn’t, because you know I’m right. How will she ever choose you over her golden cheerleader if you’re constantly sulking around, acting like you hate her?”
“I could never hate Kae.” My thoughts are starting to make less sense to me, so I stand up, swaying slightly. “I am leaving the room now. To slumber.”
“Well, His Kingliness,Drunken Angel of Doom… Let me help you to your bed.”
“It’s just over there.” On the other side of the wall. Not hard to find.
“What else are brothers good for, if not to take care of each other in times like this? I have centuries to make up for.”
I mumble some complaints, but ultimately, he helps me anyway.
31
KAE
Last night, I thought it was a fluke. I thought I was only feeling so excessively clumsy because my body had been inactive for so long. This morning, though, Iknowsomething is up, because I don’t almost fall down the stairs again—I succeed in it.
Somehow, I manage to misjudge the distance between the first and second step, start slipping into the splits, overcorrect by pulling the handrail too hard, and end up swinging my head into the banister. The whole ordeal is incredibly pathetic, earning me some very concerned questions from the nearby locusts, even though I’m clearly fine. So fine that a golden angel on the lobby couch doesn’t even come check on me because he’s too busy dying from laughter.
He stops immediately when I make it down the stairs and start storming over to him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dusk says with fake fear, jumping to his feet. “Not so fast there, granny! You might slip again!”
“You want me to punch you in the face? Because that’s how you get punched in the face.” I raise my fist to follow through, but he clamps his hand over it with supernatural speed.
“Darling, I would strongly advise against that.” His eyes flick down to my captured hand. “Hell, you would have broken your fingers onhumanskin with that thing. What even is this? I thought I taught you how to make a proper fist?—”
“Turn your invincibility off. I need to get even with you.” I’m snarling, fuming. “I know you can handle it. Come on. Do it.”
I can tell the infuriating bastard is really fighting back laughter. “Unfortunately, darling, it doesn’t work like that. And we shouldprobably get you to Raphael, or that little hit you took is going to turn into a nasty bruise.”
I cringe to even think about bothering Raphael with something like this.
“I’m fine.” I missed my eye, and I don’t have a concussion. That’s all that matters. “But I’m skipping breakfast now.”
“Oh, come on! You can’t be serious. You’re fifteen minutes late, and you’re not even going to go now?”
“You’ll bring me a protein bar when you’re done, won’t you? You owe me one for being such an ass.” Snatching my hand back, I dart towards the door. “Bye! You know where to find me!”
I’m on the training field for all of five minutes before I fully realize where my clumsiness problem is coming from.
When Raphael’s mad scientists pumped up my muscles, they must have failed to account for whatever neurotransmitters are required to connect them to my brain. All the extra muscle hangs onto my preexisting ones like… well, like dead weight. Except it’s not dead, because itdoesmove. Just not very well.
In other words, I’ve never been so uncoordinated in my entire life.
Take rope climbing, for example.
On a bar, I can dead hang exponentially longer now, and doing a simple pull-up is fairly easy. But trying to combine those two things into a functional movement? Coordinating one of those tricky foot locks on a rope to actually maneuverup? I’m completely incapable of it now.Incapable.All of my stupid extra muscle mass won’t listen to complex instructions. The best I can do is ascend with only my arm strength, which is unreasonably and unnecessarily taxing.
