“Mistake-ssss,”he said.
Avery ignored him and turned her attention back to Maya. Her cheeks burned. This conversation had veered into dangerous territory, and she needed to steer it somewhere, anywhere, else. “Okay, yes, fine, I’m seeing someone. But I can’t say who yet.”
“No need.” Maya held up her hand. “I already know who it is.”
Oh goddess. She knew. Panic ripped through her, every muscle locking up. This was a trap. She was wearing some sort of recording device and was trying to call her out. The theater in her mind played it all out. Enforcers dragging Avery to the council chamber in chains or publicly burning her at the stake like her ancestors. Felix turned to ash.
“It’s that transfer student, isn’t it?” Maya said, raising her eyebrows over and over.
Avery blew out a breath, the panic draining so fast she felt dizzy. She got it half correct. More than half. Just missing a slight, tiny, crucial detail that she hooked up with a shifter. “Guilty,” she said through her teeth, an awkward smile plastered on her face.
“I knew it!” Maya said, getting up like a wobbly doe and pointing a long finger at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she said with a twinge of hurt in her voice.
Because I can’t!She wanted to scream. Instead, all she said was, “I’m sorry.”
Maya’s eyes softened. “You know you can always tell me anything, right? I’m not going to judge you.”
If only she knew. Bile rose in her throat, whether that was from the alcohol or the guilt; her stomach was churning.
“Do not tell her,”Felix said into her mind.
“I know,” Avery smiled, answering them both, but she didn’t meet either of their eyes. She wanted to tell Maya everything; she wanted someone other than Felix to talk to about this insane week she had lived through. To set her head straight. Or at least be able to just talk about it. It would just be so nice to say:hey, I summoned a shifter with blood magic, bound him, and now I’m dreaming about fucking him into tomorrow. Oh! And mother is keeping hundreds of trapped shifters underground. Pass the whiskey?
Avery was never good at keeping secrets. And the whiskey was absolutely not helping. She was the type who it physically hurt not to tell someone something. But even if she did tell Maya, and by the grace of the goddess, she didn’t turn her in or run screaming, Maya would be in danger.
“He’s sooo hot though,” Maya said drunkenly. “I just knew by the way he eye-fucked you in class that he had the hots for you.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty cute.”
“Cute? Later, I’ll show you fucking cute,”Felix said low, earning a shiver down her spine.
Her stomach fluttered at the promise, heat pooling low in her core. The memory of his mouth, his shadows. The way he had touched her was divine, like he was truly worshipping her. She had come so hard she had seen fucking stars. It seemed hard to imagine it could get better than that, but something told her that they had barely started.
Avery needed to change the subject. “Okay, my turn. Weirdest thing you’ve ever done?”
Maya put her hands on her face and tilted her head in embarrassment. “Nooo, you’re gonna judge me.”
Avery choked on her whiskey as she drank it, laughing, some of it coming out of her nose. “Trust me, I will be thelastperson to judge you for anything.” Not when Avery’s secrets had secrets.
“Ugh, fine, just because I do not want to get more drunk than I am already,” Maya said.
Surely it couldn’t be that bad? It was Maya. Apart from the drinking, she was practically a saint.
“I…” she stumbled, “I read a lot of erotica.”
Avery shook her head. “You…you whore!” she screamed jokingly. “Burn the witch.” Avery pretended to flick water on her to cleanse her of her sins while Maya giggled.
“Come on,” Avery said. “It’s not that weird; I read it all the time.”
“Do you now?”Felix said into her mind.
“Oh my goddess? Really? How have we never talked about this?”
“Okay, butwhatdo you read?” Avery asked her.
It definitely wasn’t shifter porn; not everyone was as much of a degenerate as she was.
“I would never ever do this in real life, and obviously they’re, like, super bad.”
