I decide it might be in everyone’s best interest not to mention that my new buddy was the one to?—
“I punched him,” Vero announces. “And I will punch him again if he dares evenbreathewrong.”
“How the fuck does someone breathe wrong?” I ask incredulously.
“Try it and you’ll find out,” he states.
Torin sets me in Mickey’s arms, which is a poor decision because Mickey sure as fuck isn’t prepared to cradle me in his arms and practically delivers me straight to the ground.
“I tried, hon. I really tried,” Mickey says. “I still love you.”
“Thank you,” I respond as I stand, only to have Mickey try to reverse our positions. Evidently he thinks that because he tried to hold me for all of two seconds, I should now cradle him.
“I worked so hard, Riley. I had to run and it was so hard. Pity my little legs.”
“I will in a minute,” I tell him as Torin charges Vero, and Vero is not at all hesitant to charge back.
“I wish they were naked for this,” Mickey says before giving them a whistle.
“You are as bad as them!” I complain as I run forward and slide between them. I really should have thought this through better since it means that Torin pulls back because he loves me but Vero kind of winds up harder because he hates me.
“Stop it! Both of you!” I snap. “Torin, you can’t be mad at him for hurting me. It’s not his fault. Vero was hurt by the horsemen, just like you were. He didn’t share what exactly the horsemen did to him, but he could have killed me and he didn’t. The horsemen have not been kind to him, so of course he’d assume Iwas still a monster. Please don’t take it out on him.” I decide that no matter what, I won’t tell Torin that Vero killed me in the past. I feel like that is the very last thing he needs to hear to make nice with this god.
“I killed him once, I would happily kill him again,” Vero declares, like he’s reading my mind and picking “what not to do” every time he speaks.
Torin is enraged, andwhyis this happening? “I will destroy you. I will rip you apart piece by fucking piece.”
I push Torin back. “You killed me too! Why are you mad at him when you two are the exact same?”
Vero bursts out laughing. “Ah, so you slaughtered the shitty horseman too, eh? Maybe we can work together to make sure he is gone for good.”
I gape at him as I question why his whole bad guy routine has returned now that he has an audience. “Stop acting all tough now, Vero, you literally grabbed me when you dove off and held me gently the whole way down!”
“That was only so I could murder you later,” Vero says. “I didn’t want anyone else to murder you.”
“This is so unfair. Why does Riley get two hunks after his heart and I get nothing?” Mickey cries.
“One of them is trying to kill me!” I say in disbelief. “How could you possibly want that?”
“I’m desperate, Riley,” Mickey says. “Hey, hunky, I probably did something bad to you too. Real bad. And if not, I’m more than happy to do something bad to you in the sheets.”
“Why do you choose to speak to me, you miniscule peasant?” Vero growls.
“Is it weird I find him calling me names sexy?” Mickey mutters.
“Quite weird,” I say. “I know tensions areveryhigh right now, but we are all aiming for the same thing: to stop thehorsemen from destroying any more worlds. So can we just make a gentle truce and work together?”
“I’m a lone wolf,” Vero proclaims. “I work with no one.”
“Arwooo,” Mickey howls, and I thinkeveryonestops and stares at him while he looks away as though he has no idea who just made that noise. Like is he now embarrassed by his own actions? “I had something in my throat.”
Turning back to the hostile god, I say, “Vero, if you want to go, leave. But you are so weak right now that you can’t even heal your wrists. Just stay here with us until you heal up. We’ll help you defeat the remaining horsemen and then you can lone wolf your way to whatever realm you please.”
Vero stoically stares off into the distance, trying out his statue ability, which makes Torin mad for some reason. “You look like a fucking fool,” Torin growls as he tries to do a statue standoff with the other god.
“Are these really the people who are going to save us?” Story asks, making me realize for the first time that we’re not alone. Story is standing next to a woman who looks similar enough to him that I have to assume she’s his sister.
“Help comes in all different forms,” his sister says gently, which I really think translates to “We’re fucked.”
