“I… don’t know. He calls it a curse and a stain, but I believe it’s a reaction to having such strong magic that he can’t control while being separated from his horse. I think the god severed the connection between them, but I don’t know why or how… and I don’t know if I can fix it… which I’m sure makes you quite pleased.” I turn my narrowed eyes onto him. He simply holds my stare and says nothing.
“I’m going to bed,” Vero finally blurts out as he turns around. He hesitates halfway through the doorway before glancing at Mickey, who seemsveryuncertain what to do with the sudden attention. Then Vero reaches out and unfurls Mickey’s hand before looking down at the cuts from when he fell. He gazes at them for a second then quickly leaves the room.
“I can’t quite tell. Was he going to murder me, apologize, or fuck me?” Mickey asks me.
“One of those was definitely not like the rest.”
“You’re right. He’d never apologize,” Mickey says before heading off to wash up. Within minutes he’s back and eyeing Riley. “Do I want to be the little spoon or the big spoon?”
My facehasto show how confused I am by this question. “Why are you crawling in with him? I thought you wanted to play the whole ‘two dudes, one bed thing’ with the sociopathic god?”
“I do, but right now, I’m playing hard to get,” Mickey says as he crawls right into the bed where I’d been planning on sleeping.
“No, you’re hiding because the guy is a dick.”
“Hiding? Mickey never hides,” he says while he sinks under the blanket. His disturbing little creature just flies off and hangs from the ceiling, which creeps me out even more. Like what if it drops on my head in the middle of the night? Or sucks out my soul?
I glower at it, but it doesn’t even care.
I go clean myself up, and by the time I’m back, Mickey is dead asleep. I planned to cuddle Riley after having been gone for so long, but somehow there’s now a necromancer and a genet in the way, not to mention that creepy fucking thing hanging from the ceiling where it’s surely staring at me with creepy beady eyes.
Shoving the covers back, I crawl in only to find that the bed really isn’t meant to support three grown men. I push Mickey a bit, but for such a small man, he sleeps like a fucking rock. Pushing him is no easy task, and before I can even get comfortable, he’s rolled right back into my spot.
“I’m going to toss you outside,” I grumble.
Mickey is dead to the world while I eye the bed, not wanting to give up Riley’s comfort for my own. So with a growl, I head to the other bedroom and jerk the door open.
“We are sharing a bed,” I announce.
Vero’s expression immediately shifts to one of irritation as he looks at me from the bed he’s already claimed. “I will not share a bed with you.”
“Then you can sleep on the floor.”
“Why don’t you sleep with the horseman? Aren’t you worried that someone might slay him in his weakened state?” he taunts.
“All the more reason to sleep next to the one who is determined to hurt him,” I growl.
Vero is all bristles as I step closer. “Don’t youdarelie down in this bed.”
“Watch me,” I snarl, flipping back the covers and staring him right in the eyes while I climb in. He jerks my pillow from me so that my head smashes against the bed when I lie down.
“Give me the pillow back,” I warn.
“I would rather burn it.”
I grab his pillow and try to yank it out from under him, but he presses his head down so hard there are veins popping on his neck.
“This is my pillow as well,” he says.
“Why the fuck do you need two pillows?”
“I’ve slept on the floor of a cell for over six months. I want these two pillows, so I will take these two pillows.”
“I will haunt you in your sleep,” I threaten while I lay my head on my pillowless side, glad this ceiling doesn’t have an atrocity hanging from it ready to suck my blood. Then Vero turns with a growl and rips the blanket right off me.
“Don’t you fuckingdare,” I hiss as I grab the tiny edge I still have left and tug it back. He kicks me hard and rips the blanket out of my hands. Anger tears through me and I leap onto the man and try my hand at strangling him before I remember that Riley wouldn’t like that very much, so I just use the momentary distraction to grab my edge of the blanket and yank it back while I roll off him.
“Will it hurt you to fuckingshare?” I demand.
