Page 38 of Can you take it?

Every shameless, horny part of me yearned to hear her call me that name again. I wouldn’t be stupid though. I knew if she were to ever show me any kindness again, it was only to get the pendant from me. Either way though, she was right. The inner turmoil I was having with myself was apparently embarrassingly obvious. “I enjoy being considered a hero,” I said, continuing to stare into the distance at what looked like more thorny black bushes being blown in a breeze I didn’t feel.

“Do you?” Her silky alto voice held a note of accusation. I turned around to face her. “I do. It’s just my personality.

Why would I act a certain way if I didn’t like it?” I snapped.

She put her hands up in surrender, but the corners of her pink lips lifted in a gloating fashion. “Tell me about my sister,” she said, catching me off guard.

“I don’t want to talk about your sister. Besides, someone just told me that’s all I talk about.” My jaw clenched so tightly that my teeth ground together. There were many reasons why I didn’t want to talk about Cal with her; our recent fight was just one of them.

“Ah, I see,” she said, pursing her mouth. I caught the undertone of her words.

“That’s not why I don’t want to talk about her with you. I’m not in love with her,” I snapped.

She chuckled as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Do whatever you want.” Something in her defense wasn’t quite strong enough to hide the soft disappointment on her face, and after a minute, I caved.

“What do you want to know about her?” I asked, looking out to the battlefield. Walter held a man in front of him while Eletha beat the crap out of him. It was oddly one of the sweeter moments I’d witnessed between the two of them. They were even laughing together as crimson blood sprayed their faces.

Anna turned to face me, and it took everything I had not to turn back around with the weight of her full attention on me. It was hard to think about anything else. I would die three more times before I admitted it, but I couldn’t stop picturing her nearly naked body from the night we almost slept together. Would she have gone that far for the pendant? Had everything between us that night been just to get the pendant? It sure hadn’t felt like it, but what did I know? She was so pretty; this was probably her easiest manipulation tactic.

I couldn’t explain it. Something about the features of her face—the special light that sparkled in her eyes, the pinkness of her lips—when she was this close to me, it was hard for me to pay attention to anything else. I also couldn’t help but imagine all the things I would have done to her that night had we not been stopped when we were this close.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked.

I felt my cheeks heat. I was imagining what it would feel like to be inside of you. “Because you had a bug on your face,” I said, flicking a spot of nothing off her cheek. I regretted it instantly. The moment my fingertips brushed her soft skin, they wanted to stay there, and for a moment, my hand lingered. She was too close. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, the chemistry between us had created tension. “Why do you have to be so evil?” I whispered under my breath absently. She shoved my hand away and turned back to face the violence.

“What have I ever done to you that was evil?” she snapped, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Two large moths, the same fuzzy pink-and-yellow kind that I’d seen before, fluttered around her.

“What are those?” I asked, pointing to them.

“They are my moths,” she grumbled, letting one of the larger ones climb onto her finger. She held her arm out, and the thing flew away. It was the fluffiest, cutest moth I’d seen, and somehow that only left me more confused. “Rosy maple moths. They follow me everywhere.”

“They match your hair,” I said absently as I watched her lift the second from her armor and repeat her process of sending it away, but not before giving it a little stroke on its fluffy yellow head. I rolled my eyes at the obvious show. The rulers of the Underworld didn’t have fuzzy pink moths that they snuggled and kissed as their symbols. It was an act, and an obvious one at that.

“Where are my monarchs, then? Where are Walter’s luna moths?” I asked.

She had the nerve to make her cheeks pinken. “Occasionally, the Unseelie moths hang out around Eromreven.”She shrugged. “The monarchs never seem to follow the Seelie down here.”

“But yours do?” I grumbled. “I don’t remember seeing those in Moirai with the other Artemi. Their moths were clear and glass-like.” The more I thought about it, the more perplexed I was. “Why would you have a different symbol than the Artemi?”

She looked at me for a minute as if she were deciding whether or not to answer me. “Because I’m the only one with the rosy maple moths as a symbol. Some say it’s because my power surpasses the Artemi and makes me something else entirely. When my father Kaohs would tattoo his favorites, he would infuse protection and love into their tattoos to keep them safe with him forever. With my mother, he said he added so much love into her mark that it turned my hair and my moths pink. I like to think he had something to do with my creation, whether it’s true or not.” She smiled into the distance with the most genuine, sweet-looking grin. “Back to why you think I’m evil,” she said, throwing cold water on the moment. “Oh, let’s think; you seduced me and tried to steal my pendant,” I said, pretending to count on my fingers.

“My pendant,” she volleyed back. “And you seduced me.”

“I what?” I said, completely taken aback. “You pretended to be a prostitute to rob me!”

“Oh, and I’m sure that’s the first time that’s ever happened to you,” she snapped.

“That’s not the point.”

“What else have I done to you?” she questioned.

“Let’s see, you killed harmless animals for fun.” I continued ticking off my fingers.

“I told you, I put them to sleep. I stunned them. They’ll awaken more powerful than they were before they went to sleep. Those lightning bugs will be able to power the light in three rooms,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I said loudly. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” she said louder. “Telling the truth about what? Cal? What does it matter?”

I rolled my eyes, always a very mature response.