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“I think maybe you’re being a cranky biotch because you don’t like that I screwed around with Holden. ”
“It wasn’t the right thing to do. ”
“Are you saying that as an oracle, because you have a reason to know it wasn’t right, or are you saying it as a female whose heart got punted around like a soccer ball by a vampire?”
Calliope was quiet.
“I think she’s mad,” piped in a voice on the opposite side of me, nearly giving me a heart attack.
Brigit was curled up next to me, her head balanced on her hand, watching the back and forth between the Oracle and me like it was a tennis match. She also solidified my theory this must be a dream.
“What the hell, Bri?”
“Oh, ha, yeah…” She chuckled and shrugged one shoulder, looking like she’d just been busted for something but also projecting absolute innocence. “She can’t get into your head on her own. ” Brigit tapped my temple. “But since you and I are bonded, she can get to you through me. ” She smiled again, sheepishly. “Are you mad?”
“No, I’m not mad. ” Though I did sigh.
It was a clever way for Calliope to get in. In that sense, this wasn’t a dream per se, more of an intrusion into my head on the subconscious level. I was asleep, but they weren’t a manifestation of my own mind. They were speaking for themselves.
Similar to the way Holden used to sneak in.
“Okay, good,” Brigit said, with evident relief. “I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea, but she sort of insisted, and…well…she’s kinda scary. ” My former ward looked across me to Calliope, who stared back like she didn’t know what to make of the girl. I often felt the same way. Brigit was often so earnest it felt like an act. But it was just Brigit.
“She is kinda scary,” I agreed.
Calliope shook her head. “This is absurd. ”
“You’re the one who decided to use her,” I cautioned.
“Well, you took my only other option with you. And then had sex with him. ”
“Cal…”
“Let me guess. Something came over you. You lost all sense of right and wrong. The only thing that mattered was being with him, and by God, come hell or high water you wer
e going to do it. Am I close?”
I swallowed the pit forming in my throat. “At first, yes. But when we actually did the deed, it had nothing to do with Aubrey. ”
“That’s what you think, but Aubrey has a gift. My gift is seeing the future, his is exploiting desire. Not just sexual desire, but whatever it is he can see as being the greatest weakness in someone’s armor. He’ll do whatever he can to make them yield to it. If it’s a lust for power, he’ll use that. A need to be loved, he’ll tap into it until he can use a person like a puppet. With you it was your stupid need to be with that vampire. You two have been dancing around the damned topic for over a week, and it must have been at the forefront of your mind. So he put you both in a situation to see if you would resist or yield. ”
“And you think I caved like a Chilean mine. ”
“Yes. ”
“But I wanted to—”
“Regardless of whether or not the spell made you do the act, you showed Aubrey that Holden mattered to you. ”
“Anyone with eyes should know Holden matters to me. ”
She sighed, uncrossed her arms and gave me a sad look. “Do you know why he does it?”
“To be a prick?” I suggested.
“To prove he knows how to best you. ”
I sat up and wished my subconscious had conjured me some clothes. As it was I had to keep the blanket pinned to my chest unless I wanted to give the ladies an up-close-and-personal introduction to my girls.
