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“Very good,” he says reassuringly. But our definitions of very good are vastly different. Etrix is great, he truly is, but where I value life in all forms, he does not.None of them do, really.Ryes snorts again, and I reach down to ruffle his hair.“My dad is so happy we escaped unscathed, which is what he said in his press conference. Fucking useless—”
“A lot of rebels were murdered,” Eirik says, glaring at his brother from his place on the armchair as he takes over the explanations. “As they should be. A lot of the castle guards got hurt in the crossfire—”
“By you,” Mael says, leaning forward in his chair, to wink at me. “I love how bloodthirsty your magicae is, Ellie baby, even if you were hitting the wrong people.”
“I never killed anyone by accident,” I say as Zohar drops my wrist with a nod. He’s happy with my pulse, and my vitals. That’s a relief.
I expended a lot of magicae last night—both in killing those people and in bonding with seven out of my eight mates. Mael did have to go through the bonding again, but I only did that to help tie him to the others.
“I’ve got so much to say about your thoughts,” Ryes says, shifting around to look at me properly. His tone is excited, joyous, even, and the big grin on his face echoes that. Helovesthat I murdered people, even if it makes me nervous. I shrug meekly.
“Well, let’s start with the murdering people on purpose,” Necos asks, blinking in shock. He’s on one end of the sofa, Jasper on the other, and he’s leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees. His eyes are raking over me, blinking in surprise when I don’t immediately take my words back. “You killed theguardson purpose?”
“Well… the men I killed were on purpose,” I say, biting my lip as tears well up in my eyes. “Not like on purposepurposebecause it’s not like I’m happy they died, but my magicae just did what needed to be done.” I blink, trying to force the tears away, but it doesn’t work.
Mael curses as Ryes kicks Necos for being the one to make me cry. But it’s not his fault. It’s mine for being a vicious killer.
Ciar walks into the room with a glass of water and spots my upset expression before a literal smoke cloud appears in his hands. The way he went from zero to a hundred is shocking, but that’s just because I’m stupid.
I shouldn’t be surprised that my dark witchanima nexumwants to protect me.
“Who the fuck hurt her?” he roars, spinning to glare at Jasper. My earth mate raises both hands in defence, shaking his head adamantly.
“It wasn’t me,” Jasper says. “I swear it. I’ve not even spoken yet.”
“I caused myself to start crying,” I say, and Ciar looks at me in shock. The smoke disappears because he doesn’t know how to tell me off for making myself cry. It’s adorable, and makes me giggle despite the tears running down my face.
His face drops, and I don’t need the mental connection to hear the way he’s thinking about me. Yes, I know that I’m a hysterical mess.
But I’m not just that. “I’m a murderer,” I choke out.
“Me too,mo sholas,” he says, coming to sit on the sofa with me. I sit up, and he smiles at me with that cheeky grin that only he can pull off and still look sane. “You’re in good company, Zoe. I think hippy green over there is the only one who isn’t a murderer, and honestly, does that surprise you?”
“I’ve killed before,” Jasper scoffs, an outrageously offended look appearing on his face. His brows scrunch together, his nose wrinkling as he crosses his arms over his chest, causing his muscles to bulge.Bad Zoe. Stop sexualising youranima nexum.
Necos and Eirik are the only two who don’t burst into laughter. They’re acting like this is the funniest joke ever, and not in complete repulsion.
Not that I have the right to judge anyone these days.
“Sure you have,plant puero,” Ryes says with a flippant wave as he continues chuckling. “What did you do? Poison a plant?” In an exaggerated whisper he goes, “I know the plants are like real people to you, but they’re not actually human. It’s okay if your powers failed you.”
“No,” Jasper says, narrowing his eyes at him. “I killed my father.Withmy bare hands, thank you very much.”
Ryes beams at him, and I know that Jasper has somehow managed to sway my air mate into being friends. I know that is something I should worry about, but right now, I’m just going to pretend not to notice.
I’m too mentally drained to take on a future worry.
I take a sip of the water in the glass Ciar gave me, and he gently rubs my back. I love how he can flip from a murderous rage to a sweet and caring boyfriend act.
“It’s not an act,”he replies, and I give him an apologetic look.“How are you feeling,mo sholas?”
I love that he’s resorted to the mind link to check in on me. It’s like we’re in our own little bubble, and I don’t need to worry. There’s never any judgement from Ciar.
“Off,”I reply, and he purses his lips. It’s not hard to know where his mind has gone.“I feel good about um, the bondings, even if I wasn’t ready to brand everyone.”
“Well, we love them, and at least you were mostly out of it,”he says, spinning a positive outlook on this. For someone who claims to live in the darkness, he’s pretty optimistic where things are concerned with me.“Only for you, Zoe, only for you.”
I give him a weak smile.“But everything else is majorly overwhelming.”
