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Jari glanced at Sage, then me. “Yunez sent a scout ahead. They’re all on their way back here. It seems Aamori was alerted to our presence. As soon as she received the message, she packed up her people and started back. She’s refused to talk to Yunez.” He worried his bottom lip and scanned the hallway like she might suddenly pop out of the closet or something.
“Where’s Rand?” I glanced around, apparently also fearing a surprise closet attack from Aamori.
“He’s trying to figure out what to do with the statue, but every time he touches it, he gets zapped back.”
That just didn’t make sense. “Then how were the other mates of the Mazza able to touch it?”
We moved toward the great hall together. I started to ask if we should make it look like we weren’t here, but I guess at this point, it would be a wasted effort. After all, she knew we were here.
“Maybe because they had shards it was a smaller amount to work with?” Sage tossed out.
I paused. The stone statue as a whole was extremely powerful. It had nearly knocked me off my feet. But what if it was just a small piece on a necklace? Would that be just enough to perpetually fuel my power? And what about the other Mazza? Was she so powerful because of the rock?
Who was I kidding? She was probably powerful because she’d been trained growing up. I was trained in…. waitressing. Not a fair comparison.
“Sage, I think you’re genius. What are the chances we could hack it into smaller pieces to move it?” I resumed walking, and we picked up our pace. By the time we reached the great hall, we were almost jogging.
Nothing like a little time sensitive stress to really make a girl workout.
“Wow,” Rand breathed as he rose from a crouch by the statue.
“See, Doll? We told you that those outfits would do wonders for your relationship.” Cabbie strutted over to join our group.
I ignored him. If I didn’t acknowledge the outfit, I could pretend I wasn’t wearing it.
"How are we going to get the statue out of here before Aamori gets back? Or should we? She’s going to know that we’ve taken it.” I spun, taking in the entirety of the room. It was completely open. No cubby spaces.
“Doll, if you’d stop ignoring me, I’d tell you I have a solution.” Cabbie didn’t let me ignore him and planted himself right in front of me. I had to tip back to see his face.
I blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit embarrassed and if I didn’t acknowledge the outfit, I could pretend I wasn’t wearing it.” There. I just spit out the whole truth.
“No, you have to own it!” He gushed dramatically. “It was built for your curves and you have to work every advantage.”
“Can we get back to the solution?” Jari cut in. “They’re going to be here in ten minutes.”
“Watch.” Cabbie nodded, and a group of barely dressed Stags walked toward the statue. One even winked at me, causing Sage to step closer and curl a lip.
They placed their hands on the stone and…nothing.
“It doesn’t hurt them…” I whispered.
“The statue saves that particular pleasure for the mate bond. We’ll carry it away.” Cabbie snapped his fingers, and the men lifted it up, and started carting it out.
“That’s good and all, but what about when Aamori shows up and it’s missing?” I throw my hand out to encompass the very empty space.
“I can take care of that.” Rand waved a hand over the area and the statue was back.
“Fuck. Duh,” I said under my breath. I couldn’t keep forgetting I was in a league with magical beings. Otherwise, we’d never win.
Stepping forward, Jari and Sage both joined me as we set hands on the statue. It hummed and had the normal warmth from before, but that was really it.
“This was anticlimatic,” Sage said as he turned to me with a smile tipping his lush lips. “I feel like we should have done more.”
“Aren’t you glad the Pleasure House is on your side?” Cabbie flicked a piece of invisible lint off of his shoulder.
“Absolutely.” I grinned.
“Just remember to give me credit in your acceptance speech.”
