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“You did what, brother?” Xavier turns to him.
Essos was never the vengeful type. He was more likely to settle a fight than to start one and was the last to get involved when something came to blows.
“I removed his tongue. I warned him of the consequences of treating my wife poorly, and he insisted on being disrespectful. Without a tongue, he cannot be disrespectful. I fail to see the problem.”
“The problem is, if you want him to effectively help Catalina, he needs to have a conversation with her and for that, he needs his tongue,” Xavier argues.
Rafferty, meanwhile, looks like he’s turning purple with rage.
“I disagree. He did a fine job of using his powers without words when he got here,” I point out. It’s childish, but I stick out my tongue at him. I think Rafferty might turn another color at my insult.
“He also seems to be under the impression that Daphne is not my wife and will need to complete the Trialsagainin order to wed me. Dear brother, I told him he must be mistaken.”
“For once, Essos, can the world not revolve around you?” Xavier snaps.
“Oh, that’s rich, X, coming from the god whose wife started an uprising because you were incapable of keeping it in your pants.” Essos stands up straighter. He’s no doubt annoyed that he has to defend himself in his own home.I’mannoyed he has to defend himself in his own home. At the same time, this brotherly bickering does give me a feeling of normalcy. I can pretend things aren’t too dire if they’re able to argue like this.
“You boys can take it out and measure later,” Cat interjects. “If my opinion counts for anything, which, given the way you’re all talking about me, it doesn’t, I don’t want anyone messing with my head.”
Rafferty keeps gesturing at his mouth, and with a petulant shake of his head, Essos returns his tongue.
“Might I, the God of Memory, provide my input?” Rafferty asks.
“No!” the four of us say in unison, essentially blocking him out of the conversation.
“I hate all of you,” he grouses before dropping into the window seat.
“Get in line,” I snap. Then I turn to Cat and take her hands. “This is entirely your decision. I will support you if you want to discuss options with Rafferty, and I will super support you if you want to kick him out of my house. For what it’s worth, I think you should talk to him. I don’t know if facing your past lives will help or if it will only hurt. I don’t know if you want to just lock those memories away. But you should know what youcanchoose, and you should know none of us will look down on you for that choice.”
“But who am I really? I’m Olivia Romonova, I’m Agnes Ceruli, I’m Sinead O’Brien, I’m Temperance Booth—I’m hundreds of lives, with parents and siblings, and I don’t even know whoIam anymore. What if I just make everything worse?” she whispers.
“You are Catalina Mason. You are my best friend. You are who you want to be.” I squeeze her hands, hoping I’m getting through to her.
“Whatisgoing to be worse is if you’re unable to control your powers and you hurt Daphne or someone else. You won’t be able to live with yourself. Your emotions are tied to your powers—I imagine that’s why I woke up surrounded by rose petals.” Xavier is trying to spark something in her, but Cat retreats further.
“Sorry, Xav, that was me. I just can’t control these pregnancy dreams.” I flip my hair over my shoulder with a wink. “Goddess of Spring and all that.”
Essos startles. “I’m sorry, did you just say you were dreaming of my brother?”
“Not only him,” I reassure Essos. I’m teasing them both. The dream I had was less about sex and more about turning people who pissed me off into topiaries. I guess Xavier made the cut.
“I don’t know which scenario is more troubling,” Essos muses mostly to himself while pinching the bridge of his nose.
“We’re getting off track,” Xavier snaps, though I see a touch of pink on his cheeks. Is the Casanova king embarrassed by the idea of me having sex dreams about him? “You should at least hear your options from Rafferty.”
“Will it make you go away?” Cat asks Xavier.
He’s so unprepared for that response that he doesn’t mask the hurt. It’s gone in a flash, but Cat must have seen it because she looks away from him.
“If that’s what you want, then yes.”
“Fine.” Cat faces Rafferty, freezing Xavier out. “Hi, Rafferty. My memory is broken. Can you fix it?”
“Let’s see if I can.” He glances at the rest of us. “You should leave us, and have lunch sent up. Something vegan. I abhor meat.”
I narrow my eyes at him but flash the coziest smile I can. “Of course. I’ll have food sent to the library.”
“And when you’re done talking with Catalina, we will have a discussion about what you can actually do for mywife.”
