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Ram rubbed his arm again and then met my gaze with sorrow and worry in his eyes. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but we have to. Juniper mentioned that Free Jinx is in trouble.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you care? You don’t even know what it is.”
“Brinhilde wrote to me to say the community you started was better than the one I ran.” His mouth twitched as though he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or frown. “That she felt safe for once.”
I wanted to say aww and hug myself and cry all at once. The place I had built meant so much to the Eclipses, and yet, it might be the thing that killed them.
“And Azea wrote me to say… choice words that you don’t need to hear about,” Ram added.
I knew what she thought. She had moved into Free Jinx and then burned down half the buildings before fleeing. She was a true believer in Ram’s plan to control the world’s magic and was fucking pissed that I had helped stop it.
“You did well to start Free Jinx,” Ram said.
“You don’t give a shit about it,” I said. “If it’s collapsing and portals are opening in Silver Springs, someone stole the Astrosmos.”
“I swear on my mother’s grave that I had nothing to do with it!”
My eyes widened. “Did she die?”
He hesitated. “Okay, fine, she didn’t. But she bought a plot in a cemetery and that counts, right?”
I crossed my arms. “So you swear on some grass?”
“I swear on my magic that I had nothing to do with stealing the Astrosmos. May my magic vanish if I lied.”
I scoffed. “If only the world worked that way.”
Ram ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up at wild angles. “Look, I failed my group of outcasts, but if I can save yours, I will. If any of them are alive in a bubble dimension, I’ll help you rescue them.”
“I’ll help you” were not words I had heard often in my life, and it made my heart feel sore and squishy like poking a bruise. But I wasn’t going to show Ram any of that. I pulled myself up to my full height.
“What about Juniper?”
He spoke through clenched teeth. “I’ll help save Juniper too.”
“Will you try to kill her when we find her?”
“She tried to kill me first!” Ram said, exasperated.
“No, she tried to stop you from stealing magic from every random supe you came across. She even let you go after kicking your ass.”
He fisted his hands at his sides and groaned. “Fine. I won’t attack her unless she attacks me first.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him. It wouldn’t be the first time he lied about his intentions, but it was the best I could hope for to save Juniper and the Eclipses.
“To be clear,” he added. “I’m not doing this for Juniper. I’m doing it for you and only you.”
Chapter 19
Itsoundedlikesomeonewas hopping behind me, so I turned to see Moe skipping up to me. He wore a knit sweater covered in yellow duckies. It was so small on him that I wondered how he had managed to get it on. It only went to his elbows and halfway down his torso, turning it into a crop top.
Which worked on him. My gaze followed his trail of blond hair down his stomach to the waistband of a pair of new jeans. For a moment, I forgot about Ram and Juniper. I just wanted to follow that trail of hair with my tongue.
“Here are the price tags,” Moe said, handing them to Ram. “I’ll pay you back with intervest.”
Ram frowned. “Do you mean interest?”
“It’s not very interesting, no. It’s just the money you give someone as thanks for lending you money. I’ll pay you once I find a job. I’m good at getting jobs. Not great at keeping at them.”
