Page 157 of War and his Queen

The door swings open from behind us.

“Ten minutes are up! It’s our turn!”

War rolls his eyes, standing to his full height while using one hand to lift me, his lips never leaving mine. His tongue swipes over my own before he gently lowers my feet to the ground.

He kisses my forehead. “See you tomorrow.”

Then he’s gone.

Stella and River part, revealing Evie, her worried eyes on me. I shift to the person beside her.

Luna is dressed in casual yoga pants and a loose knit jersey. “I can leave! I was just coming to see if you guys were okay…”

“No!” I shake my head, waving her in. “I’d rather not tell this story ever again after today, so come in. Since you’re, like—” My head cocks. “Half a King?”

Luna steps into the room as Evie closes the door behind herself. I can feel her. She already knows something is wrong and that what I’m about to tell her is going to upset her. I think the hardest part about sharing any kind of trauma with people is sometimes, we don’t want to have to give the ones we love the pain that we’ve held on to.

This wouldn’t usually be a problem, if your family wasn’t an army of killers.

War

Priest blazesthe tip of his cigarette. We were supposed to be in and out, but once we got here, there was a new load waiting for us. The note read:

Your entrée for tomorrow night.

– Thorn

Then, well. We knew we had to see what it was. Even with tomorrow night looming in the background, whatever Archer Thorn had sent here to Perdita had to be of importance.

I keep my eyes glued into the distance, as theparceldances off into the dark forest ahead. They’re laughing, their smiles illuminating against the moonlight.

Vaden tosses back his drink, lowering the glass onto the steps of the Perdita mansion. “Mom is working on the new translations of what Halen gave her.”

I freeze, my eyes flying to Priest who is already watching me.

“She got some of it last night. Turns out, the first translations that we read of drinking the Carva during the ritual wasn’t correct. She’s going to text us all once she’s translated it.”

“That’s not good…” I taste the words in my mouth. Our parents had dragged their feet to hold off on the ritual for years after Saint had translated the first booklet and it revealed that upon the drinking process, there had to be a sacrifice of one’s soul. What we had thought, up until right now, I’m guessing, was after we took the herb, the curse would find the soul most deserving of its pain.

We weren’t to say which of us got it.

We weren’t to speak of it upon waking from the slumber, and the only person who would remember what they saw while they were out, was the person it clung to. None of us believed in the bullshit and after we all woke, we all agree that none of us saw shit while we were out.

If it were true, pretty sure it’s an obvious choice who it would go to.

Priest. We wouldn’t even notice since he’s already fucked up.

“Too late now,” Priest shrugs his shoulders. “We’ve all already taken it.”

Truth.

“Why are they dumb?” I blink at the two women, ignoring the boy. “You think they’re Bakers?”

“Nah.” Vaden regards them closely. “They’re too… normal. They’re annoying.”

Their giggles ripple through the night as the whiskey burns my throat. None of us have said a word about Halen since we left. I think we’ve all silently agreed to leave it in the room, at least until tomorrow.

Priest winces. “It’s like nails to a fucking chalkboard. You give them the right drug?”

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