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“Just blood.”
I contained the gag. Barely. “Fine. So that smelly shit is going on our faces and we have to drink the blood.” Man, if I didn’t want Astaroth gone for real, I would rethink this whole plan.
Claudia nodded. “That’s about right, and I think we’re all in agreement that this sucks. Royally. But it’s the best we could come up with in a day.”
“Right.” I muttered a few curses. “So, who wants to go first?”
“We’re all good here,” Beth said, holding up her finger with a bandaid. “It’s just you and the fey left.”
“Alright then.” Van stepped past me, took the knife from River, and pricked his finger. Three drops of his blood fell into the stinky pot and three more in the cup. He handed the knife back to Kyra, who did the same. And then Elowen.
I went last. “I can’t do it myself.” I handed the knife back to River. I told myself I shouldn’t act like a weenie in a room filled with magically powerful people, but I couldn’t help myself. “I really, really hate this.”
River smiled at me. “I’ll be quick.” The meanie stuck me with the point of the blade.
“Ouch!” I tried to pull my hand away from him, but his grip was tight.
“Stop it,” he said with a laugh. He pressed on my finger, squeezing it until the tip turned blue.
River’s grip on my finger hurt worse than pricking it. “Be careful. I don’t know if I can regenerate fingers and I like all of mine.”
“Chérie,” Dastien chided me, and yes, maybe I was being a teeny bit ridiculous, but damn it, River was totally mangling my finger.
“It hurts,” I mumbled.
“You’re making it worse. You Weres heal so freaking quickly,” River squeezed one more drop in to the cup. “Done.”
I stuck my finger in my mouth. “Was that even sanitary?” We’d all just been poked by the same knife. What kind of fey germs did I just get?
“Don’t worry. You can’t catch anything from them,” a voice said from behind me.
I growled as I spun. Eli was grinning at me, arms folded across his white V-neck T-shirt. “You!”
“Eli!” Cosette said at the same time. “You shouldn’t pop in and out like that. It’s rude.”
He raised a brow. “Am I the only one who thinks that’s rich coming from her?”
“Nope,” I said and then instantly regretted it when Cosette scowled at me. “What? You do that all the time.” No one laughed, except Dastien and that was only through the bond.
Oh, man. I missed Meredith so damned much. She would’ve thought it was funny. I was pretty sure of it.
“Are we ready now?” Nerves rose up, making my mouth dry.
“One more thing,” Beth said, waving Claudia over. Shane and River joined them and held hands.
They said a few words in a language that sounded like the one River used before he magically slammed me into the wall.
The pot lifted off the table for a second before falling back to the table. Smoke wafted out and they dropped their hands.
Beth slumped against the table, gasping for air.
Blaze walked over to her and squeezed her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah. It’s just been a while. I’m a little rusty.”
“You’ll get it back,” Blaze said. “You’ll be okay.”
Beth gave him a quick look before she stared at the table. “I don’t know that you can say that.”
