Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)(48)

Rome got off the bed, and as I walked over to him, he wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted me down off the high side. I practically sprinted toward the stairs that led out of the marble room as soon as my feet hit the floor.

“I’m telling the others right now!” I yelled over my shoulder.

It felt good to take some of my power back, to stand up for myself and what I wanted. The gods I had found myself tied to were very intimidating, but they weren’t going to kill me. Almost ninety-percent sure. They worked too hard to keep me alive. I was almost ninety-percent sure that I could speak freely to them.

The light outside temporarily blinded me as I pushed the door open. By the time my eyes adjusted, I had stepped out into a half-circle of Abcurses, and then I was temporarily blinded for a second time.

“Oh, hey,” I said casually, sliding my hands into my pockets.

Except I didn’t have pockets, so they just slid down the sides of Rome’s shirt. Four sets of eyes followed the movements, before they ran across my no-doubt scruffy bed-hair and swollen lips. They then switched their focus to something above my head. Rome.

“We need to talk,” I started, but Aros interrupted before I could say anything.

“What did you do?” His accusatory statement was directed over my head.

I waited for Rome to deny what they were all thinking, but he didn’t say anything.

“You broke the pact, and I told you what would happen last night.” Yael sounded casual, but his stance was anything but.

“Stop it!” I demanded, moving back so that my body was pressed against Rome’s. That was the only thing I could think of to keep him safe.

I could have sworn then that Yael looked upset—his lashes fluttered a few times, and darkness washed through his green eyes. I hated seeing him like that, but I also wasn’t able to move because I knew that Rome was moments away from being pummelled by his brothers.

“She thinks she’s protecting my dick,” Rome growled out. “Maybe if you back off a little and listen to what she has to say, we can all get on with the rest of the sun-cycle.”

Siret looked even angrier. “Protecting your dick from what?”

For the love of everything Topian—did everyone really need to keep saying ‘dick’ so much? The word barely even had any meaning at this point.

“Rome and I did not break the pact!” I shouted it so loudly that I swear a gasping Jeffrey fell off a nearby floating marble platform. I held out a hand then, toward Yael, and he eyed it for a beat before placing his hand into mine. I pulled him closer to me. The others followed until I was sandwiched in the middle of an Abcurse circle. They weren’t all pressing into me, their shoulders were too broad for that, but they were all close now.

“You all made the pact for the sake of the group, right?” I asked, working to lower my tone now that I had their attention.

There were a few grunts of affirmation, and I waited a little longer to see if any of them had anything more substantial to add before I asked my next question.

“And I’m part of the group now, right?”

A few more grunts.

“So if the pact is all about respecting the dynamic of the group and stopping fights … then shouldn’t I be included in the whole pact-deciding process?”

Silence was my only answer, until Coen straightened away from the huddle to frown down at me. “You want to break the pact. With Strength. That’s what this is about?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the other three pulled away from me as well, and Yael turned as though he might start toward Rome again. I quickly re-captured his arm and rushed out, “No, that’s not what this is about. This is about the fact that I should get a say in this as well. I don’t want to cause fights or mess up the bond you all have with each other, but you all know that there’s more. With me. With us.”

I flicked my eyes from Yael, to Aros, to Coen, and then to Siret. Each of them wore distinctly cautious expressions, but the suspicion and anger was starting to fade away. I could feel Yael’s arm becoming less tense beneath my fingers, and Coen’s fists were loosening by his sides. They weren’t jealous of each other in that moment—they were satisfied that I was showing them an even amount of attention and giving them all equal focus. With that thought in mind, I released Yael’s arm and stepped more toward the middle of their grouping.

“You’re not our brother,” Aros finally spoke up, his tone solid, certain. “That’s why it’s different. You act like one of us, but you’re not our blood and you’re … you. So it’s natural that we might develop a different kind of relationship.”

“Essential actually,” Siret added. “You’re special. You’re the only person we’ve invited into our group. The only person who has been allowed to get this close. You’re like an outsider who belongs inside, so we brought you further in than we even bring each other, to make up for the fact that you weren’t born one of us.”

I blinked at him, a little surprised at the emotional analysis. I had no idea that Siret had been thinking so much about my place within their group.

“Whatever the reason,” I glanced over Aros’s shoulder to make sure Rome was still standing there, “I’m still a part of the group, and there’s still more to us than a girl-brother friendship. All of us. I know you don’t want to cause fights, but I don’t want to be told what to do with my body and who I’m allowed to do it with—”