Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)(52)

“Thank you for helping us.” I turned to him, trying to be diplomatic. “I’m ready for the link to be reinstated now.”

“Good.” He glanced from me to the others, and then seemed to change his mind, striding for the door. “Get dressed and meet me in the next cube. Alone. This doesn’t need to be a fucking group affair. It’s a simple enchantment, and I’d like to keep it that way—simple, I mean. The last time I needed seven people to do an enchantment, it was to fix the illusion that someone created to convince all the gods that they had woken up with the wrong set of genitals.”

“You can’t prove it was me!” Siret shouted after him, as Cyrus passed through into the hallways, slamming the door behind him.

The rest of the tension in the room drained almost immediately.

“Cube?” I questioned aloud, choosing to ignore the mention of genitals. Talking about them always seemed to get me into trouble.

“That’s what they call the marble residences,” Coen informed me, almost in an off-hand manner. He seemed to be distracted as he moved to the door, grabbing Rome’s arm as he passed. “Siret, put some clothes on her before it’s too late and she gets called to the arena without the soul-link intact. We’ve done enough fucking around.” He opened the door, motioned Rome to go ahead of him, and then turned to glance at me over his shoulder. “We’re going to have a quick meeting in Trickery’s cube—we’ll see you out on the platform after you’re done with Neutral.”

I felt like questioning his suddenly brisk and almost sterile attitude, but closed my mouth and nodded instead. I thought I understood already: we had an unprecedented arena match to prepare for, but instead, we were fighting like we were in the thirteenth life-cycle. Well, the rest of us were fighting. Coen was apparently being responsible and acting his age—whatever that was.

Yael and Aros followed him out, leaving me with Siret, who placed his hands on my shoulders and shook his head at me.

“Your Chaos is a force to be feared, Soldier. Only you would end up in a bather with a Neutral god completely by accident.”

“Now that I know about the Chaos … it’s almost unbelievable that I didn’t suspect it earlier,” I told him, watching his face for a reaction. “I really should have just stopped one sun-cycle—probably after setting something on fire through almost impossible means—and thought to myself: you know what, there really is only one possible explanation to this. I must be a race-less hybrid with the power of a god. Because why not? Right?”

He cracked a smile, and I felt the trickle of his magic over my skin as he loosened the towel I’d wrapped around myself. I felt the material drop at my feet, but he kept his eyes firmly on my face, which had me breaking out into a matching smile.

“I think that’s a very logical explanation to come up with.” He pulled back and looked me over with a nod as I felt the fresh wrap of cloth settle against me. “And with the way you’re dressed right now, I would totally have believed it. Now get our damn soul-link restored properly so that we can hear your disastrous thoughts a little more clearly. They’ve been coming and going ever since Cyrus messed with the link in the first place.”

I quickly glanced down at myself—taking in the boots that were definitely the ass-kicking type, and the soft leather pants and tight black top that he had woven onto me like a second skin.

“You’re brilliant at this.” I could feel my smile widening as I turned to walk backwards toward the door—an admittedly dangerous endeavour, but it was hard to drag my eyes away from his tousled hair and the bright focus in his eyes. “Thanks, Five.”

“Don’t let him touch you,” Siret warned me, becoming serious again. “Not any more than necessary.”

“He’s not exactly a horrible pervert who preys on rogue dwellers.” I reached for the handle and pulled open the door with a flourish, because the ass-kicking boots were giving me some serious confidence. “I think he just likes to tease me. And I don’t think he’s interested in me—I think he’s interested in what I represent.”

“Rogue dweller?” Siret was grinning again. “Is that what you represent?”

“No.” I pulled my head up a little in defence of my title. “I represent a flaw in the drive for perfection.”

Both of Siret’s brows shot up, and he took a few long strides to the doorway, until he was looking down on me from a height again. He compensated by lifting my chin and bringing my eyes to his.

“You’ve thought about this,” was all he said, his tone wiped of emotion.

I tried to nod, but his finger on my chin prevented the movement. “I have. A little. I mean … I didn’t write a sonnet about it or anything, but yeah I thought about it.”

“Tell me what you thought,” he demanded quietly.

I was starting to get embarrassed now, so I quickly forced the words out before I could stumble over them. “You’re all Original Gods—even more original than the others because you were created as children, and you grew up on Topia. They were created, too, but as adults. As beings that were already fully formed. You five are different. Topia formed you, and from what I gather, the magic of the gods isn’t so much in the gods, but in Topia itself.”

I paused when Siret’s mouth dropped open, but he quickly wiped the surprised look off his face and tapped my chin again.