Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)

“Ouch.” I rubbed the spot while he just shook his head at me. “What is Cyrus up to?” I asked, thankful that the pain was fading fast. “What does he want with Emmy?”

Yael and Rome exchanged a glance, and I lowered my hand from my head in case I needed to use it for physical violence.

“Calm down, Rocks.” Rome shook his head at me. “Cyrus won’t hurt your friend. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing, though.”

I didn’t trust the Neutral God, but I also didn’t think he planned on hurting Emmy. Not yet, anyway. I’d just have to keep an eye on him … somehow. By the time I turned back to the mortal glass, Emmy was in bed, and the lamp was on the small table. I doubted that she was asleep after all of that weird, but I also didn’t need to keep watching her. She was okay for now, and that was the most important thing.

Unsure about how I was feeling, I handed the glass back to Yael. “We should get some sleep,” I decided. “Tomorrow we need to fight a bunch of sols.”

I was trying really hard not to think about that, because I wasn’t sure how I could participate. Given that my only strength was the occasional burst of uncontrollable fire, I was more worried about accidentally burning someone to death than accidently dying myself. I’d have to think of other creative ways to win. Like running. Or hiding. Or discovering the power of invisibility—which would obviously be the ideal scenario.

The two gods stood and I followed, tilting my head back to take them both in. “So, how is the bed situation going to work?”

I figured that there was no point in dancing around the issue. Lines had been drawn by the five of them while I had been listening-in, somewhat uninvited, and now the lines were starting to blur. My near-constant nakedness was probably a significant contributor to the issue, but the rest was entirely their fault. They didn’t have to walk around looking all perfect and … godly. I was just a poor, lowly dweller. That’s what it was. That’s why I couldn’t stop wondering if I was going to be allowed to sleep on top of one of them.

It was hero-worship.

Shadows danced across Yael’s face, giving him an air of mystery. “You’re going to be in the middle of us, and we’re going to make sure that Rau and Staviti don’t steal you away in the night.”

Right … in the middle. I could almost feel the sparks of Chaos wreaking havoc inside my chest, and it felt as though the room had just grown several degrees warmer. I wanted to fan my face, but that would be too obvious, so instead I turned and scurried across to the huge bed. I needed to focus, before the feeling of Chaos turned into actual Chaos and I managed to set fire to one of the Abcurses.

The decadent piece of furniture had definitely been created for the gods—probably by Staviti himself, though it was hard to imagine him decorating the interiors of marble rooms. It took me more than one try to scramble up over the side and move up near the pillows. I sprawled out on the cloud-like mattress, revelling in the feel of sheets spun from the softest of silk. Rome’s long shirt tangled around my legs as I rolled over, staring up at the marble ceiling. There was a small, open dome right above the bed that I hadn’t noticed before. I could spot the stars dotting the sky, and the faint ripple of glass that protected the room from the elements.

When I lifted my head, I realised that Rome and Yael were both still standing at the end of the bed, staring down at me. They seemed uneasy, and the strangeness of our grouping finally hit me in that moment. Rome and Yael were the least likely to break the girl-brother pact, at least when they were paired together. Yael was too competitive to share, and Rome was the easiest to rile into an argument. Especially an argument about me.

The others had somehow chosen this grouping with my discomfort firmly in mind, and that annoyed the hell out of me.

“Are you both going to sleep standing up?” I grumbled, propping myself up on my elbows. “Is this some kind of weird, true-god sleeping position? Does it keep your heads upright so that you can easily look down on everyone?”

“What got into her just now?” Rome asked Yael, turning his head to the side to talk to his brother, while his eyes stayed fixed on me. His posture was wary.

“No idea.” Yael’s voice was low, as though I might not hear him if he tricked me into thinking that the conversation was a private one. “It was very sudden. But mortal women are supposed to have mood swings. Did she not eat enough? Should I put some bread in her mouth before it gets worse?”

“Is that why you all have such good posture?” I pressed on, my voice getting louder—possibly to drown out Yael before he said anything else about what mortal women were like. “Because you sleep standing up like you might wrinkle your powerful reputation by laying down?”

“Too late.” Rome’s eyebrows shot up a little. “It got worse.”

“I think she’s nervous about sleeping with both of us.” Yael placed his hands on the end of the bed and bent down a little, his eyes catching mine. “Are you nervous, Willa-toy?”

I grabbed one of the pillows and tossed it at his face. “No, I’m not nervous. I’m …” Upset that I won’t be sleeping on top of anyone. “Hungry.”

“You just ate.” Yael was smirking now.

“You also just projected your thoughts,” Rome added dryly.

I grabbed the other pillow, but Yael shot forward and wrestled it off me, tossing it over the side of the bed and settling his weight onto me, his hands wrapping my wrists and pulling them up beside my head. The gesture was more playful than restraining, but my body didn’t really care, because his body was slowly sinking down into mine and I could feel the hardness of his stomach and chest crushing against me, as well as the nudge of his hips as I tried to fight free.

“Guess we’re sleeping without pillows tonight.” Rome’s gruff voice halted my efforts to struggle free for a click. “And she has nothing left to throw at us, so get the fuck off her, Persuasion.”

Yael’s smile flashed onto his face again, a dark gesture made even darker by the narrowing of his eyes and the tightening of his grip.

“Sweet dreams, Willa-toy,” he muttered, rolling off me and settling at my side, one of his arms folded behind his head.

Rome had a stony look on his face. He sank down onto the bed after kicking his shoes off, claiming my other side. I glanced over at Yael’s feet as he also kicked his shoes over the side of the bed. He was leaving his shirt on, but Rome’s had already been stripped away, and I was starting to tense up, wondering if they were going to undress completely.

Wait—why the hell would they undress completely?

A warm palm landed on my thigh, stilling me. I’d been fidgeting, without even realising it.