“Fuck off, Strength,” Aros growled, moving forward so that Rome was forced to release me, my hair tangling in his fingers and forming a brief bridge between us, before it fell over my eyes.
I quickly pushed it off, and by then, Rome was already back in my face. He reached over Aros, hooking his hands beneath my arms and hauling me up and over Aros, who spun around, looking pissed.
“Whoa!” I tossed my arms up as my feet hit the ground, trying to separate the two of them. “I get that all the arena fighting probably has your adrenaline pumping, and you’re itching to get into another fight right now, but if you—” My pitiful pacification attempts died off as the breath was literally crushed right from my chest.
Aros had advanced on Rome, and the both of them seemed to have forgotten that a dweller stood right between them. Someone grabbed my shirt, wrenching me free and ripping the material in the process. That someone had been Yael. He shook his head at me, put a finger to my lips, and started dragging me away. Siret and Coen were busy trying to wrench Aros and Rome apart.
When we were clear of the others, I expected Yael to stop walking. Maybe to give me a lecture, too. But his pace only increased.
“Where are we going?” I asked, my breath surprisingly steady as I tried to keep up. Huh, that was weird.
“That wasn’t normal,” Yael muttered thoughtfully, causing me to look up at him in surprise. “Rome and Aros,” he clarified, reading the question in my eyes. “They don’t normally fight like that. Or … well, ever, really. Something is going on. That looked like chaos at work. Rau is still messing with you. I need to know why.”
Good news, then.
He chuckled, some of the tension easing from his stunning face. “Don’t worry, Willa. I won’t let anything happen to you. We liked you before, because you’re so abnormal it’s actually somehow funny … but now? After seeing you take on Coen like that? Well yeah, now we’re keeping you. It’s final.”
Warmth bubbled inside my chest, happiness almost exploding out of my body, but I quickly smothered it. “I’m not a toy.” I figured he needed reminding. “You can’t just keep me to play with whenever you want.”
“We can if you don’t run away.”
Why the hell would I run away?
“Exactly, Willa-toy.”
“Now you’re just being mean,” I accused, a frown on my face.
He grinned, casting a sideways look at me. “I’d make it up to you, but I don’t want to start fighting with my brothers just yet. Maybe later.”
What a dick.
“Now you’re just being mean.” He laughed.
Fourteen
Yael led me back into the main part of Blesswood and up to the dining area. It was time for breakfast and I realised that I was starving. Fighting a sol and being knocked unconscious does that to a girl. As we walked the long hall toward the double doors, I turned my head to look back a few times. No other Abcurses were in sight.
“Rome and Aros … are they okay?” I asked. “They’re not going to actually beat each other up, right?”
Somehow, I thought Yael would know. I was relieved that he didn’t seem to be concerned, but it was hard to read him; it always had been. He kept his emotions tightly bound, unless of course he was being competitive and losing or something.
“They’ll be fine, they just needed a little distance from you.”
I snorted. “Nice. That’s just what every girl likes to hear.”
Yael slowed his walk and faced me fully, his eyes glinting in the well-lit hall. “You’re coming into a group of gifted beings, Willa, not your average friendship. One girl and five men? You’re going to have to get used to that dynamic causing some problems. Especially while we’re all riding the wave of whatever curse Rau hit you with.”
Five! Holy crap. He was right, that was a hell of a lot of guys to have in my life, and yet, I almost couldn’t imagine them not being there. Like they had always been a part of me and the sun-cycles before were nothing more than a dream.
“If my soul is split five ways, how come I only have to be with one of you and not all of you?” I had thought this earlier, but there never seemed to be enough time to voice every question that crossed my mind.
Yael’s face went blank, very carefully blank. I knew then that he had an idea of why that was, but he wasn’t going to tell me about it. Instead, he turned and pushed back the double doors to the dining hall. Up until now, we hadn’t seen that many other Blesswood students. Most of them had long-ago left the Sacred Sand arena. Of course, they had left the arena to come to the dining hall. A hall I was now standing in the doorway of with a thousand glares shooting in my direction.
Yael strolled in like he didn’t have a care in the world, heading for their usual table, which was always empty and waiting for them. “Come on, Willa-toy, it’s time for us to eat. I’m starving.”