Chapter 108

“Oh geeze,” I say, my eyes fixed on my sad little slug ex, perched there in Faiza’s hand. I take a big gulp of my coffee and then set it aside on the table, looking around at my friends for perspective.

But Anton, Orion, and Laila just look at me with wide eyes and blank faces, letting me take the lead.

“Okay,” I say with a sigh, gesturing towards Faiza with a heavy hand. “Boy-ify him again.”

She grins and shifts her gaze to the slug, who morphs before our eyes, taking human shape and standing before us as the brown-and-grey shade that he was before.

But gone is the defiance and the sneering contempt he had for me. Instead, Blythe stands with his head hanging, his arms limp at his side, and –

My mouth falls open and I lean forward when I hear him sniff –

Because – is he – is he…crying!?

“Oh my god,” I say, leaning back against the couch cushions and crossing my arms over my chest, flushing red, feeling completely horrible. I mean, he was a jerk, and I wanted him to suffer. But this big bad Alpha crying!?

God, I’m such a bitch.

“So, how’d it go?” Faiza asks, tucking her hands neatly behind her back and grinning at Blythe, delighted. I wish, quite suddenly, that I could be as heartless as she.

Blythe shakes himself, working hard to keep it together, but he keeps his head hanging and just shakes it, declining to talk.

“Blythe,” I say, leaning forward towards him, guilt rushing through every inch of me.

At my voice he slowly raises his head so that I can see the sad downturn of his lips, his misty eyes, the dampness of his cheeks. “It was horrible, June.”

“Oh, god, Redman,” I sigh, getting to my feet and storming over to him. I reach for him but then hesitate at the last, knowing I can’t touch him and also recalling that these brownish-beige ghosts tend to steal my lifeforce when I try. So I just cross my arms again and sigh, looking up into his face. “Go on. Tell us everything.”

“I’m so sorry, June,” he says on a devastated little sigh. “I – I always thought I was so tough – and that the only thing that mattered was what I wanted – I never…” he sniffs, hard. “I never…thought about what it meant to you. I only thought about me. I was so…jealous, and envious. I just wanted what you had and I was willing…to lie to you to get it. I treated you so horribly.”

“It’s okay,” I say, my shoulders slumping. I tighten my hands beneath my arms, resisting the itch in my fingers that tells me to reach out to him, to give him comfort. “I forgive yo-“

“Ew, no, June!” Faiza says, giving me a little shove with the tips of her fingers. I spin my head, appalled to see a disappointed frown on her face. “Boo! I liked you better all merciless and cruel –“

“Fazia, he’s sorry –“

“Oh no he’s not, he’s just got a slug hangover,” she replies, rolling her eyes. Then she fixes them on Blythe. “He’ll get over it in a few days and be a jerk all over again.”

“Oh, no he won’t – he’s genuinely contrite!” I counter, frowning at her, starting to get mad.

“He so will!” Faiza says, casting out a hand towards him. “The rapacious masculine desire to strip women of everything they’ve got in order to better their own situation runs deep in this particular breed of Alpha jerk –“

“That’s so not true!” I gasp, slapping a hand to my heart.

“You have just spent too much time in the company of nice Alphas,” Faiza says, leaning forward towards me, somehow managing to give me a glare and a smile at the same time. “I mean, your Tony-boy wouldn’t do it, but isn’t your other boyfriend in a game where nineteen women die so he can marry one?”

“Not anymore,” Orion grumbles, glaring at Faiza from his chair.

“Yeah,” I say, smirking smugly at the Priestess. “I fixed him.”

“You did?” Faiza asks, tilting her head to the side. Then she takes a step back from me, looking me up and down, her eyes shifting subtly like she’s no longer looking at me, but through me.

“Well I’ll be,” she murmurs, suddenly fascinated by what she sees. Then, to my shock and delight, Faiza dips into a low bow at the waist, casting her hand elaborately to the side. “Welcome to the table, finally, your Highness.”

My wolf preens inwardly at this attention, even if I don’t fully understand her phrase and will have to give it some serious thought later. Because I’m becoming more and more aware that this Faiza – she says nothing casually, and nothing by mistake.

I quickly glance at Anton and he nods sharply to me, letting me know he caught it too and he’s on it.

So I turn back to Faiza, playing along. “You may rise,” I say, quite magnanimous.

She does so, grinning at me. But I turn back to Blythe, the true problem at hand.

“So,” I say, studying him a bit as I lean back, trying to figure out what to do. He’s still…incredibly handsome, but certainly missing now some of the swagger and confidence that leant him his charm. “What happened? When you were a slug?”

He lifts his eyes to mine, horrified. “You’re going to make me tell you?”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Yes, Blythe, obviously. We don’t have a TV here, you’re the best we’ve got.”

He looks around at everyone else in the room, who just wait with barely contained curiosity. So he sighs, looking back at me, realizing there’s no way out.

“Well, I was a slug, obviously,” he mutters, discontented. “And…I found myself suddenly in a playground. Outside of a school.”

“Was it sunny or raining?” Anton asks, leaning forward.

Blythe just looks at him like he’s insane.

“I’m trying to establish a mental picture here, Blythe,” Anton says, tapping his temple and looking at Blythe like it’s obvious. “Come on! We need details.”

“It was sunny,” Blythe says on a heavy sigh. “All three days it was sunny. Which made it…worse.”

“Why?” Laila asks, fascinated.

“Because…it means the children came out every day,” he says, his voice cracking on the words. My wolf goes still in me and I find myself bizarrely caught between horror and the desire to just…

Fall to the ground in hysterical laughter.

“They…they found me, like immediately,” he says, lifting his hands to his eyes, and covering them. “And they screamed and ran around – I could feel the vibrations of their feet on the ground – and they poked me with sticks – I was so afraid, but I couldn’t even cry out -“

Fascinated and horrified, I watch my ex-fiance go to emotional pieces as he recounts his experience.

“The first day wasn’t so bad,” he whispers. “Girls caught me – and they made me a little house, and they fed me…fed me leaves…”

“Oh my god,” Anton whispers, his voice echoing my exact emotions.

“But the next day,” Blythe continues, “the…the boys found me…and they brought…salt…”

I gasp, smacking my hands over my mouth. Laila gives a little shriek of horror, doing the same.

“They trapped me,” Blythe says, his voice shaking. “And they –“

“Enough, enough!” I shriek, stumbling forward towards him, not wanting to hear it. “Okay! I’ve heard enough!”

He drops his hands fromm his face, staring at me with a great deal of awe and horror and fascination. “I’m so sorry, Juniper,” he whispers, shaking his head. “I’ll – I’ll never be bad again – please, just don’t send me back there –“

“I won’t, okay!” I snap, shaking my head fervently, just…kind of desperate for the story to end. “You’re…forgiven, all right? Sentence served! No more…slugging. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he says, his head dropping in sudden relief.

“Oh god,” I say, crossing my arms again, my shoulders going up by my ears as I look around at my friends and Faiza. Everyone but Faiza just stares at me wide-eyed. The priestess, predictably, is thrilled.

“So, what now?” Faiza asks, twisting back and forth like an excited little girl. “Whatcha gonna do with him?”

I hum consideringly, turning my eyes back to Blythe, not questioning the fact that Faiza is leaving it up to me regarding what to do next. After all, she probably could just vanish him back to the Deadlands and leave his fate up to the Goddess of Life.

But, she has correctly intuited that Blythe is mine. And that I’m going to be the one deciding his fate now.

Whether or not Life likes it.

“Well, what do you want to happen next, Blythe?” I ask, the mantle of command coming to me again. My shoulders slip down and I straighten them, lifting my chin as I study him.

“What…what do you mean?” Blythe whispers, taking a step back as he studies me, I think a bit afraid of my question. Rightfully so. “What are my…choices?”

“Well,” I say, glancing back at Anton. “I haven’t figured out how to make a ghost boy live again. But were that possible, is that what you would want? You were, after all, my fiancé. I do have some lingering affection for you, and I did only come down to the Underworld to bring you back to life. So, were it possible…”

I let the question hang, giving him a moment to process this. Shock makes his face fall blank.

“Is that what you want?” I continue. “To go back to your life, go scare the crap out of your mom and dad? Or…remain a ghost? Be reincarnated?”

“I…I don’t know,” Blythe answers, breathy. “I…never considered…”

“Well, consider,” I say, giving a casual little shrug.

“You overstep, Highness,” Faiza says, her voice icy. Slowly I turn my head to her, a little smile turning the corners of my lips. “This is not your offer to make.”

“Isn’t it?” I ask, twisting my lips and wrinkling my nose at her.

“No,” she says, quite firm, slowly starting to shake her head back and forth. “My Lady will –“

“Yes, your Lady,” I snap, turning to her now and narrowing my eyes. “She’s been quite mysterious, hasn’t she? Annoyingly so.”

“Watch yourself, Juniper,” Faiza replies, low, lifting a finger to point at my face. “You have stepped into your birthright of power but you are still a child in terms of –“

“Blah blah,” I say on a sigh, waving a hand across my body, the gesture sweeping over Faiza as well. She gasps as my hand passes, her eyes snapping down to focus on the glowing golden shackles that appear on her wrists.

“Release me,” Faiza snarls, snapping her gaze up to mine, livid. Magic crackles all over her, but the shackles stay firm. “Release me, right now!”

“Nah,” I say, quite pleased and calm. “Nah, I think it’s time we went and had a chat with your Lady. See what she’s been up to in all of this, behind the scenes. But first!” I spin to look at everyone else, a big smile on my face. “Who wants breakfast!?”

Faiza snarls, low and threatening, while Orion, Laila, Anton, and Blythe stare at me like I’m absolutely insane.

“Pancakes sound good?” Anton asks, slapping his thighs as he stands up and comes to my side, grinning down at me with pride and delight.