Chapter 37

“Hey, Davis,” the woman says, wrinkling a pert little nose at him. “Sorry you’re dead, but if it helps, you look really sexy in sparkly blue ghost-light.”

“Faiza,” Anton says quietly, his voice low and humming as his face breaks into a beautiful smile. “You’re a venomous little surprise, as always. I missed you.”

I gape as I turn to see Anton lounging quite…quite sexily, propped up on is elbows, his hair falling moodily into his face, looking at this woman like he’s ready to just devour her. My wolf yelps and then scrambles for purchase in my soul, desperate to make this end if not just kill this woman outright – rip her to shreds -

“Oh, you can’t have been missing me too much, little ghost boy,” the woman purrs, giving him a sultry wink. “I know I’m a regular feature in your dreams –“

“If you only knew how regular a feature –“

“I hate this!” I shout, leaping to my knees and slamming my arms out wide, a palm pressed towards each of them, my breath heaving in my chest. “You’re going to stop it right now!”

Both Anton and Faiza gape, their mouths wide open and falling silent as they turn to me, both delighted.

I blush, realizing suddenly that my response was…ridiculous. And deeply uncool.

But…effective.

I raise my chin, snarling a little, realizing that my canines have extended as I turn my gaze on this Faiza woman, hating her a great deal.

“Wowww,” she says, a little breathless and impressed, even if she smiles wickedly. She leans back a little, looking me up and down. “Looks like the feminine impulse to shield her harem from intrusion runs deep in the Sinclair lady line.”

“Oh god,” I murmur, my arms dropping. “You fucking know Ariel too, don’t you?”

“Be careful, Faiza, Junie’s smart.” Anton heaves with a happy sigh and I growl when I turn my head towards him and see him still beaming at this obtrusive, annoyingly beautiful woman. “You’re not getting much past this one. But anyway, what’s up, girl? How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good,” Faiza says, smiling back at him with genuine fondness and straightening her shoulders. “Things have been pretty crazy since you died, though, kid –“

I sputter out a few outraged, incoherent words as I whip my head between the two of them, enough that they both fall silent and look at me again.

“My room!” I bite out, pissed as hell that they were – apparently – just going to move on and have a full conversation without me. “My – life! Okay!? So! I ask the questions!”

Anton grins at me, thrilled either to see me take control or lose my composure, I don’t know which. I ignore him and spin on Faiza, angry.

“Who the hell are you?” I bite out. “And how did you just…appear!?”

“Well look at you, Juniper Sinclair,” Faiza says quietly, staring up at me for a moment before she lets her eyes drift over my form. “Here I was expecting a little duplicate of your cream puff sister but you are…something totally different.”

“Answer the question,” I snarl.

She whips her eyes back up to me, a dark smile tugging on her lips. “Watch how you talk to me, little demon kitten,” she murmurs. “I’m a very dangerous woman.”

“She’s not kidding, June,” Anton murmurs, still perfectly relaxed. “Faiza is your sister’s Espionage coach at the Academy – she had Rafe on his knees with a knife at his throat in about half a second. Of course, she had me on my knees much faster than that and never had to resort to violence –“

I squeak in horrified protest, spinning my head to him. “Are you – are you sleeping with her!?”

Anton doesn’t even look at me, still grinning at Faiza, while she lets out a low and throaty laugh.

“Oh, calm down, Princess,” Faiza murmurs. And suddenly a hand knocks into my rib cage and I go sprawling to the side, landing amongst my pillows as I spin my head back to her, just in time to see her calmly retaking her seat. “He fucking wishes I would deign to sleep with him.”

“Listen, the moment you’re looking to go dumpster diving…” Anton murmurs, gesturing towards his long form. “I’m right here.”

I snarl, hating that offer, hating that he refers to himself as trash for her sake, hating –

But all my hate for Faiza is wiped away and turned on Anton himself the moment he flicks his eyes to me, wicked. “Wishing you’d saved your little crush veto?” he murmurs. “Laila not looking so bad right now?”

My snarl turns into a very real growl as I glare at him and then turn the expression on Faiza. “I hate you both. A lot.”

“Ugh, you are so cute,” Faiza murmurs, leaning casually on her hand while she smiles at me like I’m some kind of fluffy kitten walking around with her back arched, hissing at anything that comes close. “But unfortunately, as fun as it is, I’m not here just to piss you off. We have business to attend to.”

I sit up straight as Anton sighs and pulls himself up to a sitting position, tucking one leg beneath him and scooting closer to me. I spin my head to flash my teeth at him, still pissed as hell, but he just smiles at me like he, too, thinks I’m fantastic all worked up like this.

“How are you so calm?” I hiss at him.

“Because I’m already dead,” he whispers back. Then he gestures towards Faiza. “Plus, she’s cool! Ariel trusts her, so I do too. We should at least hear her out before you claw her eyes out, June.”

“She can still talk without eyeballs.” My snarl seeps from between clenched teeth as I glare bitterly at my pet ghost.

“You two are so adorable,” Faiza murmurs, bringing my eyes back to where she sits, just looking between us like we’re the two cutest things she’s ever seen.

“Did Ariel send you?” Anton asks, curious. “Or like…someone else at the Academy?”

“No,” Faiza says on a sigh, stretching her arms above her head quite languidly, her slow arching movements making it very clear that she’s got quite a trim body beneath all that black lycra and spandex. “I am here today as a representative for my side gig.”

“Which is?” I snap out, eager to get on with this, to get this woman out of my room.

“As a Priestess,” she sighs, letting her hands fall back to her sides and grinning at me. “For the Goddess of Life.”

My mouth falls open a bit and when I glance over at Anton I see that he’s doing the same.

“I know,” Faiza says, wrinkling her nose again in a way that reminds me, somehow, of Ariel. “I don’t precisely give out Priestess vibes but,” she shrugs. “The pay is good.”

“What precisely is the pay?” Anton asks, curious.

“Five hundred extra years of life,” she says with a happy sigh.

My eyes go wide because…is she…serious?

“Do you really want to live for five hundred more years?” Anton asks, leaning forward to stare at her.

“One, thank you for thinking I’m just at the start of them,” she says, giving him a saucy wink. “And two, no. I don’t. But I’m splitting up the time between me, my dad, and a couple of my favorite sisters.” She shrugs. “It’s worth it.”

I turn my head to the side, wondering at that. I mean, the temptation of long life is vivid, but at what cost? “What do you have to…do?”

“Well, I don’t have to answer impudent questions,” she says, snapping her gaze to me with that clever smile. “But most of it is just delivering messages like the one I’m here to give you today.”

“Oh,” I say, my shoulders straightening.

And then Anton and I just wait quietly, staring at her.

“The Goddess of Life heard your little conversation with her nephew in his room this morning,” Faiza says, looking between us, “where he told you that the solution to finding your little trash-possum fiancé –“

My mouth falls open at this and Faiza’s smile widens even as she moves on.

“ – was to go to the Goddess’s temple and have the priestesses perform the necessary divinations to locate him in the Deadlands. She asked me to come here today and tell you not to do that.”

Slowly, I close my mouth, shocked and confused.

“You’re not welcome at her temple,” Faiza snaps, looking coldly between Anton and I. “So don’t go. Okay? Message clear?”