“So what happens with the gate where the guardians died? Do I get that one? Do I hold interviews for a mate-guardian combo or something?”
Medley chuckles and shrugs again, but something about my question tickles at my mind. It’s like the sensation of déjà vu, only not exactly the same. It’s that feeling you get when you know you’re forgetting something but have no idea how to remember what it is.
“You’re lookin’ forward to havin’ plural mates, huh?” she says, wagging her brows.
I feel Toreon’s eyes on me, and my cheeks immediately grow warm. “Umm, what? No,” I say quickly.
Medley’s eyes dance with mirth. “Aww, come on, sis! Ain’t nothin’ to be shy about. Delta gave me the mate talk, too. But she helped me realize that you just gotta follow your instincts when it comes to that and forget about human relationships. I was drawn to Flint and Alder immediately. I bet it’ll be the same for you.”
I don’t know why, but my eyes dart over to Toreon before I even realize what I’m doing.
“I wonder if you’ll have more than her,” Medley muses. “Ooh, maybe you’ll go and have somethin’ crazy, like seven hot demon mates all to yourself.”
I nearly choke on my tongue. “Seven?” I squeak.
She giggles. “Who knows? We’ll get out of here first and then figure the rest out,” Medley reassures me with a wink, but I hear Toreon scoff from his cage.
We both turn to look at him lying in the middle of his cell, his hands laced behind his head.
“We are gonna get out of here,” Medley argues, already knowing what the sound means coming from him.
“If there were a way out of here, I’d have found it already, Annuli. Trust me, you’re setting yourself up for bigger disappointment by pretending you’re going to get away. Morax may be a maniac, but he’s not stupid. He also happens to be the most powerful being I’ve ever seen aside from Lucifer, or are you forgetting he managed to create a separate realm when everyone thought that was impossible?” Toreon points out.
When he draws it out like that, it’s hard to deny that we might never see the light of day again, but it’s not in me to give up. Even as a kid, I was always hopeful, always working and striving to find a way around my problems. I can’t look at what’s happening to me right now in any other way. I have to have faith.
“Well, you haven’t seen what the…” Medley pauses for a second in thought. “Shoot, we don’t all have the same last name,” she points out. “I was gonna say you haven’t seen what the Bell sisters can do, but that’s not right. Maybe Annuli sisters?” she states, but it’s more question than a declaration. “Nah, that’s not as cool soundin’ as I was hopin’ it would be.”
I smile as she taps her lip and looks up like she’s expecting the answer to be floating somewhere above her head. I want to say that I wouldn’t mind sharing her last name—like real sisters, but I don’t.
She shrugs. “I got nothin’, but the name ain’t what matters. What does, is that we’re here now, and neither you or Morax have seen the likes of us before. So put on your positive panties and let’s figure shit out, okay, mister? Maybe your guard friend that Sable was tellin’ me about can help us.”
“All Vudu is going to end up doing is getting himself killed. What is it about Morax can control every part of you that you don’t understand?” Toreon demands frustratedly, as though our refusal to give up personally offends him.
“He can’t control Sable,” Medley counters with a victorious gleam in her eyes.
“Well, unless she can teach everyone in the world how to do that, we’re no better off!” Toreon growls.
Toreon’s irritation settles around us like a weighted blanket, and I tell myself that he’s been through more than I know and that it’s not fair for me to judge his behavior now. I’m not all that certain that I’m not going to die down here, but the difference between the two of us is that I’m not willing to just lie down and let it happen. I still have fight in me.
“Hmm…” Medley pushes up from where she’s sitting next to me and moves to her knees in the center of the wall of bars. She looks at me expectantly and gestures for me to do the