in,” I murmur.
“How so?” he asks, looking intrigued.
“I need you to amp up this spell with love.”
“Uhm, sorry, sweetheart, I deal with lust. You want love, you’re gonna have to call the other side.”
I give him a withering look. “Just give me what you use to infect. I’ll twist it.”
With a puzzled look, he hands me a small tablet.
I hold it up between my thumb and forefinger and frown at it. “You use this?” I scoff.
“Hey, it works,” he says, insulted.
I shrug. “Not judging…not,” I say as Drescal snickers in the corner.
I pinch it, crushing it and drop it into the bowl, muttering the words from the codex as I first read them; meht evol.
There is a loud bang and a fizzle as red smoke drifts up, making me cough. “Now drink it,” I splutter to my circle.
Salax steps forward, hands outstretched.
“Not you, you prick,” Devlin says and shoves him out of the way, reaching for the bowl himself.
I watch as everyone except Salax and Shax drink from the bowl. I keep a close eye on Gregory, but he seems to be just fine.
“Annabelle,” Sid says to me quietly, but says nothing else.
“Everything okay?” I ask, taking his hand.
“I just…do you need me?” he asks, looking more unsettled than usual.
“Yes, I do, Sid. I know that asking you to be a part of this is troubling for you, but I do need you.”
He nods and squeezes my hand. “I wasn’t asking because of me,” he says. “I just wondered if I hold the same weight as the others here,” he adds quietly.
“Oh, Sid,” I say and take him in my arms. “When will you accept that I love you? It doesn’t matter to me that we haven’t expressed that with our bodies yet. We will. I will wait for you to be ready. That doesn’t take anything away from how I feel about you. If anything, it only makes me feel more.”
He tightens his hold on me. “I love you,” he murmurs in my ear. “Thank you for loving me.”
“You make it easy,” I whisper and pull back a bit so that I can kiss him. I swish my tongue against his as the room goes silent.
“How come he gets to seal it with a kiss?” Devlin asks.
I giggle as I pull back from the kiss, relieved that they accept this will happen at some point.
“I need it more than you,” Sid says with a little laugh, to my surprise.
He seems to be regaining some confidence and I’m glad that he feels more comfortable in my circle.
“Well,” Devlin huffs. “I’m feeling in need of a bit of reassurance myself, Annie.” He saunters over to me and Sid steps back to let Devlin swoop in and then it turns into a free for all. All of my males line up to seal the deal and then I look at Xavi, standing a bit further away.
She gives me a shy smile and when I crook my finger at her, she sidles over and presses her lips to mine. “I’m still unsure of my place here,” she whispers against my lips.
“Don’t be,” I whisper back, brushing her hair off her face. “You belong here.”
She beams at me and steps back.
“Okay, so let’s do this,” I say. “Salax, thank you for your contribution.”
Drescal gives him a rough shove, “That means you can fuck off now,” he says.
Salax’s eyes bore into mine and I feel myself get a bit sweaty.
He bows and says, “Always at your service, my Queen.” Then, he disappears.
“He is trouble,” Drescal says, pointing where Salax was just standing.
“Leave it now,” Aleister says mildly. “Killian is right, we need to get a move on.”
I press my lips together and nod. “Everyone ready?”
I get affirmations in return, even from Gregory, with no hesitation at all.
“Wait!” he says suddenly, putting his hand up. “What exactly am I supposed to do?”
“Just stand there,” Elijah says. He is looking a lot better since he took a big swig of my blood, to my relief. I was starting to worry about him. You know, maybe.
“Not helpful,” Gregory spits out.
“No, he’s right,” I placate him. “Killian and I will do all of the heavy lifting. All you need to do is stand there. You’ll feel a small pull on your essence, err, soul,” I amend with an apologetic look, “but that’s all. Is that okay?” I ask, needing him to confirm this. If he has any doubts, this isn’t going to work.
He nods grimly.
“Okay, then,” I say and