ones the same colour as those in the picture," Leon said proudly and Dante went and fetched a box of them.
I moved to the side of the tree furthest away from Dante as I started placing them on the branches, not knowing what the fuck I was doing, but figuring it was worth it if it would make Elise happy.
Gabriel moved to my side, putting up some lights and I flicked my finger to cast a silencing bubble around us so I could talk to him in privacy. Not that I said anything the second I did it, but I felt him glance at me from the corner of my eye as he noticed.
"What were your plans for Christmas besides this bullshit?" Gabriel asked and I shrugged in answer because I’d had no plans and no doubt would have spent it alone. "Same," he muttered and my mouth twitched down at the corner. Silence stretched between us for a second then he said, "Now Mariella's gone, are things... better?"
"Yeah," I admitted. "Much."
"That's good. I guess all that bullshit talking on the roof paid off then, right?" He laughed vaguely, glancing at me and I frowned as I placed a glittery Zodiac charm on the tree.
"I figured you'd appreciate the quiet again,” I muttered.
"I mean...I don't always like the quiet. Do you?"
I cleared my throat. "No, not always."
"Well if you ever want it to be not quiet for a bit then you can always...you know...come up there or whatever." He placed a shiny red Dragon bauble on the tree which swirled with a glittering storm inside it.
"Yeah, sure. Sometimes. Maybe." I glanced at him and found him grinning and my mouth pulled up at the corner. Dickhead.
I'd figured Gabriel was done with me the moment I'd gotten what I wanted from him and assumed he wouldn't want me bothering him anymore. It had felt like shit when I’d stopped going up to the roof, but I didn't do friends and what were we if we weren't that?
Would it be the worst thing in the world if I hung out with him sometimes? It wasn't like he was an Oscura and there was no real reason the Lunars had to question my loyalty just because I spent time with a Harpy on occasion. If they asked about it, I could simply say I was trying to recruit him considering he was one powerful asshole of a Fae. Yeah, I'll just do that if anyone noses into my damn business. It's no big fucking deal. No need to overthink it. It's not like we're gonna start having sleepovers and pillow fights for fuck's sake.
"No silencing bubbles!" Leon yelled as he realised what we were doing and flames seared up the back of my neck as he motherfucking burned me with his fire magic. Gabriel shouted out at the same time and we whipped around, both of us snarling at him. "Drop it, or I'll tell Elise not to come," Leon warned and I shared a look with Gabriel that said he wanted to gut the Lion as much as I did right then. But we also wouldn't get to see Elise and all of this bullshit was for her, so it wasn't worth risking that.
I dropped the bubble with a sigh and Leon smiled approvingly as we continued working on the tree. When it was finally done, Leon moved forward with something in his hands and I grimaced as I inspected the golden star he held with photos of our faces glued onto each point of the star with Elise at the top. Where the fuck had he even gotten that picture of me? It looked candid, like he’d taken it his fucking self when I hadn’t been looking at school.
"You're a fucking psycho," I told Leon as he reached up and placed it on top of the tree.
"Says the murdering snake who probably has more dead bodies in his back yard than some of the inmates at Darkmore Penitentiary," Dante tossed at me.
I sneered at him, baring my teeth. "I kill to protect my gang."
"And I kill to protect my family," he shot back, lifting his chin.
"Let's not talk about what we all kill for," Leon said lightly. "I'm sure Gabriel would kill to protect his roof tent and I'd kill to protect a sandwich, so we're all capable of murder for reasonable things. But there's one thing we'd definitely all kill for and I think you know what that is." He