Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters #6)- Kristy Cunning Page 0,194

to speak, but Mary speaks before I can.

“You look brave, but is it all talk? I’ve yet to see you do anything all that badass,” the wolf quietly prods, cutting a slanted gaze toward Shera, and then quickly darts her eyes away again, since it’s all false bravado.

Shera tenses behind me.

“Avery says the renewing of the combat trials has actually had a positive effect on the entire community,” Leiza says, smirking in a way that suggests she’s being petty. “Betas want the chance to fight for their houses, and with the absence of true war, they’re restless. This will give them their chance to have a say in what does or does not change, so long as it’s matched up to be a fair fight.”

“That’s where it gets tricky, huh? I mean, if someone’s not really as tough as they pretend to be,” Lemon chimes in, as she files her nails with a devious smile on her face.

Shera’s body tenses again, and she slowly turns her attention to Lemon.

Lemon’s devious smile fades, when she notices the serious expression on Shera’s face.

“I’ve already requested to move to Emily’s new House and serve as her beta. I’m strong, but I’m not capable of contending with the elite beta powerhouses, who will be competing the vast majority of the time. The fights will be fairer if I’m second beta in a new House, and Arion will have room for new top betas who can win in the ring for the Head Alpha Vampyre. Even if they can’t run his House, because all they rely on is strength.”

She calmly puts the curling iron down at last, gives me a tight smile in the mirror, and turns to go.

I cast some side-eye toward the wolves, who all look guilty as hell, as the door shuts behind the sad vampire.

“The world is entirely too fucked up if I feel bad for hurting her feelings,” Leiza tells me, swallowing thickly. “But I honestly feel like shit right now.”

“She’s giving up the alpha who saved her life and gave a survivor a chance to do more than simply survive,” I remind them. “She’s thrived since meeting him, by comparison to what she’d have done anywhere else.”

“But she’s a coldhearted vampire,” Ingrid quietly argues, as though she can’t believe any of them feel bad about this.

“She’s more than that, and we unfortunately know that now,” Leiza grumbles, as she grabs her drink from the table beside her. “Great. Just when I finally start catching on that she’s not that fierce, I can’t even get any jabs in without feeling bad about it. I fucking hate being an omega sometimes.”

“Only sometimes,” Mary is quick to agree, clearly horror-stricken by this new development.

“I didn’t do anything. I don’t have to face her. Maybe you’re all okay with her enough to provoke her, but I still want to pee myself when she walks into a room,” Ingrid says as she steps into the wall passage.

Poking her head back out, she smiles and adds, “But I sat in a room with her. I don’t feel like she’s out to get me for my secret. She’s probably heard about it by now, and nothing bad has happened. Apologize for me.”

The wall shuts behind her, and Leiza mutters a curse, as they slowly leave the room, reluctant to do so.

“Shera’s going to get really pissed off when they apologize. It’ll make her feel weird,” Anna notes aloud, even as she grins.

The triplets appear before me, all of them so eerily reminiscent of Wednesday Adams that I can’t believe it took me so long to piece that together.

I know I’m a gypsy. I know storytelling is in my veins. Now I’m aware that my monster knows how to use every single thing in my blood, heritage, and mind against me to get its way.

“You didn’t win anything. I was always going to give in to Arion, but it’s really scary being in love with him. Really, really scary.”

They grin as though they enjoy that, and then they all wag their eyebrows in synchronized unison.

“You should have let us claim him earlier,” they tell me.

“She’s stubborn,” Anna chimes in. “And such a horribly, boringly cautious person. Far too simple to be a main character.”

“I really do hate you,” I tell her flatly.

“One could argue that means you hate yourself,” the triplets are quick to rebut.

I salt them.

Anna grins, even as they disappear.

“What are we going to do about Talbot?” she asks, making me truly miss the days