“No, I’m not familiar with your ancient jargon.”
“Hmph.”
“Tell me what it means.” When I don’t respond, he pokes me in the ribs, and I turn my head to scowl up at him.
“Would you—“
“Tell me what it means,” he demands.
“A wolf is a man that preys upon women,” I huff.
He goes rigidly still. “I thought you didn’t know any men,” he says gruffly.
“Just because I don’t know them doesn’t mean I don’t knowofthem.” I turn my head back to stare off into the darkness of the wood. He clears his throat, shifting slightly as he pulls back the arm binding around me. “I’m not…” He pauses, contemplating. “There are no ulterior motives here, only warmth.”
It’s meant to comfort me, but it has the opposite effect. With the madness of the last few days, I’d forgotten why I was mad at him in the first place. Hekissed me. In my worst moment. My body flashes hot and cold, and I’m fuming all over again.
“You mean nothingunsavory?” I question, a reminder of his failed promise.
His body tenses behind mine. “Nothing unsavory, pet,” he confirms.
“You’ve said that before,” I bite out.
“I swear…”
“Yeah, well, of course not now. There’s no crowd of people here for you to repulse, is there?”
Silence swallows up the bracketing tension between us, and he expels a breath. “I…wanted them to see how shallow and superficial they are. That I don’t care—“
“You don’t care?” I scoff. “Are youproudof yourself? Would you like an award? You dare go where no Magi has gone before. The bravery,” I say with feigned awe. “Should I be honored that you’ve lowered your standards—“
“It’s not like that,” he cuts in.
“No,” I agree. “What you really wanted was to provoke them—to piss them off—which is everything you told me I can’t do.”
Silence. He’s not even going to try to deny it. Tears sting at my eyes and I bite at the inside of my lip.
“Pandora.” He nudges my shoulder in a silent request to face him. I dither for a moment before rolling onto my back and bringing my elbow down to cover the bottom half of my face. He gently slides it back up, a request rather than a demand.
“I’m really sorry--I shouldn’t have done that. It puts you at risk in a different way…and you didn’t agree to it. I just—you’re right, I was really pissed off that they would do that to you.” His words come out in a rushed stream so unlike his usual confidence. “I guess I did want to prove something to them.”
I cast him a withering glare, and his brows form a culpable v. “But it wasn’t my intention to hurt you or make you feel ashamed. Sometimes…” He sighs, looking away. “Sometimes I’m an idiot.”
As much as I want to hold onto my anger, I can feel it slipping out like water between my fingers. “What was that ritual supposed to do?”
He groans, rubbing his hand over his face. “It doesn’t matter because it won’t work.”
“Sitri…” His gaze darts back to me immediately. Face so close in the dim light. I don’t know why he appears taken aback but his full attention is suddenly disconcerting. “What was it supposed to do? ”
He pushes back at the dark, messy curls draping his forehead with a sigh. “If we performed the Blood of the Gods properly…which we didn’t. It would make that we never hunger for another…“ His voice lowers. “Meaning we would no longer desire anyone else.”
My jaw drops.
“It became—not commonplace per se but, done when a God would take a mortal wife, he would bind her with the heart of his enemy. Kind of a morbid tradition brought forth after Nyxo’s wife slept with another man, and he fed her the man’s heart as revenge. So you can see how Morin thought that would be fitting for us since it was most commonly known between Gods and mortals as a sort of proof of their loyalty.”
Never hunger for another…I can feel heat building in my cheeks and I pull my elbow down to cover them. He reaches down and slides it back up. “Don’t panic. It won’t work.”
“It was enough to make me sick,” I remind him.
