Abraxas mumbled something I couldn’t make out, and I looked over my shoulder. His eyes were still black, tongue flicking out. He looked annoyed. I laughed. The basilisk wasn’t a morning person, even when he’d woken to the best breakfast he’d had in years.
“Never mind. I’ll ask again when you’re fully awake.”
I plated the last of the meal and placed it on the table, taking a seat at the head of the table. They blinked at me, then arranged themselves around me. Bennett took the opposite head of the table. He didn’t look pleased to have me across from him. “Thanks for the food!” Zan said, staring at the display in awe.
“You can’t eat it,” Waylon said, rolling his eyes.
“But I can smell it. That’s almost as good. And I was trying to encourage everyone else to thank Hadley. You’ve been very cold to her this morning.”
The room went silent.
Zan blushed, his characteristic bright glow donning his cheeks.
The silence stretched long enough to be uncomfortable, before Bennett asked Zan a question. “How do we usually treat her?”
If possible, his blush increased in intensity. “Well, Waylon treats her pretty much the same.”
Kirin barked a laugh, and no one was surprised by that declaration. “And how do I treat her?” Kirin asked.
“You flirt and blush and talk about books.”
“Have I not been flirting? I guess it’s because of the tense atmosphere. I’ll have to amend my actions toward you, princess,” he said, shooting me a wink.
I wished Zan hadn’t brought this up. Having them act ‘normally’ toward me made my heart soar, but I hated it was only because they’d been called out for being distant. “I doubt I treat her any differently,” Abraxas said, shrugging his shoulders.
“You can be touchy-feely with her, sometimes,” Zan said. “Mostly when she brings you warm blankets.”
Abby’s eyes widened, just a touch, and he looked at me. “Warm blankets?”
“You mentioned you were cold in this drafty old house, and your scales are soft enough to nap on. It’s more to benefit myself than you,” I said.
Lies. Everyone could tell. Their disposition was softening toward me, except for Bennett. He was as cold as ever. “This is irrelevant information, Zan,” Bennett said. “As far as any of us remember, that never happened.”
“I think it’s relevant,” Zan said. “You need to know her.”
“No.”
One word, spoken firmly enough to put a stop to all conversation and alternative suggestions, froze my heart.
“We don’t.”
Bennett was practically glaring at me. Who was this? How had he masqueraded as a different person for the past two months, and what was different about this cycle? Sure, I knew about what they’d been doing and if we were lucky, this would be the last cycle. But why did that change his entire personality?
Pushing back my chair abruptly, I gave everyone a faint, fake smile. “I’m going to go ready the other ingredients that need to be prepped. I’ll find you before we need to create the artifact. Bennett will already be in his room by then, but everyone else. This was fun.”
I fled, making it up to the safety and comfort of the library before I started to cry.
Chapter 26
AllthecockyconfidenceI’d had to start out the day?
Yeah, that was gone now.
The way Bennett treated me had crushed new Hadley into the dust. I hoped my insecurity was temporary. New Hadley was who we needed tonight, if we were going to get through the seal-breaking spell in one piece. Broken old me was far from confident enough in my abilities to avoid stuttering through the words of the spell.
Silence in the library felt stifling, for once, as I weaved ropes of grass and mushed fruits into a paste. None of the men came up to sit with me, likely because of Bennett’s influence, but that was for the best. Every once in a while, a few tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. Crying was a familiar method of coping with my feelings. My mother had always encouraged me to get it all out.
When I was done with the preparation, I still had hours until the poultice would be ready for the next stage. I curled up with my mother’s book and picked up where I’d left off so many rewinds ago when I’d first started reading. The romance made me cry, despite knowing they would get their happily ever after at the end. For a couple of chapters, it didn’t feel like they would.
