Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

insane, but with what I’d seen these past few weeks, anything was possible. I never considered myself overly religious. Sure, I believed, but Earth’s god abandoned us, left us to die by the hands of those monsters. But creating gods? That’s crazy.

“How would one go about creating a god?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said, shrugging. “The shards, they’re drawn to each other, I assume the more you have, the stronger you become, but that’s just a theory. There was no change when we combined our shards.

“Speaking of change, I know the whole pale skin, golden eyes look probably isn’t your thing, so if you want to go back to your old appearance, all you have to do is concentrate on how you want yourself to look in your head and focus on it. Should do the trick.”

I closed my eyes and let the warm breeze wick the sweat from my brow as I focused on who I wanted to look like, my old self, before I was given the mantle of Hive Knight, before the Aspect took control of my body and forced my body to change to its whims. I wanted to look like the old me.

After a solid minute of focus, a tug pulled at my chest, and a warmth spread throughout my body. When I opened my eyes, my regular tanned skin was back.

“There you go. Took you less than time than it took Jess and I the first time we tried it. We spent like an hour back to back trying…” He faded out and lapsed into silence.

“We’ll pay Magnus back for what he did. He won’t win.” I patted Adam on the back, but I knew that nothing would help ease the hurt in his heart. I’d gone through it too many times myself, and nothing ever really helped.

“I appreciate it, Sam. But I thought you agreed with Magnus?”

“I did. Still do, I guess. But I won’t let him kill Eris.”

He turned and looked at me, his eyes so filled with sorrow that it hurt. “Even if it means sacrificing everyone else?”

I shook my head. That was the wrong way to look at it. “You said it yourself—we’ll find another way.”

Adam didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stared out over the castle for a long moment. “I said that then too, the first time, that we’d find another way, and I ran out of time. If I’d just said yes to Nick, then Jess would still be alive.”

“And Eris would be dead. So would I, and Raven too, probably. Jessica knew what she was doing, knew that she would die, and she still stood in the way so that we could get away. I wish more than anything she were still here, but I don’t think there was a way for us all to escape.”

“I know, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I’ve got to go, Sam. We’ll talk later about what to do…just not now, okay?”

“Yeah, take all the time you need.”

He didn’t respond, just walked out of the room without another word. I watched him leave and turned back to lean on the balcony, trying to figure out what to do and failing. I hope Edna will have a plan, because I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one.

I didn’t have a clue, and I really wanted another drink. I shook my head. Let’s go see what the girls are up to.

 

***

I awoke with a groan at the shrill tone blaring in my ears, signaling an incoming call. My interface popped into existence without my command, and a single name appeared in front of me.

Miguel.

I hit decline and rolled over, Raven’s pale back and backside pressed against me as I snuggled closer to her. On the other side me, Eris acted as the big spoon for both of us, and her scorching arms clung around my waist as her hot breath tickled my back.

Last night was…interesting. Yeah, that’s one word for it.

Both Raven and Eris weren’t quite ready to share a bed with me together, and to be honest with myself, I didn’t know if I was ready for it either, but they’d subverted my expectations by taking turns while the other watched. Once the initial awkwardness faded, it’d actually been fun but left me more exhausted than if I’d fought a hundred men.

Both of them know how to take it out of me, that’s for sure. Though as they sandwiched me between them in their sleep, I argued that it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

I was about to wrap my arm around Raven and go back to sleep when my interface chimed again. It was Miguel again. I swear to the gods if someone isn’t dead, I’ll kill him.

I hit accept. “This better not be about that job, Miguel.”

“Long live the Shadow King.”

I blew out a breath. Shit. “I’ll be there in a few hours.”

The call went dead.

I groaned and sat up. Eris clung to me and partially came with me before I turned and laid her head on my chest. She mumbled something in her sleep and scooted over, draping her naked body over me and snuggled closer to me.

“C’mon, love, time to get up.”

Light chuckling whispered next to my ear, and I turned as Raven leaned in, pressing her lips to mine in a good morning kiss, her ample bust teasing my arm as her pink nipples awoke from the cold.

“Good morning, darling,” she said as she pulled back and looked down at Eris. “She’s too cute when she’s sleeping.”

“That she is.” I told Miguel a few hours. A minute or two won’t hurt anything. Raven scooted closer to me, her thighs holding my calf hostage as she kissed the side of my neck.