Chapter 16

I would loveto say the kiss broke the freeze spell I'd accidentally placed Cain under. Alas, I didn't have magical lips.

When he remained a living stone statue, I had to admit this went above my paygrade. I slid down his body, mumbling, "So much for a kiss freeing you from a curse. Guess I'd better get someone who knows magic." I bolted for the house, yelling over my shoulder, "Don't move. I'll get help."

Funny and not funny given the situation.

Vance sat on the porch and saw me running. He rose, unholstering his gun while barking, "What's wrong?"

"I kind of froze Cain in place, and I can't fix it."

Vance blinked. "Er, what?"

I explained more slowly. "I accidentally did something to Cain with magic, and now he can't move. At all. He's like a living statue in the clearing where we were shooting cans. Can you go keep an eye on him while I find Nova or Mizuki to help?"

I didn't wait for a reply but dashed into the house. I'd opened my mouth to bellow when I saw Mizuki heading down the stairs. "Oh, thank fuck. You have to come. I fucked Cain up."

"What?"

"We were sparring and he was pissing me off, making me look bad, and I got mad and yelled stop and he like froze in place and now he can't move and I couldn't fix it. I even tried kissing him."

She stared at me before asking slowly, "You kissed him?"

"Yeah, but it didn't work."

Her laughter tinkled with mirth. "Oh, my goodness. Of course, it didn't. That's only something that happens in fairy tales."

"Well, I didn't know that." I huffed. "Anyhow, he's stuck, and I need someone to unstuck him."

Her lips quirked. "Let's go see what we're dealing with."

We emerged from the house and walked at a rapid pace to the clearing where I'd left Cain. We found him standing in the same position, with Vance lounging in the tall grass, looking vastly amused.

Mizuki giggled. "Wow, you weren't kidding." She paced around Cain and murmured aloud, "I can see the veil of magic holding him in place. But you say you didn't use a spell?"

"What spell? I haven't learned any yet." We'd been working on focus techniques that I'd never been able to master.

"Did you use any hand gestures? Utter a command?"

"I said ‘stop' and poof." I pointed in his direction.

"Let me see what happens if I drain the magic holding him in place." She put a hand on his forearm, and I fought an urge to knock it away. I had no right to be jealous.

Cain uttered a sound as his body relaxed, and I prepared to flee in case he turned out to be super mad.

To everyone's shock, he chuckled, a great big belly laugh. "About time you fought back."

"You're not pissed?" I queried, still poised to run in case he was fucking with me.

"Hell no. You used magic. I'd call that progress." The grumpy bastard actually grinned.

"Is it progress, though? Because I have no idea how it happened."

"That will come," Cain assured. "The important thing is your instincts kicked in and reacted. That will come in handy in a fight."

Mizuki clapped her hands. "Even better, it means your system is finally purging whatever crap Emilia was feeding you. We might finally get somewhere with your magic training."

Exciting and terrifying. "Hell yeah," I exclaimed. "Should we get out the candle?"

"Let's wait until tomorrow. I think the boys have tired you out enough with their practice, not to mention another night's sleep will clear out more of the drug. Let's try right after breakfast tomorrow."

"Okay." I couldn't help a flutter of excitement. Would I finally start being the reaper witch everyone expected? Guess we'd soon find out.

We headed back to the house, Mizuki leading the way, with Vance listening as she asked if she could join our next shooting lesson. Cain stuck close to me and waited until they got a bit ahead before muttering, "Did you really think a kiss would fix everything?"

"Worked for Prince Charming," I grumbled. "And the frog prince."

Cain made a noise, and I looked over to see him amused. "In real life, all kisses do is make a man think things he shouldn't."

"Oh, like what?" I played coy.

"As if you don't know."

"I think we've already ascertained I can be kind of dumb about certain things."

"You know I find you attractive." A gruff admission that took me by surprise.

I snorted. "Could have fooled me with the number of times you called me whiny."

"In my defense, you were being a brat."

"A brat?" I halted my steps and spun to face him.

"Going to deny you were being overly stubborn?" He arched a brow.

"No, but I will say your flirting needs work."

"I don't flirt."

"Then how do you show a woman you like her?" I boldly asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why do you think? Because I find myself attracted to you, but at the same time, I don't care what Vance says. I'm not about to throw myself at you because I'm still not convinced you actually like me."

His expression went from light to dark. "Vance shouldn't be talking about me."

Uh-oh. "It wasn't bad talk," I hastened to reassure. "He seems to think you're interested in me. Like in a boy-meets-girl kind of way. I told him he was wrong."

"Vance should mind his business," Cain growled.

"Don't be pissed at him. He was just trying to convince me to give you a chance."

"He shouldn't have bothered."

"For fuck's sake, you grumpy bastard. Do you like me or not?" I exclaimed, hands planted on my hips.

"And if I do?"

"Lord help me. I like you, too, even if you are ornery."

"Excuse me for not going around with a fake smile plastered on my face," he snarled.

"This is exactly why I told Vance this wouldn't work. But, no, he's all like ‘I won't interfere, not after what happened last time.' And I'm like—"

"Since you like Vance so much, why don't you go be with him then?"

"I tried. Kissed him, since he was more approachable, which is when he rejected me. And now you're blowing me off."

"If you want Vance, then have at him," Cain snapped.

"What part of he said no did you not grasp?"

"I grasp that I was your second choice."

"Not exactly. I like you and Vance equally. If I had my way, I'd have you both."

"Gonna put us on a schedule?" he retorted.

"I mean that's one way of doing it, but honestly, I'm more interested in a threesome." That dropped his jaw. "But given you're more likely to duke it out than learn to share, guess I'll just keep diddling with my fingers."

With that bold statement, I stomped off, leaving him slack-jawed.

Whatever.

The clusterfuck of a conversation couldn't have gone worse if I tried. I'd managed to push away both Vance and Cain in one day.

My mental turmoil probably explained why I dreamed of Moloch.