45. Jasper

Chapter forty-five

Jasper

R eina and I tell the story of how we fought the queen the first time, then were stranded. We skip some details along the way, namely how I devoured her on the beach, or when we masturbated together in the tent, then how I fucked her with my tentacles up against a tree and all the other bits that I think Lily was hoping for. What a strange princess.

When we finish our story, we've eaten most of the food, and Lily has drunk her body weight in apple ale, despite her lover Alastair continually taking her cup away.

"Well," Scarlett says as she stands, holding up her cup. "I think we should toast the reunion of the sisters."

"Yes, a toast," Lily says, stealing her cup back from Alastair as she joins her sister on her feet. Alastair holds her hip in one massive hand to keep her steady.

Alyse stands, cup raised. "To family."

Reina stands and raises her glass, but her gaze lingers on Scarlett at the end of the table. "You still haven't explained where you've been all the time she was torturing us."

Scarlett smiles. "I didn't want to interrupt your gripping tale."

Reina doesn't back down and I hide my smirk behind my drink. Get her, my love.

Scarlett sets her glass down and picks at her nails. "She tried to have me killed. The assassin wanted his pound of flesh before he murdered me, and then I discovered I can absorb others magus abilities by drinking blood."

"And then? Why were you gone for twelve years ?" Reina practically spits fire.

"I fled to the Underbelly. I couldn't return to the palace; she would've tried to kill me again—not to mention the first assassin wasn't actually dead. He chased me and I jumped out my window to escape him. Better death than what he was going to do to me."

Reina's posture stiffens. "Why didn't you try to write us, or anything? Why did you just leave us?"

"Reina," Alyse chides softly. "Listen to yourself. She would've given away the fact that she was still alive. The queen would've found her. She had to stay in hiding until she was strong enough to try to kill her."

Scarlett scoffs. "But I wasn't strong enough when I tried, and it earned me these." She pulls up the sleeves of her black sweater to reveal deep runic wounds that never healed right.

Zane runs his knuckles down the marks and the scars flicker with teal magic. "You're lovely," he murmurs, and she smiles sadly.

"It was you the night of Lily's homecoming ball?" Reina asks and suddenly I'm lost.

Scarlett nods. "Zane and I both faced her in the Dark Room, and I could've killed her—"

"Possibly," Zane snaps.

Scarlett purses her lips. "If someone hadn't stopped me from killing myself in the process, she very likely would have died with me."

"Lumi talked about trying to find you so they could have two weapons against the queen," Reina says, her voice somber. "I thought maybe I could be released from my fate."

"Always scheming, that groundskeeper," Lily says as she plops back into her seat.

Alastair takes the cup from her hands before she can drink and sets it aside. She pouts at him and he raises an eyebrow, shaking his head at her.

"Thank the gods she is," Alyse says. "We wouldn't have half the resources we do now without her."

Reina leans her hands against the table. "So, you thought you would become a gang lord to get the power you needed to overthrow her?"

Scarlett shrugs. "It was the best plan a fifteen-year-old girl could come up with."

Reina looks at me with pleading eyes as she chews her lip.

"I'm not going to tell you what to think of your estranged sister's story," I say, feeling sympathy for Scarlett.

Reina groans, "Great help you are."

"Rei, it was the best I could come up with, too. My people waited ten years for rescue while they were enslaved," I say, surprising everyone in the room, me included. I didn't realize how much sympathy I had for Scarlett. Her story is bleak.

Reina swallows hard and nods. She looks at her oldest sister. "Don't expect it to be like it was—I don't even remember what that was like."

Scarlett laughs, but there's a sheen of tears in her one good eye. "I'm happy to get the opportunity to make something new between us."

She lifts her glass again. "To family?"

Zane stands beside her and lifts his cup. Lily is back on her feet, Alastair keeping her steady as he pours a very small amount of ale into her glass. Alyse and Kazimir stand too.

"Well?" Lily asks, looking at me.

Reina grabs my hand with a smile. "Come on."

I rise beside her and raise my glass, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. These people hardly know me, and I'm not even their race, but they want me to be part of the family.

We raise our drinks and chant together.

"Family."

After dinner, I let Reina and Alyse talk alone for a while. Scarlett sidles up beside me, arms crossed.

"Thanks for that," she says, and it sounds forced.

"It wasn't for you. I just want her to be happy," I say.

She bobs her head. "Good."

We stand in silence as we watch the others chatting around the table. More people have arrived to introduce themselves. Gareth, Zane's right hand, and Cecillia, the woman who helped Scarlett's ascension to lord. A potion master named Adrik who chats with Kazimir in a language I'm not familiar with, and a brown-haired man that's silenced the air around he and Lily as they tell jokes. Their laughter still vibrates the floorboards.

"You going to marry her?" Scarlett asks suddenly. "For real?"

"Yes," I say, without hesitation. "I love her."

"Have anything interesting planned for the wedding? We've had a lot of good ones around here and I'm sure she'd like to show us up."

"What do you mean?" I ask, scowling at her.

"Well, Lily rode into her marriage wearing pants on a giant demon horse, and Zane and I beheaded our rivals as we kissed, so…" She trails off.

"And Alyse?" I ask.

Scarlett sighs. "They say they don't need to be married. That what they have is perfect the way it is. But they did fuck while flying, so that's something."

I choke on my spit. "I see where she gets it."

"Gets what?"

"Her fire. You four are so alike," I say, the ale having warmed my stomach and loosened my tongue.

"I'm glad she has it." Scarlett looks at Reina, her expression growing concerned. "She's going to need it."

"We all are," I say.

Scarlett clinks my cup with hers. "Cheers to that."

We drink and the fizzy, sour apple ale pushes away darker thoughts for just another moment.

"So, wedding plans?" Scarlett asks again.

"I see where she gets her relentlessness, too." I chuckle. "But I do have an idea."

It's completely depraved, vulgar, and bastard-like, but if all the sisters have had ridiculous, jaw-dropping weddings, I want Reina to have one, too.

She turns to me with a conspiratorial grin. "Do tell."

"We're going to need some of your Spiders." I can't hide my smile. "And a pair of enchanted copper shackles."

Her grin widens as her eye flicks over to Reina then back to me. "Oh, you're going to fit in here just fine."