25. Everett

Arati save me.

She"s trying to fucking kill us.

Baelfire slumps to the ground beside me when his turn on the mat ends early. His turn has ended early every time because, apparently, the oversexed idiot gets too aroused every time Maven pins him, and he has to tap out early to cool off.

He wipes the sweat off his face with a grimace and leans back against the wall like I am. "How does such a tiny person put me in a fucking headlock? I"m like three times her size."

"Try ten times, you behemoth," I fire back, watching Silas take a defensive position on the opposite side of the mat from Maven with a determined set to his jaw.

The only one of us who hasn"t been brutally taken down repeatedly by Maven has been Crypt. She"s pinned him a few times, but the asshole refuses to play by the rules and keeps slipping into Limbo to pin her down from behind and whisper what I assume are filthy things into her ear.

The last time he did it, Maven had enough and head-butted him, and we haven"t seen him since. I"m pretty sure he"s letting his nose heal in Limbo while he enjoys watching the rest of us fail.

I watch as Silas rushes her and tries yet another tactic. Maven easily outmaneuvers him before he ends up pinned to the ground with his leg stuck in an incredibly uncomfortable-looking position. He swears and taps out, and the pure amusement on Maven"s face has me smiling.

She really likes combat, doesn"t she? And she"s insanely good at it. I know I should be using that as a reason to convince myself I don"t want her...but godsdamn me, I love that look on her face. She can win as many sparring matches as she wants with me—I don"t mind the sore muscles and bruises if she"s happy.

Baelfire elbows me hard, knocking the wind from my side. I shoot him a glare. "What the hell?"

He just shakes his head. "Cockblock curse," he whispers. "Stare at Silas instead. Pretend you like his ass more."

I really hate him so much.

Silas gets to his feet and tips his head. "Why is it that touching during combat isn"t a trigger for you?"

"Touch is an entirely different beast during combat. I was never conditioned against fighting. In fact, it"s what I was turned into this for," Maven shrugs as if it"s that simple.

Immediately, my mouth tastes like bile. I can only assume that the Entity is the one who conditioned her and…

"Turned you into what, exactly?" I manage to ask through clenched teeth.

She ignores the question and nods to Silas. "They"re still licking their wounds and egos. Get back into position."

But he has his scheming face on, the same one that used to make me anxious as fuck when we were kids. "No, I want to know, too. What are you, Maven?"

"The girl who"s about to kick your ass. Again."

He smirks. "Goading me won"t work."

She stretches as if to work out a kink in her shoulder. Again, I can"t look away, and my hands itch with the urge to rub out whatever discomfort she"s feeling. If she let me, I would massage her entire body. She must get really worked up and sore—after all, if she"s pushing us this hard, I can only imagine how hard she pushes herself.

I don"t like that. I want to see my keeper comfortable and content. I want to spoil her in every possible way.

My mouth goes dry when she abruptly strips off her oversized, baggy shirt, leaving behind a form-fitting black undershirt. Silas and Baelfire stare hard, too, and Crypt finally reappears in the mortal realm to check her out as he leans against the wall.

"All right. I"m officially ready for another round," he says too eagerly.

For once, I agree with him. But Baelfire must notice how much I enjoy seeing her in something tight because he elbows me hard again. This time, a grunt escapes. The sound draws Maven"s attention to us.

As soon as her eyes are on me, I dutifully look away like this is the most boring experience of my entire life. But I can still admire her in the reflective glass she"s standing in front of.

That tight shirt shows off a bit of her midriff and lower back. I"d like to kiss all of it. I know my cheeks are turning red the longer I can feel her studying me.

"Fine. That"s the prize," Maven says finally. "You"re all in desperate need of motivation, anyway."

"Not anymore," Crypt smiles. "That"s a lovely shirt."

She rolls her eyes. "Here"s how it works. If any of you beat me on the mat, I"ll tell you what I am."

That has all of us hooked. I can see the resolution set in as Silas rolls his shoulders back and retakes his stance. "You"ll keep your word?"

"I always do," she says sweetly, then pins him again in less than two minutes.

Only the gods know how long our private training lasts. It feels far too long before Maven calls it and says we"ll do this again tomorrow. Apparently, she thinks this torture is valuable, but I decide I won"t protest because she might wear another tight shirt tomorrow. I might pray to the gods for that tonight.

As we emerge onto the main level of Everbound Castle, the others automatically head toward the quintet apartment. I turn down the hall that will take me to my office, which has a passable faculty apartment attached. But it"s like the gods cursed all of today for me because I hear Silas calling Maven"s name and realize she"s walking right behind me.

I halt in surprise, scowling down at her.

She keeps her poker face. "We need to talk."

"Not happening. I need to shower. I"m sweaty."

It"s the lamest possible excuse, but there it is. My strongest defense, ladies and gentlemen.

"Maven," Silas says again, stopping beside us and frowning at her. "Curfew starts soon. Let"s go."

"I"ll stay with Everett."

My heart lurches right up into my throat, and I snap, "No, you most certainly will fucking not. I don"t want you anywhere near me."

"Agreed. Come on," Silas insists. "Baelfire"s making dinner, and I"m sure Professor Frost needs to…grade papers."

I"ve never graded a paper in my life, but I nod.

Maven fixes us both with a look. "Cut the shit. I know you"re all keeping me from being around Everett. You think he"s a danger to me. Tell me why, or he and I are going to have a talk."

Silas looks at me accusingly, like this is somehow my fault. I just look heavenward, hoping whatever god gave me this curse will see what a dickhead they are. Respectfully, of course.

"Oakley, just go with Silas."

"Pass."

Okay, I have to push harder if I"m going to keep enough distance between us. "You think I want to fucking talk to you? You just abused and annoyed the hell out of me for hours. I"m exhausted, and I"m going to bed. So go run along with your pussy-whipped groupies and take a shower while you"re at it because you smell."

It"s a lie. She barely broke a sweat. It"s fucking aggravating how good she looks right now.

Silas"s jaw clenches at my words, but Maven holds my gaze. "Sure. I"ll use your shower."

Why, gods, why did she have to be this stubborn and attractive? It"s ludicrous. I rub the back of my neck, exhausted, confusingly horny, and extremely done with having to ignore her all the damn time. Deep down, I"m aching for her.

But I need to keep up the arrogant asshole front that will keep her at arm"s length. This is the best way to protect her from my curse.

"I am not doing this right now," I grit.

"Great. Then I hope you have an extra blanket. I"ll sleep on the floor."

She brushes past me toward my office. I debate running away to hide somewhere pathetic, like one of the school"s public restrooms. But finally, I sigh and follow her.

"If anything even remotely unpleasant happens to her, I"ll kill you," Silas warns from behind me.

Very helpful. "You missed your calling as a fucking cheerleader. Now go away."

If Maven insists on talking to me, I"ll just have to be as unpleasant as possible and get her out of my space quickly. Maybe if I can get into a big fight with her, that might help me stop thinking about her so much.

It"s pathetic, but it"s all I have.

By the time I reach my office, Maven is waiting. I try to give her a death glare, but I"m sure it looks more like I"m pouting as I unlock my office to let us inside. The automatic mage lights built into every faculty office glow softly, dimmed slightly for the nighttime.

Maven pauses to take in my office. "Tidy."

"I hate messes. I also hate pushy keepers who can"t mind their own fucking business."

She turns, smirking. "Nice try, but you don"t hate me."

"How would you know? You"re too busy bouncing between the three other dicks in your happy little harem to give a shit."

Saying stuff like this to her makes my stomach clench—but if I"m crude and bitter enough, hopefully, she"ll dislike me enough to want to leave.

Maven rolls her eyes. "You"re not going to get me to hate you, either."

Damn it. Why does she have to be so perceptive?

I turn my back on her and straighten the things on my desk out of nervous habit, even though I organized them before I left earlier. When I grab my glasses case to slip into the desk"s top drawer, Maven circles around and tips her head.

"You wear glasses?"

"Only for reading," I grumble, acting like I"m busy and she"s a nuisance.

When she boosts herself up to sit on the edge of my desk, the slight bounce of her tits under her tight shirt sends a bolt of longing through me. I whirl away from her again, clearing my throat and staring hard at the calendar on my wall as if it"s far more interesting than the incredibly sexy enigma perched on my desk.

Don"t think about her tits. Don"t think about her ass on your desk where you work. Don"t think about her body at all, you ridiculously horny pervert.

"I want to see you in your glasses sometime, Professor."

"Just spit out whatever the fuck you had to talk to me about," I huff, rubbing my face.

She"s silent for so long, I worry I"ve finally hurt her feelings. But when I turn, bracing myself to face the horror of seeing Maven hurt again, I find that she"s quietly studying the few things I have on my walls and arranged decoratively on shelves. When she sees the shard of nevermelt on the end of one shelf, she turns with a surprised look.

"Where did you get that?"

"I made it," I admit, folding my arms to look surly.

Nevermelt is rare. A diamond-hard substance, it"s far colder than regular ice and, as the name suggests, can"t melt due to the sheer amount of elemental power it"s created with. Only ice wielders of the highest caliber can forge it. When I made the rookie mistake of revealing to my parents that I had the ability, they tried to ship me off to work directly for the Immortal Quintet.

I was sixteen at the time and used the money from my modeling to file for emancipation instead. My family used their extensive resources to keep that juicy bit of family drama out of the media, and they threatened to never give me my trust fund as if that would somehow change my mind.

But after a while, they pretended like it was their idea that I leave home early so I could "focus on my career in the world of humans." They still granted me access to my absurdly large inheritance when I turned twenty-four, which I haven"t touched with a ten-foot pole.

Maven studies the nevermelt with an expression I don"t understand. Then she moves on, raising her brows at the picture of Marshmallow and Blizzard.

"You have dogs?"

The two Great Pyrenees are practically the size of polar bears. They would love her. I have no idea if Maven even likes animals. Still, I can easily imagine them here, rubbing up against her with their tongues lolling out in delight if she decided to pet them.

Instead of giving in and telling her all about them, I scowl. "Can you get out already?"

Maven ignores me, tipping her head at the picture of Heidi.

"Pretty. I didn"t know you have a sister."

I tense. "How did you…"

"She looks different from you, but you have the same nose." My keeper makes a face. "I only noticed because I"m trying to break a bad habit."

"What habit?" I frown.

"Killing the relatives of people I know before I even know who they are."

Oh. Wow, I…don"t even know what to say to that. "Again, why are you here?"

"Take a seat. I know you"re nervous."

Before I can ask how she knows that, she glances pointedly at the windows, which are once again icing over. I clench my teeth and sit in my office chair, intending to get this conversation over with so I can regain some illusion of control.

But all ideas of getting myself under control fly out the window when Maven straddles my legs to face me.

My mouth goes dry. "W—what are you?—"

"I made a decision about our quintet. You"re all mine, and I"ll fight for you until the end. But if we"re going to work out in the short amount of time we have, then I can"t let this thing between us drag on. So I"m going to give you a very simple choice. Hold out your hand."

My heart is hammering hard, but I hold out my hand, looking away because I"m pretty sure staring at her this close will hypnotize me. My cock is torturously hard in my pants, the fucking turncoat.

But when the cold handle of a small dagger presses into my hand, I startle and look at her sharply. "Why are you making me hold this?"

Maven smirks and taps the end of the knife until it barely touches her shoulder. "If you hate me as much as you say you do, then hurt me. Should be easy."

My stomach lurches. Dear gods, no.

When I just stare at her in indignant alarm because there"s no way she can be serious about this, Maven moves until the knife is pressing against the side of her neck. And when she leans into it?—

I drop the knife as fury flashes through me. It clatters to the ground.

"Stop it. I"m not going to fucking hurt you. That"s never happening, Oakley."

"You hurt me in Pennsylvania."

I flinch, my stomach churning at the memory. "I…I'm sorry," I whisper. "You have no idea how sorry. I get it if you never want to forgive me for that, but I had to do it because…"

"Because you care about me, and you thought that was the best way to protect me. We both know it's true, so stop feeling guilty."

I clench my teeth, desperate. Do I have to find something genuinely horrible to say to her? Could I even manage to say something to hurt her again? This is absolute hell.

"No. It"s just that you"re my keeper," I try to insist. "I don"t even remotely like you, I just?—"

Maven leans forward and kisses me.

Oh, holy gods above.

Her lips are so fucking warm.

Suddenly, I can"t seem to pull her close enough. Her fingers tangle in my hair, and I moan when I feel her slide closer, her chest pressing against mine. She"s like a fucking heater compared to me, and it feels insanely good. I"ve never held someone like this, but I know I"ll be panting after Maven"s warmth for the rest of my godsdamned life.

I"ve never been so turned on. She can probably feel that my heart is crashing hard enough to bruise my insides, but I can"t focus on anything except her fantastic mouth and the way her tongue drags gently against my lips until I part them. When she winds her arms around my neck and deepens the kiss, making a soft sound of pleasure, I get lightheaded.

But then her fucking perfect hips roll so she can grind against my throbbing erection?—

And I come in my pants.

Fuck. Oh, dear gods, no.

Kill me now. This day really is fucking cursed.

I pull away stiffly, my face burning a thousand degrees as I squeeze my eyes shut.

"Maven."

She must hear the strain in my voice because she starts to ask what happened…but when she inhales slightly, I know she can feel exactly what happened through my pants.

I"m begging you, Syntyche,I pray to the goddess of life reaping. Just take me now. Right now. Please.

I clear my throat hard and mutter, "Can you, um...could you get off for a moment? I"d like to throw myself out the window now."

To my shock, Maven"s lips press against mine again, and I can feel she"s smiling. "So, you do like me."

Way too fucking much. The evidence of that is all over in my pants.

"Wonder where you got that notion from. Maybe the fact that you barely touched me and I lost control like a damn teenager?"

I cover my face again, mortified. Anytime now, Syntyche. Please.

Maven pries my fingers away until I"m forced to look at her and see the breathtaking smile on her face. There"s no amusement or mocking—if anything, she seems extremely happy.

And dear gods, I like seeing her happy. She"s just so pretty.

"Good. Then we"re on the same page."

"Is that the page where I fling myself off the balcony?" I grimace.

"It"s the one where we both accept that we like each other, and you tell me what your curse is. It can"t be worse than my reasons for rejecting all of you."

I study Maven, my heart still hammering as I drown in her soul-stirring eyes for a moment. Finally, I can"t take it anymore.

"Arati"s high prophet told me that my curse will kill anyone I fall in love with," I whisper. "I"ve been a complete asshole because I can"t afford to fall for you. And we can't be bound to break our curses, I…damn it, Maven, I just—if I"m around you, you"ll end up fucking dead. I can"t do that. I can"t lose you before I even get the chance to love you. Losing you would shatter me."

I take a shaky breath. There, I just bared it all. She has to leave now, knowing how much danger she"s in because I"m already a fucking goner for her.

But then she…snorts in amusement.

I gawk at her. "Excuse me? What the hell is wrong with you? Did you even hear what I said?"

Maven tries to tame her smile and clears her throat. "I did. And you should know that"s not an issue with me."

Did she hit her head during training or something? "What are you talking about?"

Her smile is something twisted halfway between wistfulness and dark humor. "It"s complicated, but you don"t need to worry about killing me by accident. Or even on purpose. I promise."

I shake my head. "Again, what the fuck are you talking about?"

She starts to respond but then clamps her mouth shut and removes her hands from me, rubbing one arm hard. Her breathing picks up, and she clears her throat again, glancing around the room.

"Where"s your bathroom?" she asks hoarsely.

Oh...fuck. Is all that touch bothering her now?

My chest constricts as I realize that Maven might be silently panicking. Without another word, I pick her up and carry her through the small, half-hidden door in one corner of the office that leads into my attached apartment. I set her gently in front of the bathroom.

She slips inside quickly, and I hear the shower turn on. While she"s in there, I change as swiftly as possible out of the clothes I just embarrassed the fuck out of myself in.

When Maven finally re-emerges from the bathroom, she looks fine. Her hair is wet, and she"s wrapped in a towel that doesn"t make it past her thighs, which makes my stupid cock twitch with renewed excitement. But I can"t help the questions that bubble up as I fumble, reaching for her and then stepping back and rubbing my neck.

"What can I get for you? Would sparkling water help? I have Tums. And some other human medicine that might help. Or if you want something else, like a potion, I"ll go find Silas and?—"

"Do all faculty apartments look like this?" she interrupts, brows raised at my apartment.

"No, I paid for professional designers to come in and modify this space." I realize I"m compulsively fidgeting with my clothes and force myself to stop. "Don"t worry, I know it"s over the top. I might be a trust fund baby, but I"m self-aware. I"ve seen plenty of normal rooms."

She eyes the full glass wall etched with intricate gold leaf designs, the minimalistic, tastefully abstract decorations and plush rug, and the massive bed with the chandelier made of countless swirling strands of nevermelt overhead.

"If you say so."

I fidget again. "You"re killing me here. There has to be something I can do to help with your…"

I don"t even know what to call it.

Maven"s lips twitch. "It"s not as bad as usual. Maybe touch therapy is actually working."

"But why the fuck did you kiss me if you knew it would end up being uncomfortable for you?" I stress, frustrated at the thought.

"Someone had to break the ice," she grins playfully.

She"s joking around about this? I scowl. "You know how many times I"ve heard that joke in my lifetime?"

"Noted. I"ll find a better one. Now, about that extra blanket," she says, glancing at my closet like there might be one there.

Before I can tell her that I"d rather kiss Baelfire"s scaly ass than ever let her sleep on the ground, I hear a knock on the door in my office and leave my apartment to go answer it. It"s Crypt, and he glares at me like he"s envisioning ripping my head off.

Pretty run-of-the-mill for him, honestly.

He glares at the expensive-ass dreamcatcher hanging just inside the threshold of my office before he holds out a backpack and a strange, round object.

"She sleeps with this under her pillow."

"What is it?"

"None of your damn business, Frost. Just give it to her and know that I"ll make you pay later for taking our keeper and her dreams away from me tonight."

I glare at him, taking the amulet and the bag, which must have clothes and shit for Maven. "What, you think this was my fucking idea? I just spilled my guts to her about my curse because she knows how to play me like a godsdamned fiddle."

He stares, then smirks. "Good."

"No, it"s not."

"It certainly fucking is. I never wanted us to keep secrets from Maven, anyway. Plus, as I said, I doubt your curse ever hurt her."

I grit my teeth. "We don"t know that. What if I end up being the death of her?"

"Then I"ll shred your psyche and piece it back together over and over until we both die. Sleep tight."

Then he just vanishes away, leaving me to gawk at nothingness.

Fucking insane incubus.