Guilt ate at me for not telling the others, and yet I’d kept her secrets because she was my sister, my twin—my best friend. During the weeks before she’d come back to Haven Falls, she wasn’t the same. She’d changed, and that was a hard thing to admit. Gone was the docile sister I’d had who would brush my hair and tell me stories of the Nine Realms, and in her place was someone I hardly recognized.
“Are you going to take a drink and pass it back?”
I took a long pull from the bottle before handing it to her again. “Does Aine ever keep things from you, Kinny?”
“Like who she fucks?” she asked, drinking.
“Things like that, I guess,” I frowned and took the bottle back. I was already feeling a little tipsier than I liked to be, and yet I didn’t stop drinking.
“Never, we’re twins. We have no secrets, not that we could keep them from the other if we tried. We’d know if the other was trying,” she chuckled and then stared at me. “I don’t imagine it feels good, Aria, but you have us.”
“Amara broke my leg with a spell to take my place in the rotation,” I admitted, feeling a weight lift from my chest.
“We knew she did that,” she shrugged when my mouth dropped open. “Aria, she was a selfish prick, and whoever she hooked up with inside the Nine Realms, he had to be packing one hell of a dick to get her that worked up. Aurora knew too, but she followed her.” She shrugged. “She never figured out who it was, or why he was so important for her to go, but hell if she wasn’t trying to find out.”
“Does everybody know?” I winced when she nodded. “I kept her secrets, but I threatened to tell if she continued.”
“We knew that too,” she snorted, handing me the bottle as the door to the room opened abruptly.
I tipped the bottle back, chugging it to numb the pain of what her note meant. Knox entered with Regina at his side, her eyes immediately seeking me out. She said something, and he laughed, turning his ocean eyes to lock with mine before dismissing me to lean down, whispering in her ear as Regina tipped her head back, laughing at whatever it was he’d said.
I chugged more succulent blue agave down my throat and leaned my head against Kinvara as she patted it.
“He’s nice to look at, Aria, but you don’t want someone like that for your first time. Pick someone safe.”
Knox moved to Brander, and then they both looked at me, speaking in another tongue, one that I couldn’t understand. They moved into a group, and I shook my head. My eyes moved to Brander’s backside, noting the way he filled out the jeans he wore. His legs were muscular enough that you could see the power of his thighs through them. Every once in a while, one would turn and look at me before spinning back around to say something else.
Lifting the bottle to my lips, I felt my stomach churning and complaining about being empty. I needed some food to absorb the alcohol, but there was nothing here, at least not anything that had been offered.
“I’m going to bed,” I said begrudgingly, knowing that I wouldn’t be getting food before morning, and I couldn’t stomach any more tequila without it. Standing, I moved toward the door, only to be stopped in my tracks as Knox’s voice sounded, my name on his lips.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going, Aria?”
“I’m going to bed before I ruin your perfectly good couch by vomiting on it,” I explained before I hiccupped, and covered my mouth, staring at him.
“Are you drunk?” He glared at me as a look of annoyance covered his face.
My gaze slid to where Regina watched me with a smirk on her full red lips. Enjoying the show at my cost, bitch.
“Absolutely,” I said, flipping him a one-finger salute using my middle finger before opening the door and slipping out.
I didn’t make it three steps out the door before he was in front of me, pushing me back inside carefully. I fell back as I lost my balance, landing on my ass upon the floor. I glared up at him, and my chest rattled in warning.
“Don’t fucking touch me again.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sabine demanded, rushing over with the others to pick me up off the floor.
The alcohol had altered my balance and made it impossible for me to stand. I shoved my sisters away as I climbed to my feet and looked him dead in the eyes, growling. “Keep your fucking hands off of me, Knox.”
“Did you kill the alpha?” he hissed.
“What? I was with you, asshole.”
“Did you kill Jasper?” he asked, his tone turning cold and lethal.
“Jasper?” I whispered, and my heart thudded in my chest. Tears burned my eyes for the childhood friend who had played with me on the playground. My head shook as denial burned my tongue. “Jasper isn’t dead. I just talked to him, not even eight hours ago. He was fine when he left.” My throat tightened as my eyes pricked with unshed tears.
“He isn’t fine now. We found him sacrificed on your altar, and you’re the only Hecate witch that was home when it happened.”
It was as if he physically slapped me. I blinked and frowned, tilting my head as I replayed the day’s events.
“Jasper was alive when I saw him, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have killed him. He was a friend.”
“When you were a child, he was. He voted for Amara to be executed if I found her guilty.”
“I know that, and I agreed with him. You think I killed him?” I asked.
“I think you’re a self-serving little bitch who would do anything to be certain her sister isn’t executed. I don’t think you’d bat a pretty little eyelash at murdering someone, not after what you did tonight.”
“Well then, get out your sword and kill me, executioner. Let’s do this.”
“You have not been found guilty yet, Aria Primrose Hecate, but you’re under investigation as of now. You don’t leave this house. You don’t breathe without me knowing your every move. Understood?”
“Yes, master. I’m going to bed now. Did you wish to assign an escort? I may escape in my drunken state from the ‘oh, so powerful male’ who likes to throw me around lately.” I snorted loudly before heading toward the door again. “Can I go, or do you want to throw me around a little more?”
“Brander, walk the drunken little witch to her room, and tuck her in,” he called to the male who watched us silently. I turned, assuring my sisters I was fine and that I had not sacrificed an alpha this week before I started down the hall with my silent, broody guard beside me.
“You don’t strike me as an idiot,” Brander stated beside me as we entered the hallway. “So why the fuck are you goading him?”
“He’s a dick.”
“You’re not a fluffy fucking bunny either, witch.”
“Thanks,” I stated.
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“I know,” I chuckled as I tilted sideways and held on to the wall for a moment to catch my balance.
“Walk,” he ordered.
“I need a moment,” I stated, pressing my hand against my mouth. My eyes closed, and the world began to spin around me. I opened them and started again, only to sway on my feet. “I drank way too much.”