28. Chapter 28
“You’re telling me she had a sacrificed soul strapped to her throat this entire time?
” Maxine sighs the moment the door slams shut.
“How rude.” She pops the top off a bottle of liquor and swigs back the drink with such graceful fluidity that I’m suddenly reminded of why she was chosen by a god—the evidence lying in her ability to be mind-numbingly, unabashedly, painstakingly resourceful.
“I suppose that was one way to get rid of her…” Bella trails off, pausing to do a double take. “Wait. Where did you get that?”
“Get what?” Maxine asks, looking down at the bottle. “This?”
“Yes. What happened to your glass of tea?” Bella asks.
“It shattered during all the commotion,” Maxine declares from her chair.
“By the way, do watch your step if you venture over to that corner of the room. Wouldn’t want anyone else to get seriously maimed, with all the broken glass and whatnot.
Speaking of maiming, I figured we could all use a little refreshment, given how Lily just stabbed Shay straight through the leg with her own sword.
Sorry about the makeshift bandage, by the way,” she adds, acknowledging me with a slight nod.
“It’s not my finest work.” She leans forward and holds out the bottle.
I take it gratefully and gulp down what I can, only to cough like crazy from how bitter it is.
Meanwhile, Bella murmurs softly to herself and then begins rifling through drawers.
“What are you doing?” Maxine asks her, taking the bottle back once I’m done.
“Searching for medicinal supplies. You know… like proper gauze,” Bella grumbles.
“Surely the priestess left a safety kit around here in the event that—ah, here we are.” She whips out a little white box from a drawer, then rushes over to my side.
“This should help. Although it might hurt a bit. I’m sorry in advance. ”
I give her a firm nod of understanding, and she begins wrapping up my wound with the sterile dressing and gauze, all while tutting directions under her breath for me to hold still.
Which is hard. “Fuck, that hurts…” I groan.
No, hurts is an understatement. This feels worse than being poked directly in the pupil by a hot iron rod.
“Maxine, will you distract her or something?” Bella grinds out, clearly focused on her task at hand, which must be difficult because of how much I’m squirming.
“Sure,” Maxine sighs, throwing her legs over the armrest of her chaise and banking her head in my direction. She sets the bottle of liquor down on a nearby table with a clink and then says, “I have some very pertinent questions that require answering anyway.”
“Pertinent questions. For me?” I ask, holding my breath and bracing for impact as Bella fixes the last piece of tape to the bandage, securing the new dressing in place.
“Yes,” Maxine says. “Why didn’t you tell us you were the raven sooner?”
Bella falls still, as though she too would like to know the answer.
“Same reason you’ve kept quiet about how you ended up in the castle with us,” I reply, my fresh wound throbbing beneath its makeshift bandage as Bella gives me a pat to indicate she’s finished. “Some things are personal,” I add with a grimace.
“I like you. Straight to the point, like an arrow to the gut,” Maxine laughs, her dreamy eyes drifting toward the ceiling.
“If you must know how I ended up in the castle, you can blame Galien. He has stubborn eyes and a head of unruly hair. He’s the reason that I ran away.
Although I suppose my mother had a bit to do with it as well. ”
“Did you love him?” Bella asks as she sets down the medicinal supplies and slips into a seat across from us, doing her best to brush my silver blood off her dress.
“Do you really want to know the whole story?” Maxine asks. “It’s quite embarrassing.”
“All the more reason for you to tell us,” I say, shifting my leg around to get comfortable, only to bite back a scream.
Maxine looks conflicted. “You won’t laugh at me?”
“Of course not. Now spill your guts, or else Shadow here will spill them for you with that fancy new blade of hers,” Bella deadpans. “By the way, Shadow, wherever did you get your hands on a weapon as beautiful as that?”
I glance over at the sword, which is as silent as a tomb, pooling in a puddle of silver blood across the room. “I’d rather not get into the specifics,” I mutter.
Bella’s face shifts to concern.
“Alright, fine. Fine. I’ll tell you everything,” Maxine blurts out. “But you must promise to keep it a secret. I’m being serious. What I’m about to tell you must never leave this room.”
“I pinky promise,” I say, holding up a pinky and waving it around.
Bella sighs, then holds up her pinky too. “Fine. I pinky swear.”
Maxine grins, her palpable enthusiasm triggering a warm, bubbling sensation in my gut.
Thank all the gods for friends who distract themselves from the imminent issue at hand in order to talk about romantic trysts and handsome men, because the last thing that I want to talk about right now is the color of my blood, the sword that I was gifted, or the gaping wound in my leg—which still hurts like a bitch.
“The storm came out of nowhere,” Maxine recalls.
“I was caught in the downpour as I was wrangling up the chickens on my family farm. Typically, that task would’ve been left to the stable hands, but they’d already gone home for the evening.
Anyway, wouldn’t you know, Gale showed up with a rogue chicken tucked under one arm, claiming that I smelled like wet manure and mud.
As if he didn’t,” she snorts in recollection.
“The man smelled horrid. So of course, given the situation, the last thing I expected was for him to whip out the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. But that’s exactly what happened.”
I sit up and gasp, which sends a zinging pain sailing all the way to my toes. “He proposed to you with a chicken under his arm?”
Maxine’s smile is brimming with melancholy.
“That’s correct. I’d wanted so badly to say yes to his proposal.
But instead, my brain sort of malfunctioned.
So I packed up and ran here with all of my luggage.
And of course, the rest is history.” She chews her bottom lip.
“Regent found me out in the courtyard. He said he had a job for me. I thought it would be a real job, you know? With a salary. And more importantly, I figured it would at least distract me while I made my decision about Gale. But instead…”
“Instead, you met us,” I whisper in realization.
“Yes.” Maxine nods. “Technically, I met Bella first. Although the two of us didn’t really talk much. She had her nose stuffed so far up a book, I figured it was eating her brain. And of course, I wasn’t about to mess with a brain-eating amoeba, not with so much on my plate.”
Bella chuckles quietly.
“And then Lily showed up,” Maxine continues, her eyes glossing over.
“And all hell broke loose, as I’m sure you can imagine.
She gave us her theory about the gods wanting to marry us, and it turned out she was right.
To an extent, of course. I should’ve questioned how she knew the specifics sooner.
But I guess, looking back, I was na?ve to believe that she’d heard it all from the servants through the walls like she’d claimed.
Not that I’ve ever heard any of the servants talk.
They are quite good at keeping to themselves. ”
I think of Sunshine, Snow, and Amber, and my heart wilts.
“I still can’t get over the fact that he asked you to marry him with a chicken tucked under his arm,” Bella snickers.
“Oh give me a break,” Maxine growls. “As if neither of you have never been in love before.” Her words burrow a deep chasm into my heart as she adds, “Because if you had, you’d know that sometimes love makes you act irrationally, like asking people to marry you while you’re holding livestock in the rain. ”
“Or running away to a faraway castle filled with gods and inadvertently becoming their captive,” I add with a little shrug. “Yeah, I understand.”
Maxine’s gaze meets mine, and then she practically melts. “Yes. Exactly that.” She studies me for a second more before asking, “Have you ever been in love, Shay?”
“No,” I quickly respond with a cough. “No, I haven’t. “
“Hmmm... I don’t believe you,” Maxine decides with a tilt of her head. “In fact, I think that you’re in love right now. I can see it in your eyes. And I’m never wrong. It’s a shame that Lily isn’t here to confirm. She can sense people’s emotions with her magic, you know.”
I think of the grief that she’d forced me to endure earlier and gulp.
“Don’t be silly,” Bella says as she jumps to a stand and reaches for the bottle of liquor from the table.
“I’m sure that Shadow is far too busy being the raven to care about such trivial things as love.
” She takes an uncharacteristic sip of the drink, a hiccup crawling up her throat as she spins back around toward me and adds, “Sorry, Shay. I know you don’t want to talk about it. I just have so many questions as well.”
“Hey! I was questioning her first!” Maxine jumps in. “Like for starters, how the hell can a person be a bird?”
“She’s not a bird,” Bella interjects, sitting back down. “She’s clearly a human. Aren’t you, Shay?”
“To be determined,” I sigh.
“Why do they call you the raven then, if you’re not a bird?” Maxine’s eyes narrow in suspicion.
“God’s teeth, Maxine.” Bella rubs her temples. “The prophecy claims that the raven shall bear the silver blood of the wraiths. Do you know anyone else with silver blood?”
“Erm, no…” Maxine admits with a little shrug. “But I don’t exactly go around gutting people in order to inspect the color of their bodily fluids.” Her expression turns regretful, like she’s just realized she’s missing an opportunity.