“What?” I ask, bringing my glass up to my mouth and tilting my head back.
“We’re all flying back tomorrow and continuing on the road back home.”
“Oh.” I smile. “Yeah, I know.” I’m lost in thoughts of Killian and Callan. I’m not going to lie. Hearing that he’s once again jumping onto her does make me feel a certain way. Just this morning, he was in my bed. Then King called him and I didn’t see him after that.
“Can I have everyone’s attention!” Kaius, King’s father, calls out from the front of the fire. It’s the first time I take a real look at the area. A large stone plank is in front of the fire, laying over the top of two thick boulders. There’s a man standing beside it, holding a tattoo gun with his hands crossed in front of him. He’s wearing a dark hooded robe like the rest of us, only displaying the edges of his sharp jaw. A jaw that I could spot miles away.
I lean into Kenan. “Killian does the tattooing?”
Kenan takes a sip of his drink. “The Corneliis do, yeah. Usually it’s Kallisto that does it though, not sure why Kill is there.”
I gulp, swallowing my entire drink. I could probably guess why. Just another way for him to inflict pain on me.
Kaius continues. He’s dressed exactly like us, only wearing a mask carved from bone with a long, pointed nose. He gestures to the front of him. “Kournikova, Briele, Nex, and—” His eyes come to mine. I can’t see anything behind the mask but his eyes. His eyes I can feel drilling holes into me. The atmosphere turns somewhat hostile for a brief second. “Dragavei.”
I exhale slowly and follow Kenan to where Callan and Perse are standing.
I had witnessed a ritual once when I was a child. I don’t know whose it was, but I remember the intensity of it all. Being in the firing line, though, sends chills over my spine.
Perse’s hand comes to mine and she gives me a tight squeeze. I relax slightly at the gesture, watching as each of them lay on the plank and receive their star. Callan got hers on her ass cheek, no surprise. I watched as they all moved their robe around the placement of where they got their tattoo. Perse’s was below her ear, Kenan on the back of his neck.
“Dragavei.” Kaius gestures to the plank. My fingers twitch around the ties at the front of my robe.
Squaring my shoulders in challenge, I flick off the ties and the robe drops into a pool at my feet, Killian’s jaw tenses. I step over the material with my red-soled heels and slowly lift myself onto the plank.
There was whispering as I leaned over and lay flat on my stomach. Scooping my hair over my other shoulder, I peered up at Killian.
“You choose.”
Killian is the Trickster. He’s used to girls dropping to his feet and worshiping the ground that he walks on, but that was before and after me. I will never be that girl for him, and if he wants to taunt me with Callan, then I’ll taunt him with my greatest weapon—my body.
He growls under his breath, leaning down and pressing the tip of the needle against the side of my upper ribs. I close my eyes as the tip pierces my skin. Tension releases with every stab, my eyes slightly rolling to the back of my head. Holy shit. I chew on my lip and exhale. With every drag of the needle, I release even more tension. I know why people love getting tattoos now. It’s therapeutic.
When the buzzing stops, my eyes open to see Killian so close to my face I almost flinch. My cheeks heat. “Are you done?”
He seems to ponder over my question, his jaw tense. “Not even close.” I didn’t miss the double meaning.
Kaius looks over Killian’s shoulder. “We—” Kaius starts, only Killian interrupts him by turning the gun on again.
He leans forward and continues, only this time the pain is higher, dragging down where my bra strap is.
I tense.
I don’t want to make a scene, so I endure it.
Finally, he tosses the gun down to the ground in a crash and stalks off to the bar.
Kaius removes his mask and tilts his head to study my tattoo. His eyes fly up to Killian, his head shaking.
Kyrin walks up to the plank next as I’m climbing off and I watch as his tilts too. He slowly grins. “That cheeky motherfucker.”
“What?” I snap, turning my head over my shoulder. I can see the end of words that vertically go up my shoulder but not what it says. When Kyrin disappears, Kenan helps me off the plank and chuckles.
“Well, damn, Gina.” He hands me my robe and I throw it over my shoulder. “You really gotta stop testing the boy. Dropping your robe like a damn sex kitten. You know that every time you test him, he throws it back in your face.”